The German U21 national team will start the European Football Championship against Israel on Thursday. The defending champion goes into the game (6:00 p.m./audio stream at sportschau.de) in Kutaisi, Georgia, and wants to use his victory to create a good starting position for reaching the quarter-finals.
The top two teams in the group advance to the knockout phase. Other opponents are the Czech Republic (June 25) and England (June 28).
“Of course I already have a team in mind. My gut feeling will decide one or the other position, there are still one or two positions open,” said coach Antonio Di Salvo before the final training session. “Losing is forbidden” is the motto in Kutaisi at the start against Israel – a team that already knows the DFB selection from qualifying.
Israel known from qualifying
“We won twice very narrowly against Israel,” said Di Salvo on the Sportschau microphone, “twice the game was on the brink. There were some changes, but they will annoy us.” The good thing is that “a lot of players were there and therefore know that Israel are a really good team,” said Di Salvo.
The DFB selection won twice with just one goal, on Di Salvo’s debut in October 2021 in Paderborn (3: 2) the team even turned a deficit at the very last minute. “Anyone who qualifies for the European Championship is good. We had to experience that. We know that the games were close and will be close again now,” said the 44-year-old before his first European Championship game as head coach. “We have to be prepared for it to be disgusting,” said defender Kenneth Schmidt.
Continuous rain in Georgia
The DFB juniors didn’t bring the sun with them from the training camp in South Tyrol, instead: continuous rain in Georgia, a wet pitch and a “highly motivated” and “aggressive” opponent are waiting. In addition, no starting eleven has emerged in the run-up to the newly formed squad. The last test match was closed to the public, Di Salvo wanted to keep up the competition until the end.
Bisseck captain, Atubolu in goal
Central defender Yann-Aurel Bisseck will be the new captain of the U21 national team, as will Yannik Keitel in central midfield and the two senior internationals Kevin Schade and Josha Vagnoman on the right. Noah Atubolu is number one in goal, while Youssoufa Moukoko is expected to score the goals in attack.
“We need team spirit, but also quality, and we have to be able to retrieve that with pinpoint accuracy,” said Di Salvo, who is aware that a defeat at the start and the end of the group is imminent. The big chunk with title contenders England is still to come. On the way to qualifying for the Olympics and on the mission of defending your title, slip-ups must literally be avoided. “The weather changes the preparation a lot. We have to be prepared for everything and just hit the ball long,” said creative player Angelo Stiller.
The expected German line-up: 1 Atubolu – 2 Vagnoman, 5 Bisseck, 4 Dardai, 22 Netz – 6 Krauss, 8 Keitel – 9 Schade, 10 Stiller, 20 Ngankam – 11 Moukoko