GERMANY STRUGGLE
WITH THE TRANSITION
G
ermany are top of the group
despite being outplayed by
Holland in Hamburg. Joachim
Low’s side took an early lead
through Serge Gnabry, but defensive
tactics allowed the visitors back into a
game which they eventually won 4-2.
Low’s reshaping of his team – and in
particular the dropping of centre-backs
Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng,
along with attacking stalwart Thomas
Muller – has inevitably led to teething
troubles. A new-look defence featuring
Jonathan Tah, Niklas Sule and Nico
Schulz was wobbly against the Dutch,
while Low continues to favour Manuel
Neuer as his first-choice goalkeeperdespite’s Marc-Andre Ter Stegen’s
outstanding form for Barcelona.
Three days after Germany’s loss
to Holland, Northern Ireland threatened
an upset in Belfast until a wonderful
volley from defender Marcel Halstenberg
and another Gnabry strike, late into injury
time, spared Low’s blushes.
“In the national team, you can’t just
change everything from one day to the
next,” said Low. “I wasn’t sure after the
World Cup, because I knew that precisely
these three players [Hummels, Boateng
and Muller] could still be world-class and
they can still be that today.
“Then we had the Nations League, and
in a group with France and Holland we
needed the experienced players, but the
chance to try something new came along
in this qualifying group.
“We have started a transition. A
new cycle is beginning with the Euro
qualifications, but I deliberately wanted
to wait out the preparations and see
how the players came back from the
winter break.
“Before the qualifications, we wanted
to go through and decide which players
with prospects we’d rely on.
“We knew the others are still good,
even very good, but now it’s time for
change and already we are seeingSTAR MAN
SERGE GNABRY
Germany
Germany coach Joachim Low currently
needs as many trusted lieutenants as
possible and he certainly believes in the
versatile young Bayern Munich forward- so much so that “Jogi” even went as far
as to recently insist that the 24-year-old
was a guaranteed starter.
“Gnabry always is going to be in my
line-up,” says Low. “Serge plays with
tempo, he carries a big goal-threat
the positive impact.”
Northern Ireland, still with most of
the stalwarts of their Euro 2016 squad,
continue to defy the odds under Michael
O’Neill. They won their first four matches
before the loss to Germany at Windsor
Park but face a difficult run-in with
home-and-away games against Holland
and then Germany in Frankfurt as their
final match.
Despite the 4-2 win in Germany and
reaching the Euro Nations League Final
in June, Holland find themselves in third
place, albeit with a game in hand on both
Germany and Northern Ireland.
Ronald Koeman has been praised for
the job he has done since succeeding
Dick Advocaat in February
2018, with the emergence of
so many young stars at Ajax
having benefitted the national
side. Frenkie De Jong and
Matthijs De Ligt, who have
since moved to Barcelona and
Juventus respectively, are in fine form,
while Koeman has coaxed the best from
Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis
Depay. He has also benefited from the
emergence of Virgil Van Dijk as a leader.
Belarus fired coach Igor Kriushenko
after they lost their opening four
matches. They won their first game under
his replacement, former under-21 boss
Mikhail Markhel, against Estonia.
Martin Reim resigned as coach of
pointless Estonia in the aftermath of
an 8-0 drubbing by Germany in June.EURO 2020 | Qualifiers
GROUP
C“A new cycle is beginning
with the Euro qualifications”
Germany boss Joachim Low
Praise...Holland coach Ronald Koeman (centre)