In his third attempt, Jürgen Klopp got his first win as Germany’s head coach.
Klopp’s team was electric from the outset and played with great determination, working extremely hard to secure a 2-0 victory. The win was especially impressive because of the fun style deployed by Klopp and executed by his players. While the first group scuffled at times against the Netherlands and Greece, this lineup came out like gangbusters and never let up.
Germany was menacing early on with a high-energy press that
gave Serbia fits. The decision to go young with his lineup seemed to pay early dividends, as Klopp’s side was definitely the aggressor.
There was an early focus on pressing Serbia and forcing mistakes, which was extremely successful. Through the first half, Germany created good scoring opportunities, but Aleksandar Pavlović, Derry Scherhant, Nick Woltemade, Florian Wirtz, and Serge Gnabry all watched as their chances fell just short of the net.
Enter Bayern Munich star Tom Bischof.
After a nice rush up the field, right-back Philipp Treu sent in a cross that was broken up, but it eventually found its way to Florian Wirtz after a nice pass from Aleksandar Pavlović. After some insane footwork to free himself up, the Liverpool attacker ripped a shot that drilled the post, but it bounced right to Bischof, who fired it home to break the deadlock for a 1-0 lead.
While Serbia did have one big chance in the first half that they should have done better with, Germany could have easily scored three or four goals.
The second half brought more of the same. A major factor in Germany’s performance was the play of the central midfield duo of Pavlović and Bischof, along with the full-back pair of Philipp Treu and Maximilian Mittelstädt. Interestingly enough, only Pavlović made the World Cup squad last summer.
The intensity did not drop a single notch as the Germans were relentless in applying pressure to the Serbian backline throughout the final 45 minutes. That pressure paid off once again.
Mittelstädt drove forward and slid a terrific pass to Wirtz, who did a little dancing before depositing the ball into the net. The Liverpool man deserved the goal, given his incredible work rate throughout the match.
For the remainder of the contest, Germany continued its assault, refusing to give Serbia any room to breathe. All in all, it was a superb effort.
In conclusion
Germany earned a well-deserved win and did so with a very entertaining style of play. After a week of griping, fans might now have something very positive to talk about.
This project will take time, but if anyone needed a jolt of hope or belief, this victory provided it. Klopp is working to build something, and while it might not be complete as quickly as some would like, there appears to be a lot of progress being made.
Will Germany sustain this momentum against Greece in the final game of this international break? We will find out on Sunday.
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