If you don’t do things on the front end, you get them on the back end. This is an old and oft-quoted, almost worn-out piece of football wisdom. But it is still so often true today. ALMOST too in the test match of the German national team against Ukraine (0-0).
27 shots closes that out DFBteam on the Ukrainian goal. Opportunity after opportunity is squandered until the worst case scenario almost occurs shortly before the end.
New one with bad ignition
Ukraine broke through in the 88th minute of the match. Robin Koch calmly resolved the situation with a pass towards goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had stormed far from his penalty area.
But the experienced goalkeeper makes a serious mistake in the center circle. His casual direct acceptance is Unpleasant casual. The chip ball lands exactly on the opponent. Andrey Yarmolenko immediately heads into the path of Artem Dovbyk, who runs alone towards the empty goal. To the great relief of all the men in German uniform, the flag immediately goes up: offside. To breathe.
Scene as a warning for the DFB team
The scene is a warning to a scattered DFB team. ARDExpert Bastian Schweinsteiger therefore warns against such ‘bad’ scenarios in football. “You are clearly the better team here. Then something like that happens in the 88th minute and you lose the match 1-0, you get on the bus and you don’t know how you lost the match,” says the 2014 world champion.
But the criticism is not only aimed at Neuer’s inexplicable failure. The national team cannot afford an ineffectiveness as evidenced by the offensive in front of the Ukrainian goal at the upcoming European Championship. There was already a blatant proliferation of opportunities at the 2022 World Cup Qatar an important reason for leaving the group early.
Nagelsmann misses Füllkrug
National coach Julian Nagelsmann nevertheless assessed the match positively and praised his team’s position at ARD afterwards. “Of course we would have preferred to win 2-0 or 3-0,” says the 35-year-old, “but we played a good game for a long time. The most important indicator is always: do we want to win? And I had the impression that we wanted to win.”
Ultimately, the team lacks penetration up front. Whether it is Ilkay Gündogan in the first half or the substitutes Maximilian Beier and Deniz Undav in the second half: it is like magic in the opponent’s penalty area. With a total of 26 crosses from outside, a real penalty area attacker in front of the goal is sorely missed.
BVB striker Niclas Füllkrug only joined the team on the matchday after the Champions League final and was not yet available. “Fülle would have been good for us today with the crosses, with his strength and heading power,” Nagelsmann also acknowledged after the match.
The 0-0 draw in the first test just before the European Championship, the lack of chance conversion and the individual carelessness are an urgent warning for the DFB team. The national coach has a number of tasks for further preparation. At the dress rehearsal of the European Championships on Friday Greece The next opportunities are in Mönchengladbach.