World Cup qualification in a quick check: Romania points out a problem to Löw

With the 3-0 win against Iceland, the German national soccer team successfully started their qualification for the Qatar World Cup. Romania is probably the most difficult away game in the group. In the end, the Löw-Elf wins the game – but struggles with their own usury of opportunities.

What happened?

“You’re The First, My Last, My Everything”: To whom coach Joachim Löw dedicated the love song, which he breathed into the microphone at least as emotionally as soul singer Barry White at the press conference before the Romania game, only he knows. But since Löw decided not to stay the national coach forever, he has appeared much more relaxed. In what is probably the toughest away game in World Cup qualifying group J, the freshly baked hardliner trusts the same team that expertly bagged the first three points against Iceland. The classic Löw rotation has to pause first.

Because the motto for the DFB kick-off in the calendar year 2021 is clear: “Play in, automatisms, create a team”, he explained before the game on RTL. Despite the 3-0 success against Iceland, not everything went well. The still-national coach complained that the ball landed too often with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer too often in his own build-up of the game and even when it comes to the level over the full 90 minutes, there is still room for improvement in between.

A difficult personnel issue is also looming: Similar to FC Bayern, Joshua Kimmich likes to be the boss of the DFB team. Top dog Toni Kroos is still injured in the first qualifying games. Should he be fit and in shape again, that could shake Löw’s plans tremendously.

A topic off the field dominated the reporting: the “human rights” shirts in the game against Iceland. The professionals of the German national team joined the protest against the human rights situation in Qatar with Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. So far, so commendable. But what the DFB did with it afterwards, in an almost DFB-typical manner, drew great criticism. A video appeared on Twitter showing how Kimmich and Co. painted the letters on their jerseys. The association used the actual message for marketing – rather less commendable. However, Löw made it clear: “If someone thinks that our players let themselves be pulled in front of the cart for marketing purposes, they are very wrong. Our players know what happens outside of the football field.” One can only hope that it really is.

Teams and goals

Gate: 0: 1 Gnabry (17th)

Romania:
Nita – Popescu, Chiriches, Tosca, Camora (46th Burca) – Marin, Stanciu, Hagi (83rd Maxim), Tanase (83rd Cicaldau), Mihaila (66th Man) – Keseru (66th Puscas); Trainer: Radoi.

Germany:
Neuer – Klostermann, Ginter, Rüdiger, Can – Kimmich – Goretzka (90th + 4 Younes), Gündoğan – Havertz (77th Werner), Gnabry (90th + 2 Neuhaus), Sané; Trainer: Löw.

Referee:
Clement Turpin (France)

Yellow cards:
Popescu – Kimmich

The usury of opportunities in the feature film

Before kick-off: No mistake, but intent: based on the 30 articles of the UN Charter of Fundamental Rights, the DFB players wear their shirt numbers on the front of the compulsory team photo. The message is so clear that the association has to explain it on Twitter first.

2nd minute: The first bit of chance: quick switchover option. Havertz dribbles with an incredible amount of space and speed – but his attempt on the flank is intercepted.

5th minute: There it is, the first degree. Sané dribbles himself tight, but conquers the ball centrally in front of the 16. Via detours (Gündoğan’s heel) the ball lands at left-back Can, who pulls off the edge of the penalty area – but the shot is set too high.

8th minute: A shot on goal with the title “There was more in it”. Keseru starts after a counterattack from almost 18 meters for the first conclusion of the Romanians. But the ball does not pose a threat to Manuel Neuer.

9th minute: Suddenly things are moving fast: almost in return, Gnabry walks unrestrictedly through the Romanian midfield and has an eye for Havertz. The Chelsea professional comes into the penalty area from the right at great speed, looks for a teammate in the middle, does not find anyone and fails from just five meters from keeper Nita.

12th minute: Oops, that was very easy: Central defender Chiriches is not really pressured by Sane and just hits an outstanding diagonal ball. The pass with an estimated packing rate of 10 overwhelms the entire German team, but attacker Keseru fails freely on Neuer.

16.Minute: TOOOOOR for Germany: 1-0 Gnabry. The Chelsea Connection prepares the German leadership. Long ball from Rüdiger to Havertz, the flag stays down, Havertz lays across and Gnabry knows what to do with such a ball from a short distance. Without VAR there is no long pause, the hit counts.

20th minute: Germany continues to apply pressure. If the man-covered Kimmich is not allowed to combine, he just holds on to it: After graduating from 25 meters, the crossbar wobbles tremendously.

33rd minute: What Kimmich can do against Iceland, Goretzka can also against Romania: Chipball outwards to Klostermann, who cannot control the ball one hundred percent, lays across and Gnabry only finishes with his thigh.

43rd minute: He’s still not allowed to come out of the game, with standards, but there are few countable things: Kimmich free kick, Gnabry header, Romania goal kick.

Halftime: A 1-0 of the mediocre variety. Germany wants to, but cannot really, and Romania defends that very cleverly.

48th minute: That’s how it can go: Gündogan sees that Romania stands tall and sends Sane long. But goalkeeper Nita clears the long ball in a new manner.

50th minute: Sané shows his whole class, the Romanian defenders pull up, but that doesn’t really matter to the Bayern professional. On the left he sees Can, who is distracting us from Goretzka. But again it is Nita who can confirm his good impression.

60th minute: Next chance, next good deed by Nita: Gündogan shoots from the half-left from 15 meters, Nita first fends off the ball upwards and then fists it away with one hand before Gündogan can head the ball.

72nd minute: Neuer wants to put the ball down with his chest, but he overestimates himself. Ginter prevents worse things from happening.

80th minute: Werner, Werner, WERNER? The Chelsea attacker gets the ball free in front of Nita, but the scene joins the previous ones.

87th minute: The tight German leadership wobbles. Puscas picks up the pace and dances Rpdiger on the edge of the sixteen. But the surprisingly harmless shot ends up in Neuer’s arms

89th minute: Oops, what was that? Is there still a balance? The Romanians have their second big chance in the closing stages. Sané’s back pass to Ginter misses and Stanciu conquers the ball in the DFB penalty area, but his shot lands in the side netting.

What was good?

The first good action happened before the game even started. Inspired by the 30 articles of the UN Charter of Fundamental Rights, the players wore their jerseys with the numbers on the front before kick-off. After the final whistle, captain Manuel Neuer again emphasized on RTL that the action – like the one against Iceland before it – was an idea of ​​the team. Here, too, there is only hope that this is actually the case. The trust in the DFB was certainly greater.

The number of chances that the Löw-Elf had worked out was immense. Sané, Gnabry and Havertz could have made the 2-0 relatively easily. Especially the combination game when switching, when it comes to quick direct passes, is quite impressive.

No goal.

(Photo: dpa)

You cannot avoid praising the Romanians. Above all, keeper Florin Nita used the numerous opportunities to distinguish himself. Only one of the twelve shots that hit his goal landed in it. That is a remarkable rate, especially since many of the German chances were very promising.

With a very simple tactical trick, coach Mirel Rădoi made life much more difficult for his counterpart. The measure of using two own offensive players (Mihaila and Tanase) to take care of Kimmich paid off. While the Bayern player was still pulling the strings against Iceland, he remained pale against Romania and barely appeared. This deliberate weakening in the build-up of the game was noticeable over the entire 90 minutes.

What was bad

The big problem of the DFB-Elf was the exploitation of chances. Sané, Gnabry, Havertz and also Werner later: They all showed that they have the individual class to play out dangerous situations, even if the DFB midfield could not develop properly. But how they dealt with the chances was almost negligent. The Löw-Elf did not succeed in converting the undisputed dominance into goals.

One reason for this could be the ongoing debate about the “classic nine”. The national team lacks someone who can always be played, and who can sometimes be found on the cross. As a center forward, Löw put on Gnabry. The Bayern player is just 1.75 meters tall, so the offensive also lacks the opportunity to hit a high ball from the outside into the sixteenth. That makes the game of the DFB team more predictable. A deep chain of defense can only be cracked with great effort.

More than 20 return passes found their way to Manuel Neuer. In itself this is not unusual, the goalkeeper is considered a strong footballer. According to Löw, however, they wanted to work to ensure that the freshly baked 35-year-old is less sought after as an opportunity to play. Especially in the first half it became apparent that there was still a lack of automatisms. Ginter and Klostermann made too many bad passes in the first half when building up the game.

What do those involved say?

National coach Joachim Löw: “We worked very well against the ball, we had good conquests. We had some very good combinations. If you can criticize something, it’s the evaluation of chances. We could have made the game easier by making it 2-0. It was important that we have the three points. Overall, you can be satisfied with them, we can build on that. It’s important to get used to this year after we had a lot of changes last year. ”

Joshua Kimmich: “I do think that we can make it easier for ourselves. (…) We just have to decide earlier, then we will have a quieter evening.”

Manuel Neuer: “I think that we have to put the lid on earlier, then we won’t be in danger. We have to score the second or third goal to have peace of mind.”

Serge Gnabry: “The three points are important for us. In the end, it doesn’t matter how we got them. We should have decided the game much earlier. We made life difficult for ourselves. We played well and created good chances. In In the second half we just have to do things. It wasn’t a step backwards. ”

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