June 08, (THEWILL)- The senior men’s national football team of Germany was in berserk mode on Tuesday when they went on a merciless deconstruction of Latvia in their last international friendly before heading off to compete at the rescheduled continental competition, the Euros 2020.
The rampage which began with three beautiful goals in a rapid fire eight minutes space of time did not let up until seven goals had been put past Robert Ozols, in goal for the beleaguered Latvians, who contributed to the pummelling with an own goal of his own to complete the rout and make a statement ahead of the Euros.
There was no one who truly expected Latvia to win against the German machines but the 138th ranked country in the world was pinned down in their own half for the majority of the match and their 26% possession ratio told most of the story of their game.
On Die Mannschaft’s part, Robin Gosens was pleased to find the goal in his international debut and to be the one to open the floodgates of goals because Ilkay Gundogan and man of the match Thomas Muller followed to add their names to the scoresheet after Gosens.
Latvia were yet to catch their breath from going three down when two more goals are added in a game that German coach Joachim Low was finalising his squad arrangements for the group stages of the Euros. It was with mixed reactions that the Latvians welcomed the interval, thankful for the relief and dreading another 45 minutes of the same.
To their respite, there was a slow pace to the game at the start of the second half. However, that lasted all of five minutes before Germany found the back of the net again through their Chelsea forward Timo Werner.
But it was not all doom and gloom for the Latvians as Aleksejs Saveļjevs scythed home a glorious consolation to give them a reason to celebrate. To cancel out that consolation, however, Germany went straight back down the other end and restored their lead to six. Leroy Sane was on hand to lengthen the burden on Latvia.
The scoreline did not flatter the Germans, who could have had more with the gap in terms of quality between both teams but it was a soft preparation for them ahead of the Euros where they will, with the speed and incision of their attacking play, present a challenge to continental favourites like France, when their paths cross in the period of the competition.
The 2020/2021 domestic football season favoured the German players across their European football teams and no defence will fancy facing a forward-line of Kai Havertz of UEFA Champions Chelsea, and the Bundesliga champions pair of Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller. This will make their Euros group, Group F that packs the likes of Hungary, Portugal and France, a highlight of the opening stages of the competition.
The inclusion of the pacy and fluid movements of Gosens and Joshua Kimmich with Havertz and Gnabry providing support in the flanks, Die Mannschaft now boast of zip, zest and youthfulness that will cause problems for far better teams than Latvia, making them a good proposition to take the continental trophy.
The question now is will that translate to reality and not become a theoretical projection that will flop as badly as it happened in 2018 where Germany marked an 80-year low in World Cup competition as they were sent packing from Russia 2018 in the first round, while they were defending champions.
It will not be too long before it is certain. The Euros commence on Friday, June 11 and will continue until July 11. For the first time, the competition is being held across the continent for the first time in the competition’s 60-year history, with 11 host cities in all.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
