Beier and Woltemade help Germany U21s punch ticket to summer Euros
Antonio di Salvo's Germany U21 side have officially qualified for this coming summer's UEFA U21 European Championship after narrowly defeating the Bulgarian U21s at Regensburg's Jahnstadion on Friday evening. Unlike in their two lopsided victories during the September international break, a slightly altered XI had to work much harder to secure all three points in their penultimate qualification fixture. With three changes from the last competitive fixture, di Salvo kept the projected 4-2-3-1 in place. Nick Woltemade remained in the ten slot while Maximilian Beier worked the left flank opposite Ansgar Knauff.
A dominant display from the German hosts in the opening ten minutes soon yielded a well-deserved goal. Rocco Reitz took advantage of a poor Bulgarian clearance off a corner in the 9th. The Gladbach professional - accorded a great deal of time and space on the right - took his time picking out the right cross for DFB teammate Beier, who then supplied a deft headed-finish in just underneath the crossbar. Di Salvo's juniors could have increased the lead in subsequent minutes, yet missed out on the second goal via some overthinking from Beier in the box and a couple of poor touches from Woltemade and Knauff.
The Bulgarians slowly are in confidence as the game progressed, managing to steadily creep past the halfway line without immediately turning the ball over. Nikola Iliev sent a close-range effort wide in the 21st. At the other end, Knauff missed a spectacular opportunity to net the 2-0 with his own effort wide in the 28th. Two minutes after that, Bulgarian fullback Martin Georgiev nearly equalized with a header off a free-kick that bounced off Freiburg defender Max Rosenfelder's back.
Beier unfortunately kick-started the sequence that did allow Bulgaria to equalize with an errant pass in the 37th. A slick counter from the guests put Iliev in scoring position. This time, the former Inter Milan academy man would make no error. Di Salvo's Juniors were unable to muster up much of a response. Instead, it was newly reinstalled #1 keeper Noah Atubolu who preserved the 1-1 halftime scoreline with a fabulous save on Marin Petkov at 45+1.
The Germans came out looking more determined after the restart, yet were still unable to achieve much attacking penetration in the final third until the hour-mark came. Eric Martel forced a save out of Bulgarian keeper Damyan Hristov with a solid header off a Reitz corner in the 62nd. A couple of minutes after that, Germany were given a chance to go ahead again from the penalty spot when Nicolo Tresoldi was felled in the box in the 64th.
After Woltemade converted the 2-1, di Salvo's crew kept their foot on the gas pedal in search of another goal. German-Austrian phenom Paul Wanner received his highly anticipated introduction at Germany's highest youth level in the 71st. The debut was nevertheless rendered rather silent by substitutions on both sides that greatly hindered the flow of the match. Atubolu stopped a potential late Bulgarian equalizer in the 88th in the only other action of note.