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The team, the original: “The last game we played together was eleven months ago,” captain Manuel Neuer said before the game. And he made it clear: The three games after the crown pandemic, all of which were pretty frustrating draws with the squads, didn’t really count. With the return of the Bayern bloc and a few more Leipzigers, things were better, but exciting football is still different.
The result: The 13 months without a defeat continue, the eleven months without a victory are coming to an end: the DFB-Elf won 2-1 (1-0) in Kiev over Ukraine. Read the game report here.
The first half: The opening phase fueled the fear of being left without a win in Game 7 of the Nations League since the competition was introduced. Ukraine’s central midfield was Toni Kroos and Joshua Kimmich standing early, his own team’s offensive midfield was sparsely kept in the basic 3-4-2-1 order. Time and time again, the DFB-Elf allowed turnovers in construction. Then Matthias Ginter found himself behind a somewhat unorthodox corner to take the lead (minute 20), which calmed the game and the nerves.
Rüdiger’s appearance: Most of the laurels from the 1-0 victory go to an almost forgotten national player: Antonio Rüdiger, who recently struggled to break into the Chelsea squad – Joachim Löw stayed in the bottom three. Rüdiger hit the ball in this variant of corner more by chance than expected at the height of the penalty area, turned rival Eduard Sobol, advanced on the outside and played a perfect cross to Matthias Ginter on the right. A strong scene, especially from a central defender, and yet a testament to the fact that the German team relied on individual actions.
The second half: Immediately after the break, the German team presented a multitude of occasions. Leon Goretzka’s (49th) 2-0 was actually neither of them, but more on that later. Much more interesting: would Joachim Löw finally see his team tour in time? Should be adjusted again: After an unfortunate tackle by Niklas Süle against Roman Yaremchuk, Ruslan Malinovskiy led the Ukrainians to a goal with a penalty (76th), but the weakened hosts were too harmless for a late draw.
The main thing is healthy: Grigoriy Bushchan is the only goalkeeper number three or four on the Ukraine team. Since his positional rivals Andriy Lunin, Andriy Pyatov and Yuriy Pankiv were not on the team due to Covid-19 illnesses, Bushchan reached his second international match against Germany. Bushchan held strong against Serge Gnabry (35th, 82nd), Julian Draxler (51st) and Lukas Klostermann (57th), but in the DFB team’s 2-0 game a harmless flank from Klostermann escaped from the hands and reached for it. Head of Goretzka. At the end of the day there was at least the change of jersey with Manuel Neuer, and the certainty that 45-year-old goalkeeping coach Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, who was put on the bench as the last substitute, did not have to make an unplanned professional comeback.
Dr. Eisenfaust is not a virologist: Speaking of Covid-19: Johns Hopkins University reported the record number of 5,961 new corona infections in Ukraine for Friday alone, and the Robert Koch Institute has long regarded the country as a risk area. In Kiev, 17,573 fans were able to be in the stadium. Vitali Klitschko, once world boxing champion and now mayor, had given the green light for the backdrop. On October 25, Klitschko stands for reelection.
Sterngucker Ginter: In hindsight, striker Ginter didn’t seem to want to be happy with his performance or victory on the ARD mic. “We also know that we do not play the stars in the sky,” he said of the 90 minutes in Kiev. Joachim Löw was also upset afterwards by too many long balls and mistakes in the preparation game. There is still a long way to go to reach the best form: on Tuesday another Nations League match against Switzerland (8:45 pm, TV: ARD, live ticker: SPIEGEL.de) offers the next opportunity to do better.
