Germany vs Spain a few quick Under 21 thoughts
Dan Tracey
July 1, 2017
1,731 Views
- It’s in the history books, Germany are the UEFA Under 21 European Championships
- In something of a surprise outcome Stefan Kuntz’s side win the title for only the second time as the 1996 European Champion masterminded a win over Albert Celades’ La Riojita
- What made it more impressive for Germany was that the pulled off this feat without a recognised striker
- Davie Selke who has lead the line for Germany in the four other matches was dropped to the bench as Maximillian Philipp was given the task of spearheading Germany’s attack
- Germany kept the same shape as in the game with England previously and they easily managed to contain what Spain threw at them
- This Spain side which was captained by Barcelona bound Gerard Deloufeu were coming into this game with an unbeaten record
- One that saw them average over three goals per game while only conceding twice throughout the length of the competition
- It’s almost harsh in a sense that Spain only let three goals in all tournament but that is the nature of tournament football and ultimately it boils down to what you do in the final
- It was a quiet night for the likes of Saul, Marco Asensio and Everton target Sandro Ramirez and one that would ultimately end in disappointment for the young Spanish side
- For Asensio in particularly it meant that he could not add another piece of silverware to what has been an already successful season what with Champions League, La Liga and European Supercup medals to his name
- The key moment in the game was five minutes before the break when Germany scored the game’s only goal
- Hertha Berlin’s Mitchell Weiser met Jeremy Toljan’s cross to flick the ball into the far corner of the net from a tight angle
- It left Kepa Arrizabalaga rooted to the spot and the Athletic Bilbao ‘keeper could do nothing as the ball soared over his head
- First blood Germany
- And that was the only blood that would be spilled in terms of goals
- Spain try as they might could not break down a dogged Germany side who showed a gutsy resistance
- Especially when the Spanish surged forward late on in search of an equaliser
- Try as they might though they could not breakdown the German backline
- It was to be a frustrating night for Saul Niguez
- He may well have gone home with the tournament Golden Boot but in a heartbeat he would have swapped that for a winners medal
- For the Spain side it is the end of the cycle as a number of players including that of Barcelona target Hector Bellerin now move on and aim to be part of the international setup
- While for Germany it just goes to show that the future is very bright
- Not only have they won this age range tournament but a young experimental side is in the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup tomorrow night
- It looks pretty ominous in regards to next summer’s FIFA World Cup and you would be hard pressed to look past a German side defending their title and being the first nation to win back to back trophies since Brazil in 1962
Like this:
Like Loading...
Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
