After a professional win on home soil against Luxembourg, Germany head to Northern Ireland with the aim of securing top spot. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann relied on the same team that had won three days earlier and they performed.
In front of a huge home crowd in Belfast, Germany fought back for a hard-fought 1-0 victory that puts them back on track for the 2026 World Cup next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Here are the highlights from Germany’s win against Northern Ireland.
set pieces becoming strengths
Nick Woltemade scored his first goal for Germany, awkwardly sending a corner into the goal over his shoulder. It was a great moment for a player who started life with a bang at Newcastle, but it also meant Germany scored eight goals in qualifying, five of which came from set-pieces.
Mads Buttgereit’s arrival in 2021 appears to have made some major changes from last year, when Germany’s set-piece quota was disappointingly low. The team struggled mightily, failing to score any goals from corners or free kicks in both Qatar and the domestic Euros. More than a year later, and the picture looks very different.
“I won’t talk much about it but we talk about it and focus on it a lot,” Voltemed later told RTL broadcaster. “It’s good to talk about the fact that we’re scoring from set-pieces. It makes us more unpredictable.”
If Buttgereit has turned this weakness into a strength, then not only has he improved his position, but it also appears that Germany is finally making good on its potential in this area. For a team that has been inconsistent in many areas since last summer, the emergence of the set-piece as a strength gives them an edge, as Voltmead suggested.
handle intimidating environment
Northern Ireland hasn’t lost a home in two years. They are fighting for a chance to make their first World Cup since 1986. The euphoric mood of the situation was reflected in the boisterous atmosphere at Windsor Park, where every tackle won, every corner won, every defensive header was met with huge cheers from the home crowd. When Dan Ballard slammed home after pinball into the box, the crowd was so dismayed that it missed the offside flag entirely.
It was exactly the situation Germany knew was coming, but it was one thing to know it and quite another to experience it. At first, Germany seemed a little frightened by all this. The passes were blocked and Nagelsmann was jumping up and down in frustration on the sideline. After 25 minutes his jacket came off.
Nagelsmann said, “It wasn’t a very good game, but we took into account the feelings of the opponent and the crowd.”
Joshua Kimmich later said, “It was a real fight. It was all about the result today.”
But his team found a way to deal with it. Corners cleared, speed returned, passion and intensity met. Even when goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell headed in the final corner, Germany stood firm. David Raum was perhaps the best example of this, showing his hunger for such games while performing at his best in Germany.
David Raum said, “Hats off to the home fans. It was an incredible atmosphere.”
In the context of this group’s development, successfully navigating such environments and situations is an important part of gaining experience.
“You just have to win bad games like this, and we won,” Woltemade said.
Some of these players are at the beginning of their international careers, and have had to step up in the absence of other players who were injured. For the likes of Voltamede, Karim Adeyemi and Alexander Pavlovich, being part of nights like this can help build a career.
Germany does not have a goalkeeper problem
With Marc-Andre ter Stegen still recovering from injury, it was perhaps unsurprising that there was growing clamor for Manuel Neuer to come out of retirement to become Germany’s goalkeeper during the World Cup.
In fact, the way Oliver Baumann has played during these qualifiers proves that goalkeeper is not a position they need to worry about.
At 35, Baumann is a veteran. For a keeper who has completed 500 Bundesliga games, he has taken his chance in Germany colours. He has kept Germany in games, and in Belfast he was cool with his feet, commanding in the box and making a great save late on to ensure the traveling team kept the three points.
“I have said it many times but we have not lost any game because of our goalkeeper. This discussion is not good for anyone including Manu [Neuer],” Nagelsmann said later. ”I wonder why we talk about it for three hours every week. At the moment, we don’t have a goalkeeper problem.”
If Ter Stegen is not fit and in form next summer, Baumann has proven since the end of last year and during this qualifying campaign that he is not only reliable but that he can help Germany win games.
Edited by: Sam Dusan Inayatullah