Germany ended the final international break before Euro 2024 in style with a 2-1 win against the Netherlands in Frankfurt. This was several player’s final chance to impress before the summer.
Head coach Julian Nagelsmann gave his overall reaction to the March international break “First and foremost, that the ten days from A to Z were a lot of fun. The group did it really, very well, they have a very good relationship with each other, but also a brutal ambition. We already had a good feeling against France. And again today.” Nagelsamnn then gave the players not called up a warning ahead of the summer: “I am pleased that it worked well with the team. It was not nice to see the staff in Austria, who have been getting on the cap again and again for years. If you weren’t there now, you have to go full throttle – and be better than those who were there. In any case, we will not exchange ten or five players in the summer, that is out of the question. Maybe one or two if no one gets hurt.”
The Bundestrainer then gave his reaction to Germany’s 2-1 win against the Netherlands: “What we did outstandingly well was deep defence, with incredible activity. We had a lot of ball wins. Of course, the game can tip in both directions at the end. I’m not a huge statistics fan, but from the numbers, it was deserved in the end. This is an outstandingly cool game to analyze.”
Things got off to a poor start for Germany in when a mistake from Maximilian Mittelstädt as well as the condition of the pitch played through Netherlands midfield Joey Veerman to give the opponents the lead. However, Mittelstädt made up for the mistake when he scored his first-ever goal for Germany, cueing the long-awaited Major Tom as the goal song. Germany continued to dominate into the second half and were rewarded when a late Niclas Füllkrug header gave them the win.
On Mittelstädt’s performance, Nagelsmann said: “Outstanding. The best thing is that he is a completely normal guy, an incredibly nice guy, and always very friendly. He makes the first game, and he makes the first game very well. For me, it was interesting how he performed afterwards: At breakfast on Sunday, in training, at the next game. He makes a mistake here, goes forward and thunders the thing from 18 meters into the angle. The mistake happens, but the reaction is the most important marker, he handled it perfectly. Now he has to go on and listen to Sebastian Hoeneß, then I am confident that he will dribble up here again in the summer.”
Germany have two more friendlies in June against Ukraine and Greece before they kick off their Euros against Scotland in Munich on June 14th.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
