The German U21 team, including three-goal scorer Karim Adeyemi, put on a goal show on the way to the European Championship finals. After the 10:1 (5:0) win in Estonia, coach Antonio Di Salvo’s team is almost certain to take part in the European Championship in Slovakia next summer. With two games to go before the end of the qualifying round, the German Football Association’s selection leads the table with a four-point lead over Poland.
After the 5:1 win against Israel last week, the team also impressed against the winless bottom team with their enthusiasm for playing and their desire to score goals. Dortmund’s Adeyemi even scored three times after his brace against Israel in Tallinn (35th, 44th and 61st minutes). In addition to the U21 returnee, Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade (23rd minute/penalty), Nicolo Tresoldi from Hannover 96 (31st) and captain Eric Martel from 1. FC Köln (39th) scored the other goals before the break.
Record victory was a long time ago
In the second half, Woltemade (47th) also scored twice. Max Rosenfelder from SC Freiburg celebrated his debut goal for the U21s (59th). Cologne’s Tim Lemperle (87th) and Frankfurt’s Ansgar Knauff (90th) increased the score. Aleksandr Sapovalov had previously scored the celebrated goal for Estonia with a brilliant shot (69th). The record victory for the German U21s is the 11:0 against San Marino in November 2009.
The German team will continue on October 11th in Regensburg against Bulgaria, and four days later the final match against Poland is scheduled. After finally booking his ticket to the European Championships, Di Salvo could then use the international match window in November to further rehearse his formation for the finals or to experiment.
Team meets Di Salvo’s demand
“We want to play in such a way that people can see that we are Germany and we want to win clearly,” Di Salvo had given his team the order of the day shortly before kick-off on ProSieben Maxx. This was what they were expecting. After the Estonians, including 16-year-old Patrik Kristal, who will play for 1. FC Köln next year, put up a brave fight in the early stages, the game became one-sided after Woltemade’s penalty. It’s hard to believe: Goalkeeper Kaur Kivila prevented anything even worse.
With a clear half-time lead behind him, Di Salvo made three substitutions at half-time. He helped Stuttgart’s Frans Krätzig to make his U21 debut, and later Bochum’s Tim Oermann also got his first start. The absence of key players such as striker Youssoufa Moukoko, who wants to settle in at the French first division club, or offensive player Brajan Gruda, who moved from 1. FSV Mainz 05 to Brighton & Hove Albion in England, was not a problem given the next convincing performance.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240910-930-228906/1
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