Wunless you do everything yourself! Niclas Füllkrug held the ball in his hands, but passed it to Kai Havertz. He took a penalty in the 68th minute of the German national soccer team’s 2-0 friendly win over Peru on Saturday evening in Mainz – and the ball hit the post. The fact that he scored the goal in the rebound didn’t help: according to the rules, a penalty taker cannot play a ball that bounces off the post or crossbar again with impunity without someone else having touched it first; Referee Maria Caputi gave Peru an indirect free kick.
Why didn’t Füllkrug execute this penalty kick, which the Italian had given, according to the video images, for a foul on attacking central defender Nico Schlotterbeck? The Bremen striker had not only already scored two goals (12th and 33rd minute), but is also considered a safe shooter from eleven meters. As a professional, he converted 16 of 17 penalties, only for Hannover 96 in the 2017 game at FC Bayern. Havertz, meanwhile, had only recently failed for Chelsea in the Champions League, even if this miss does not appear in any statistics, as he was allowed to play again after a Dortmund player ran into the penalty area too early.
Full pitcher clarified. “I got the ball to give it to Kai,” said the two-time goalscorer. “Kai was entered as the first shooter.” So the story that had already been written in the first game in the damn World Cup year 2022 repeated itself: At the time, Thomas Müller had also missed a penalty in the 2-0 friendly win over Israel; Munich, who was not nominated this time, also hit the post. All penalties after that were converted by Ilkay Gündogan, who was also missing from the squad.
“Scorer style”
Even if Füllkrug ultimately only played a supporting role in the penalty scene, he played a leading role in Mainz. The top Bundesliga scorer this season has already scored five goals in five international matches. In the storm with two players called up for the first time by national coach Hansi Flick, it was Bremen who played the more conspicuous part with Timo Werner in the first half and then with Serge Gnabry until he was substituted in the 75th minute. Flick explicitly praised Füllkrug: “He scored goals in the style of a goalscorer, a nine.”
The experiment with the new formation in attack was generally described as a success, at least in the duel with the Peruvians, who missed out on the World Cup after losing to Australia in the play-offs. “I get my situations in the penalty area here. It’s great that I’m already so involved,” said Füllkrug, who was successful twice as a target player in the center. After a long pass from Schlotterbeck to Havertz, Füllkrug converted his chest deposit, then he raised after a sharp cross from debutant Marius Wolf when he shot in from close range. A defender prevented another Füllkrug hit by blocking the shot just before the break (44′).
