For long periods he was more of an observer than an active participant in this qualifying game for participation in the 2025 U-21 European Championship tournament in Slovakia. A status that clearly displeased Ansgar Knauff, the most experienced German U-21 national player alongside his Cologne colleague Eric Martel with twelve appearances.
He repeatedly waved to his colleagues by raising his right arm along the lines of, “I’m still here,” or called out a clearly audible “ey” to draw attention to himself. Alone: The slightly frustrated professional from Eintracht Frankfurt received a few passes, who was left behind on the left wing without any bad intentions from his teammates.
The 21-year-old from Lower Saxony, a thrilling winger on a good day, was only more closely involved in the interaction of the German juniors on Friday evening after the break in the Paderborn stadium, without Knauff being able to set one or two decisive accents.
The odd imbalance
After the clear 4-1 win over Estonia towards the end, the third win in the third group game in Group D, his selection coach Antonio Di Salvo was somewhat satisfied with his team’s dominant and yet tough performance over long stretches, which was achieved through the powerful Shots from Hoffenheim’s Maximilian Beier (30th) and Dortmund’s Youssufa Moukoko (54th) took the lead, after the Estonian Kuraksin (64th) made it 1-2, it briefly wobbled and the two goals from Mönchengladbach debutant Rocco Reitz (88th). /90.+4), who initiated the 1:2 with a clumsy loss of the ball, and rounded off the unequal duel in terms of the result.
Nevertheless, in his criticism of the maneuvers, Di Salvo did not overlook one or two imbalances in the game of the defending champions, who were eliminated after the group games at the European Championship finals in Georgia and Romania in the summer. Ansgar Knauff, with whom the coach was “generally satisfied”, also received mild criticism on the way to what is currently the most important duel in Group D.
“Ansgar could also have scored two or three goals if he had had a little more luck. The game felt like it played more on the right side – especially in the first half. But sometimes he didn’t keep the breadth either.” To put it more precisely: Knauff, who comes from Göttingen, this time more of a left-winger than a left-winger, could have invigorated contact with his colleagues by thinking a little more from his lonely outpost would have moved inside.
Things got better after the change when Knauff, who only managed one goal in his twelve appearances for the German U21s, was unable to take advantage of his opportunities. A volley narrowly missed the goal (50th), and after a successful dribble, Knauff finished his solo too late (58th).
Friendly and willing to provide information as always, Knauff, who returned to the starting eleven at Eintracht Frankfurt under coach Dino Toppmöller, one of the Sturm und Drang heroes on the way to the Europa League triumph in 2022, assessed his rather inconspicuous contribution to Paderborn’s mandatory victory above the groups -Fifth Estonia.
“Today we lost the ball a little too often. That happened to me two or three times too. “In addition, all of us, including me, could have been more effective in front of the opponent’s goal to decide the game earlier.”
Anything but a loner
Quite different from his Dortmund colleague Karim Adeyemi, who was the same age and who, in search of his form and a return to the senior national team, had canceled his participation in the two current tests in the German U-21 team in order to be able to play in Dortmund without the majority of the team Ansgar Knauff always feels at home in the junior national team to get his colleagues, who are currently employed by various national teams, in shape.
The already non-polarizing offensive player in Di Salvo’s team, who used to swing between the right and left wing positions for a long time, said: “The U21s give me a lot, after the last international break in October I assisted on a goal to make it 3-1 in a 3-2 win Victory over Bulgaria took the momentum to Frankfurt. After that, things went better for me at the club. For me it’s always nice to come to the U21s and play with the boys. It’s something different, a different system, different teammates – that’s always really good for me.”
It’s no wonder that Ansgar Knauff, anything but a loner, is very popular in the junior national team because of his balancing nature. He comes across as a disinterested left-winger without big words, like the anti-Adyemi, whose failure to appear in the U21 circle on Friday was also criticized by Bernd Neuendorf, the President of the German Football Association. “I think it’s a mistake,” he said in Paderborn when asked about the young star’s U-21 decision not to play. But there is “no point in forcing anyone to come here. It doesn’t help the team if someone shows up with half their effort.”
Roland Zorn, Paderborn Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 27
Ansgar Knauff, who is now used at Eintracht as well as in the U21 on the left instead of the right side, which he prefers, so that he can move inwards from there and finish with his strong right foot, dared after a performance in Paderborn, which didn’t satisfy him, was at least a prediction for the second part of the final qualifying mission: “Unfortunately I didn’t score a goal today, but that will happen again. Hopefully in the next game against Poland.” If that were the case, he would once again be the focus of interest. In Paderborn he was more of a marginal figure.
