After the convincing 1-0 victory against England, the last test for Germany U21s before the European Championships in Poland later this year is this evening’s meeting with Portugal in Stuttgart (18:00 CEST). Stefan Kuntz’s side will be looking to put down a marker against a direct rival for the U21 European Championships. Portugal also qualified for the tournament as group winners and won their match last Friday 3-1 against Norway.
"We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s game," said Stefan Kuntz. "It will be just as difficult against Portugal as it was against England, but in a different way." While the physical capability of the Germans was tested during the second-half against an England side which improved as the game progressed, the 54-year-old is expecting a more technical game against the Portuguese. It will be important to put Portugal under pressure from the first whistle and disrupt their play. "As always, we want to dictate the opposition and play our own game," said Kuntz.
Our intention is to utilise the whole U21 squad. "We want to share the workload as some of the boys are due to play on Friday in the Bundesliga," explained Kuntz. It’s possible that Germany will go with the same 3-5-1-1 system that we played against England in order to practise the formation. But 4-1-4-1 is also a possibility.
Goretzka is match fit
Leon Goretzka is fit for the last match before the European Championships and can hardly wait to be involved, "I feel fit and have trained fully over the last few days. I’m ready," said the midfielder from Schalke 04. He also said at the official pre-game press conference that there are a lot of full internationals who still don’t know which tournament they’ll be going to in the summer. "We’re not thinking about whether we’re going to Poland or the Confed-Cup. We’re hoping that both teams give a good account of themselves in the summer. We’ll have to wait and see who plays for which team," said the 22-year-old.
Germany last faced Portugal in the 2015 European Championship in the Czech Republic, but were knocked out with a heavy 5-0 defeat in the semi-final stage of the tournament. Matthias Ginter, Max Meyer, and Maximilian Arnold were all a part of that squad then, but are not fazed by the result. This is made all the more so thanks to the fact that Meyer, Ginter, Davie Selke, and Jeremy Toljan were all involved in their 4-0 quarter-final Olympic victory. “The 2015 game is no longer in the back of our minds,” said Stefan Kuntz: “It’s a new campaign, and the boys want to write their own story.” And they will look to do exactly that, with a second success over another real test, prior to the start of the European Championship.
After the convincing 1-0 victory against England, the last test for Germany U21s before the European Championships in Poland later this year is this evening’s meeting with Portugal in Stuttgart (18:00 CEST). Stefan Kuntz’s side will be looking to put down a marker against a direct rival for the U21 European Championships. Portugal also qualified for the tournament as group winners and won their match last Friday 3-1 against Norway.
"We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s game," said Stefan Kuntz. "It will be just as difficult against Portugal as it was against England, but in a different way." While the physical capability of the Germans was tested during the second-half against an England side which improved as the game progressed, the 54-year-old is expecting a more technical game against the Portuguese. It will be important to put Portugal under pressure from the first whistle and disrupt their play. "As always, we want to dictate the opposition and play our own game," said Kuntz.
Our intention is to utilise the whole U21 squad. "We want to share the workload as some of the boys are due to play on Friday in the Bundesliga," explained Kuntz. It’s possible that Germany will go with the same 3-5-1-1 system that we played against England in order to practise the formation. But 4-1-4-1 is also a possibility.
Goretzka is match fit
Leon Goretzka is fit for the last match before the European Championships and can hardly wait to be involved, "I feel fit and have trained fully over the last few days. I’m ready," said the midfielder from Schalke 04. He also said at the official pre-game press conference that there are a lot of full internationals who still don’t know which tournament they’ll be going to in the summer. "We’re not thinking about whether we’re going to Poland or the Confed-Cup. We’re hoping that both teams give a good account of themselves in the summer. We’ll have to wait and see who plays for which team," said the 22-year-old.
Germany last faced Portugal in the 2015 European Championship in the Czech Republic, but were knocked out with a heavy 5-0 defeat in the semi-final stage of the tournament. Matthias Ginter, Max Meyer, and Maximilian Arnold were all a part of that squad then, but are not fazed by the result. This is made all the more so thanks to the fact that Meyer, Ginter, Davie Selke, and Jeremy Toljan were all involved in their 4-0 quarter-final Olympic victory. “The 2015 game is no longer in the back of our minds,” said Stefan Kuntz: “It’s a new campaign, and the boys want to write their own story.” And they will look to do exactly that, with a second success over another real test, prior to the start of the European Championship.
