Yet another international break rolls in and Germany looks as unprepared as ever. Team strength continues to be a persistent issue with Joshua Kimmich joining the large list of injured personnel. Facing Luxembourg yet again this year, now at their home stadium, was slated to be an easy fixture for Die Mannschaft, even if they were grossly understaffed. What ensued was a jarring wake up call no team is too small to play callously. A rude awakening of a first half that almost certainly would have ended in a German loss was followed by a partial redemption in the second half, ending 2-0 for the visitors.
I nearly choked on my water finding out that Luxembourg striker Aiman Dadari is 20 years old. Was I to believe that a 20-year-old gave Germany a run for their money?
The entire Luxembourg sides singular threat was the youngster, who absolutely bossed every defender he came in contact with from Jonathan Tah, to Waldemar Anton and David Raum. He had two very important chances, in which he both nearly scored. He was the only player to consistently emerge better than his opposition and proved that even such senior players were beatable. One for the future for sure.
Winning nearly all of his duels, Tahs performance was crucial. Though the overall state of Germanys defense may have not looked good, the captain salvaged it and acts as a leader, anchoring the team through a scrappy second half where they did seem to worry a bit more. He had a few noteworthy tackles in the game that were key to maintain the clean sheet. If not for him, Dadari could have scored
It perhaps took the removal of Leon Goretzka to display just how good Aleksander Pavlović is. The youngster had made impressive plays priorly but to no avail, until the ball he set up for Nick Woltemades first goal. That long pass from behind to Leroy Sané must be framed, for his accuracy and power. There were multiple such long balls throughout the game all of insanely high quality. Pavlović is truly a one-man-midfield and it remains to be seen what he can do when placed with another competent midfielder.
While it may still be unfortunate and unbelievable that David Raum and Ridle Baku are as close to full-backs as Germany can have, it must be noted that Raum had a few shines of brilliance in attack. Perhaps it is best not speak much of his defensive side he was constantly hitting a wall and could not gain control of his side. But where he inches over even a decent game from Leroy Sané or Serge Gnabry was his inevitable presence his attempts at attacking, even if the quality of his set pieces were poor.
Who if not him? The young striker has been struggling to make a real impact for Germany. but he turned the tides today. The first goal was finished perfectly on the very first touch after Leroy Sanés pass. The second was also well taken, coming from an excellent ball played in by Ridle Baku. It is evident from the above goals his finishing skills have drastically improved and this is a more complete Woltemade than the one we saw here in Germany. And there it is, he has finally scored a brace with his newfound skill set.
A brace that saved Germany from an embarrassing loss, and putting the team a step closer to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.