Florian Wirtz needed just seven seconds to give Germany the lead, and from then on, die Mannschaft rolled to a surprisingly easy victory. Kai Havertz doubled their lead three minutes after the game restarted, and despite both sides having some good chances, the match ended 2-0. This breaks Germany’s winless streak, which went back to an October 2023 victory over the United States.
With the Euros just months away, this could be a huge confidence boost for the hosts. Here are the big takeaways from the victory over France.
Wirtz Makes History
Wirtz’s strike was the fastest goal in the history of the German national team, and one of the fastest goals in the history of international soccer — stunningly, Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored just six seconds into his match earlier that day.
Wirtz didn’t stop there: the Leverkusen midfielder caused problems for France every time he touched the ball. He played a crucial role in Germany’s second goal, hitting a beautiful lobbed pass to Musiala, who rounded France goalkeeper Brice Samba before passing to Havertz, who slotted home. Wirtz completed 92% of his passes and created three chances, and was arguably the best player on the pitch.
This has been Wirtz’s breakout season, the year he has gone from a top prospect to a star. He’s riding a wave of momentum into the Euros, and if he keeps up his current form, the sky is the limit.
Musiala Magic
Of course, Wirtz isn’t the only young star on Germany. Jamal Musiala had another good game, notably getting the assist for Germany’s second goal after dribbling past Samba and finding Havertz.
His passing was on point — he had a 95% completion rate — and generally looked dangerous. He struggled with the physicality of his opponents at times — including club teammate Dayot Upamecano, who didn’t hesistate to hack down the German on a couple of occasions — but he took advantage of his limited opportunities. He also made sure to get back defensively, winning the ball in some good positions.
It’s rare to find a young player as talented and as unselfish as Musiala. These are the kinds of players who can single-handedly win games, which the Bayern star almost did in the 2022 World Cup. Now, with a stronger supporting cast, the Euros will undoubtedly be better than Qatar for both Musiala and Germany.
Kroos Remontada
Toni Kroos is back, and it’s like he never left. It took the Real Madrid midfielder just seven seconds to assist the opener, finding Florian Wirtz open in the middle of the field.
Kroos stayed hot throughout the game, completing 121 of his 128 passes — a 95% completion rate. No player on the pitch completed more passes, even though he hasn’t played for Germany since 2021. Defensively, he made his presence known, including making a crunching tackle on club teammate Aurelien Tchouameni — one of three successful tackles he made.
It’s impossible not to notice how much better Germany looked with Kroos in the team. With the 34-year-old running the show, Germany has a dominant midfield again, something we haven’t seen from die Mannschaft in quite a while.
Right-Back Solution
Since the retirement of Philipp Lahm, Germany has struggled to find a solid right-back. Joshua Kimmich was expected to be Lahm’s replacement, but he moved into midfield after his emergence there at club level with Bayern. The likes of Thilo Kehrer and Niklas Süle were tried at the position, but neither convincingly.
Now Germany has the solution, and it’s the same as the old solution: Joshua Kimmich. Kimmich has begun to feature at right-back for Bayern again due to injuries to Noussair Mazraoui and Sacha Boey, and he has been consistent since making the switch back. Against France, Kimmich put in a strong performance, keeping Mbappé quiet for the majority of the game.
His offensive contributions were strong, too, putting in some dangerous crosses and could have had one or two assists. He’s far from a flawless defender, but Germany’s chances at the Euros look far better with Kimmich at right-back.
Solid Outing From Debutants
Julian Nagelsmann made some bold selections, calling up six (!) uncapped players.
Two of them — Aleksandar Pavlović and Jan-Niklas Beste — missed the game due to sickness and injury, respectively. Both of them will have to wait for their debuts, as will Maximilian Beier, who was an unused substitute. The three players who did make their debuts had impressive performances, though. Stuttgart trio Deniz Undav, Waldermar Anton, and Maximilian Mittelstädt all made it into the game, with Mittelstädt starting.
Mittelstädt had a strong debut, shining both in attack and defense. The left-back nearly scored on both ends of the pitch, seeing a good shot pushed wide by Samba. Minutes later, a strange deflection caused the ball to bounce off his arm and towards his own goal, with Rüdiger mercifully clearing the ball off the line and onto the crossbar.
Undav nearly scored, but like Mittelstädt before him, he could only watch as Samba pushed it wide. That was his only real involvement in the game, as he played just ten minutes, and Anton was only subbed on in the 90th minute. It’s a good start to their Germany careers, and hopefully they will have many more chances to make an impact.
Room for Improvement for Both Team
Considering they had Mbappé, Marcus Thuram, and Ousmane Dembélé starting, France’s attack looked surprisingly stale. Marc Andre ter Stegen needed to make just two saves, while the best scoring chance for Les Bleus was Mittelstädt’s accidental volley at the net, which was cleared off the line by Rüdiger. Samba was called into action a few too many times, and needed to make four saves, including three big ones in the final fifteen minutes of the game.
For Germany, this was a largely flawless game. The finishing needs to be a bit more lethal — they had 15 shots but the only goals came from a Wirtz screamer and a Havertz tap-in — but it should be noted that Samba had a good game. Some of Germany’s best crosses were wasted, but France’s defense did a great job of winning duels in the air. Neither of these are massive problems, at least not at the moment.
Still, don’t call Germany favorites to win the Euros this summer just yet. While a victory over France will do wonders for the squad’s confidence, die Mannschaft also beat France in September 2023 before winning just one of their next five matches.
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Image via dfb.de. All stats via fotmob.com unless otherwise stated.
