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Leroy Sané hugs national coach Hansi Flick
Photo: Alex Grimm / Getty Images
The winner of the international match week:
During the European Championship in June, Leroy Sané didn't seem to really want to succeed in the national jersey. In August, some FC Bayern fans then whistled the winger for his weak form. But in the last two weeks Sané seems to have not only taken a crash course in body language and passed it with top marks, the 25-year-old is also the big winner of the first three football games under national coach Hansi Flick. Not everything worked out against Iceland, but an assist to 1-0, an uncompromising finish under the crossbar to 3-0 and a lot of hard defensive work made Sané probably the most efficient DFB player on the Reykjavik pitch.
The result:
The German national team prevailed 4-0 in Iceland, one can call that befitting.
Read the match report here.
The first half:
Serge Gnabry's early opening goal (4th minute) seemed to turn the game into a déjà vu of the thrilling victory against Armenia, but the German team did not play quite so unleashed.
Sure, there was no doubt about the victory after Antonio Rüdiger's header hit (24th), but instead of power play there was a controlled offensive - and a brief loss of control when Jóhann Gudmundsson wrested a somewhat improvised parade from Manuel Neuer (17th).
4x10:
Thomas Müller should lead the Flick Germany in ten - and injured himself. Kai Havertz was allowed to start in the attacking midfield against Liechtenstein - and fell ill. Marco Reus took his place against Armenia, and Reus was now unavailable in Iceland due to a knee injury. So for İlkay Gündoğan a sporty heart's wish came true: he, often not at all in the DFB dress or needed in a more defensive role, was allowed to try his hand at playing as a playmaker. At Manchester City he had been given a lot of freedom in the previous year and used them to proud 13 league goals, Gündoğan also had a few sensible ideas that evening. But probably too few to be more than number four on the ten.
The Buttgereit-Effect:
The name Mads Buttgereit was - you have to be honest - up until a few weeks ago nerd knowledge. Probably still is. But the Danish standard guru, with whose help Flick wants to make the national team more dangerous again after dormant balls, leaves his mark everywhere. In the European Championship semi-finals, he inspired the free kick variant that led to the Danish opening goal against England. In Reykjavik, Rüdiger's unconventional path before the 2-0, which Joshua Kimmich served with a chipball, was anything but coincidental. Defending such situations becomes a brain teaser for the German opponents.
The second half:
After the break, there were load-controlling changes everywhere and a lot of illustrative material for how no goal can be scored. Timo Werner showed, among other things, the variants "Kullerball into the arms of the goalkeeper" (48th) and "Shot from five meters over an empty goal" (61st), but compensated for this piece of performance art with a late hit (89th). Leon Goretzka was only denied one because Jamal Musiala was too much in the line of fire with his dropkick (63.). The Icelanders were also allowed to quarrel with the offside line: Albert Gudmundsson's defeat after namesake Jóhann's shot in the post would otherwise have meant the connection.
Bad aftertaste:
You can't write about the Icelandic national team these days without addressing the abuse allegations against several players. The circumstances cast a shadow over a team that achieved cult status in international football between 2016 and 2018. Not only in terms of sport - only Liechtenstein is worse off in the group - Iceland is in crisis. At least the performance of the fans, who made an event somewhere between the drum circle and the Muppet cover band of 3600 spectators in the stadium of an Icelandic second division team, is still worth a few sympathies.
Maximum return:
three games, nine points, 12-0 goals: The debut as national coach could have been much worse. Thanks to the ailing Armenians who shared the points with Liechtenstein, the DFB-Elf now confidently leads qualification group J. On October 8th and 11th, when there are more points going on at home against Romania and in North Macedonia, the so far flawless record can be continued under the new coach.