News (engl.)

The Germany men’s national team drew 0-0 with Greece to round off the autumn international break. With five points to their name after four games in the Nations League, Germany sit in third place behind the Netherlands and Greece (eight points each).

Head coach Jürgen Klopp opted for Jonas Urbig once again between the sticks, with Malick Thiaw partnering Waldemar Anton at centre-back. David Raum and Philipp Treu were named as the full-backs. Tom Bischof and Aleksandar Pavlovic started in the middle of the park behind attacking midfielders Florian Wirtz, Lennart Karl and Derry Scherhant. Sole striker Jonathan Burkardt rounded off the XI.

The hosts had the first big chance of the encounter, as Urbig produced a fantastic save to deny an unmarked Georgios Masouras (2’). After the early scare, Germany started to grow into the game and slowly but surely put their stamp on the match. In the eighth minute, Wirtz danced through the midfield and had the visitors’ first shot of the game, which was blocked at the very last second.

The next promising German attack also ended in a chance for Wirtz, whose header from Scherhant’s cross was unfortunately blocked by teammate Burkardt (20’). Shortly afterwards, Scherhant’s curled effort was straight at keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis who was not troubled by the Freiburg attacker’s attempt on goal (23’). The next chance fell to Raum after a corner routine, whose shot posed Tzolakis more problems but still didn’t lead to a goal.

Scherhant goes close twice

Then, the ball was in the back of the Greek net, but Burkardt’s ostensible opener was ruled out due to a handball in the build-up (32’). Just before the break, Scherhant had a good opportunity to give Germany the lead, though his shot from around 16 yards out ended up flying inches wide of the post (43’). Just after that, Germany went close again – Wirtz pulled the trigger, and Burkardt was a hair’s breadth from turning the ball into the back of the net (45+3’). All told, it was an impressive first-half performance from Germany – the only thing missing was a goal.

Karl opened the second half with Germany’s 14th shot of the encounter (47’), which was followed by a period of the Greek side using their physicality to disrupt the away team’s attacking flair. Treu missed the opportunity to get a shot off in the Greek box after being teed up by Wirtz (55’). Klopp brought on fresh legs in the 63rd minute in the form of Said El Mala and Nick Woltemade, who replaced Karl and Burkardt respectively. It almost paid off immediately for Germany, but Scherhant couldn’t get enough power behind his shot after some fine build-up play (64’).

At this point, the German pressure was starting to build again, though it didn’t necessarily translate into clear-cut chances. The window of opportunity was suddenly open for the home side, but an unmarked Masouras was unable to get a clean connection on his header (77’). Greece had grown into the affair as the second half drew on and began to shut down Germany’s attacks before they could even get going. The next double substitution came in the 83rd minute, with Bambasé Conté and Mika Baur entering the fray in place of Scherhant and Bischof. It almost led directly to a goal once again, but Treu was unable to get a shot off (87’).