U21 European Championship: Germany is eliminated – without courage and without heart – sport

The German U21 soccer players could have secured their Olympic ticket at the European Championships next Saturday evening. In the quarter-finals in Tbilisi it would have been against the hosts, Georgia, who surprisingly finished first in their group – a solvable task. However, this plan has a crucial catch: Germany’s oldest junior national team did not qualify for the quarter-finals. She flew home on Thursday.

In order to get into the European Championship quarterfinals, several things should have worked, all of which didn’t work. The German team should have converted one of two penalties in the opening game against Israel (1-1) or used their 80 percent possession of the ball and a manpower to score a winning goal. In the second game against the Czech Republic she should have aimed her 28 shots on goal better, used her 70 percent ball possession more effectively or at least avoided half an own goal to make it 2-1 three minutes before the end. Or she should have shown at least a little will to win and won in the last group game against Englishmen who had already qualified and had changed eight positions (0:2). Because then it would still have been enough for the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening – and for the great opportunity to reach the semi-finals against Georgia and thus also the Olympic tournament in 2024.

The U21s missed all these chances. The successors of the German 2021 European champions finished last with just one point in a group that was certainly not too difficult. They have scored just two goals in four and a half hours, despite having the highest number of shots on target of any 16 teams in the group stage – 60. Georgia – just for reference – as winners of Group A, have had just 25 shots in their three games – and now meets Israel instead of Germany in the quarter-finals. Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of the national teams at the German Football Association (DFB), did not mean Georgia and Israel when he stated with disappointment on Wednesday evening: “Other nations are ahead of us.” He looked more at the sovereign tournament favorites England, France and Spain.

The German U21s have been eliminated from the group stage for the first time in ten years – and for the first time ever without a single win. The whole mishap started when Youssoufa Moukoko missed a penalty in the third minute of the opening game and the Israelis took the lead shortly afterwards. The Germans never led in their three group games, never had a good feeling, never developed a flow. Everything went against her.

What the coaches and officials at the association will not forgive them so easily is that they no longer developed any passion against England despite a still real chance of progressing. After 20 minutes they were already 0:2 behind, after that they kicked around tiredly, as if they were already on vacation on the beach. Chatzialexiou called the German appearance at the European Championship a “super meltdown”, a DFB selection could hardly have presented itself worse internationally. On Thursday in Batumi he also warned that you shouldn’t miscalculate everything and “don’t bury German football either”. But, according to Chatzialexiou, “The fact is: our mission here has not been fulfilled.”

Under coach Stefan Kuntz, the U21s were in the final of the European Championship three times

The overall result does not reflect well on promising players like Yann Aurel Bisseck, Josha Vagnoman, Yannik Keitel, Angelo Stiller or Kevin Schade. You couldn’t recommend yourself for the senior national team, which is currently looking for impetus. The fact that the U21s were almost a full eleven away from the European Championship due to injuries is also a reason for the poor performance, but no excuse for the remainder’s lack of a fight against England. “Without courage, without heart,” was how midfielder Angelo Stiller felt about his team’s final performance.

It was also noticeable that under the new U21 coach Antonio Di Salvo the necessary team spirit and cohesion that is needed for such a tournament did not appear. Di Salvo actually knows how it works, because he experienced it for five years – as the assistant to the head coach Stefan Kuntz, who had led three successive U21 generations to three European Championship finals with his charisma and enthusiasm, 2017 and 2017 2021 even to the title.

The contract with Di Salvo was extended before the EM

However, they stopped a debate about Di Salvo at the DFB before the EM when they prematurely extended his contract until 2025. Accordingly, Chatzialexiou said on Wednesday evening: “There is no coaching discussion because we expressed our confidence in Toni before the tournament because we see how he works.”

As of now, Di Salvo with his assistants Hermann Gerland, Daniel Niedzkowski and Klaus Thomforde will also be able to lead the next U21 generation to the upcoming European Championships, which will take place in Slovakia in 2025. Seven players from the current squad are then allowed to play for reasons of age. These certainly include goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (SC Freiburg) and center forward Youssoufa Moukoko (BVB) and Nelson Weiper (Mainz 05). Because they play in relevant positions, the hopes of the football nation now rest on them.