News (engl.)

The Germany men’s national football team secured their first three points of this year’s UEFA Nations League campaign and their first win under new head coach Jürgen Klopp in his third game in charge. Following an impressive performance, Germany defeated Serbia 2-0 and will go to Thessaloniki with the wind in their sails for the ‘revenge’ game against Greece on Sunday (KO: 20:45 CEST).

Nine kilometres away from Theresienwiese, where the 191st Oktoberfest will be celebrated until Sunday, Germany peppered the Serbian goal in the opening stages of the game at the Allianz Arena.  In a first half where there was a striking imbalance in the number of shots – 16-0 to the home side – Tom Bischof only bagged the long overdue opening goal just before the break (39’). After the break, it was all Germany again – Florian Wirtz scored a second in the 61st minute, and it remained 2-0 up until the final whistle.

Head coach Jürgen Klopp started the “second squad” of his 44-player contingent for the match, including two debutants. SC Freiburg’s Derry Scherhant made his first appearance alongside Bayern keeper Jonas Urbig – the 997th and 998th players to appear for Germany in the long history of the men’s national team. At the break, 1. FC Köln’s Said El Mala became debutant number 999, before Celtic’s Mika Baur became the 1000th. In the closing stages, Vitaly Janelt came on to become the 1001st player to make an appearance for Germany.

One-way traffic against Serbia

Against a Serbia team that preferred to sit back and included six players over the age of thirty, Germany – cheered on by the 68,121 fans in attendance in Munich – played with freedom and energy. After a handful of promising chances in the penalty area, often courtesy of the eye-catching Scherhant on the left-hand side, Alexander Pavlovic fired the first warning shot. The midfielder was teed up by Philipp Treu’s header and let fly from the edge of the box, with his effort only a hair’s breadth away from finding the back of the net (8’).

Germany continued to set the tone after Pavlovic’s effort and barely let Serbia have the ball out of their own half. It was already only a matter of time before Germany took the lead. Following a fine ball from Tom Bischof, Nick Woltemade’s effort took a deflection off an opposition defender (15’). Waldemar Anton got a shot off from the resulting corner but blazed his attempt around ten yards over the bar (16’). Just two minutes later, Florian Wirtz played captain Serge Gnabry through on goal, though the Bayern winger dragged his shot wide of the far corner from a tight angle (18’).

Bischof breaks the deadlock

Germany’s wave of attacks ebbed slightly towards the halfway mark of the first 45, and their build-up play became more error prone. Still, Germany were having all the chances. A curled effort from Bischof from around 20 metres out left the net rippling, though in reality the ball only grazed the side netting (24’). Four minutes after that, Nemanja Gudelj put in a last-ditch tackle to prevent Woltemade from latching onto a whipped ball into the box (28’). The next chance – the biggest one of the game to that point – was then squandered by Gnabry, as he was denied by a spectacular save from Serbian shot-stopper Djordje Petrovic after being set up by Woltemade (30’). Almost directly afterwards, Serbia almost turned the game completely on its head. Following Filip Kostić’s breakneck counterattack, the veteran looked to play the ball to Kosta Nedeljkovic at the far post. However, the full-back slid past the whipped cross into the box two metres out from goal.

The game remained a lively, fast-paced affair – and Germany had the upper hand once more in terms of chances. After Gnabry’s cross, Wirtz wasn’t able to test the opposition keeper with his header (35’). Gnabry’s shot from range was likewise too central to trouble Petrovic (36’). Finally, the deadlock was broken. Although, after an impressive solo effort, Wirtz hit the post with a shot in the opposition penalty area, Bischof drilled the rebound into the back of the net in front of his home crowd in Munich (39’). The opener came as a relief following such a long period of sustained pressure, though it changed nothing about the direction the game was heading in – namely towards the Serbian goal. Pavlovic’s long shot was deflected and went close to doubling Germany’s lead, flying just wide of the post (41’).

Wirtz extends lead

After Gnabry was taken off at the break, Wirtz assumed the role of setting the tone. This did nothing to change Germany’s style of play, even though chances continued to go begging. Woltemade looked bound to make it 2-0, though the Juventus attacker somehow smashed the ball over the frame of the open goal from a handful of yards out (59’). A couple of minutes later, Wirtz danced through the midfield after being given the ball by Maximilian Mittelstädt. He eventually found space in the opposition box and beat Petrovic from twelve yards out to extend Germany’s lead (61’).

Serbia made four substitutes in the 68th minute, and the changes gave the side a second wind. Directly after he entered the fray, Strahinja Pavlovic fired goalwards with a volleyed effort following a free kick. Fortunately, Urbig was in the right place at the right time to keep his clean sheet intact (68’). More changes further disrupted the flow of the game. Germany only threatened the Serbian goal again towards the end of the game, when Petrovic was called into action to keep out Malick Thiaw’s header (81’).