Friendly losses for Toljan, Amiri, and Kramaric
U21 Germany vs. U21 Portugal
In what was a difficult test, the Germany youths took on their Portuguese counterparts in advance of the European Championship in Poland, with Jeremy Toljan starting on the left of a midfield five. The defensive player had the first good chance of the game fall to him after only four minutes of play, when his volley from inside the box flew just over the goal. The Germans were off to the better start, but after a solid 15 minutes, the Portuguese turned it around and took the lead thanks to a wonder-goal from Bruno Fernandes. The end of the first-half saw a flurry of chances for Germany to equalise, but Davie Selke (37’), Marc-Oliver Kempf (38’), and Max Meyer (39’) failed to convert.
Germany’s U21s resumed after the break without the presence of Toljan, but did bring on Nadiem Amiri. They fought hard for the equaliser, but Portugal held strong. SC Freiburg’s Maximilian Philipp had the best chance to level the score with a header, but failed to do so (88’).
The European Championship in Poland begins on 18th of June for the Germans, featuring a clash against the Czech Republic (18:00 CEST), before they go on to play Denmark (21st June 20:45 CEST), and Italy (24th June 20:45 CEST).
Estonia vs. Croatia
Andrej Kramaric too, was on the losing side of a game, as the Croatians lost 3-0 against Estonia. Kramaric started the game and played the full 90 minutes. The striker had a good chance, but it was parried by the Estonian goalkeeper. The goals for the hosts were scored in the 1st, 81st, and 84th minutes.
U19 Germany vs. U19 Slovakia
Germany’s U19 outfit collected their tickets for the 2017 European Championship in Georgia, owing to a 4-0 victory over Slovakia. They were helped by two TSG players in the form of Dennis Geiger and Robin Hack. The former was substituted after 60 minutes, whilst Hack started, played the whole game, and scored the go-ahead goal in the fifth minute.