The German team is experiencing a generational change. Before the meeting with the ‘oranges’ at the Allianz Arena in Munich, a colorful farewell ceremony took place with the ‘black and white’ legends who participated in the local Euro Cup in the summer: goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, as well as the midfielders. Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gundogan and Thomas Müller. In their place appear talented young people like Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, 21 years old.
However, it was not Wirtz who became the hero of the match against the Netherlands, but Musiala was forced to miss the match due to injury. The only goal in the second half was scored by 23-year-old Stuttgart midfielder, national team debutant Jamie Leveling. The interesting thing is that Leveling could have opened the scoring in the first half, but his goal was disallowed by the referee after watching the video replay for offside.
The Bundesteam was the first to secure a place in the next round of the tournament, in which the eight best teams in the competition will participate.
– We did not expect Leveling to show itself so brilliantly, although we know its capabilities very well, we watched the club’s last matches. Making your debut in the national team is always difficult, but he was very good: he worked well in defense and made intelligent decisions in attack. “Jamie is a great guy,” said Bundestim coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Thanks to the victory, Germany advanced early to the playoffs of the Nations League, in which the eight best teams in League A participate. With two days left in the group stage, the Germans have added ten points and are five points ahead of the Netherlands and Hungary (Group 3, League A). In the next round the main pursuers of the Bundesteam will face each other and one of them will lose points in any case. In this way, Nagelsmann’s team secured at least second place in the group stage. In last place are the Bosnians, who only have one point to their credit.
The French won the second consecutive victory without their leader and captain Kylian Mbappé: the “tricolors” first defeated Israel (4-1) and then beat Belgium on a foreign field 2-1. Randall Kolo Muani scored a double for the guests and Lois Openda scored for the hosts.
All these days the French team has been at the center of a scandal. The interesting thing is that this news refers to Mbappé, who missed the team’s last two games. Kylian asked not to be called up to the Tricolor squad because he wanted to rehabilitate after an injury. However, on the day of the match with Israel, Mbappé was seen in one of the nightclubs in Swedish Stockholm, and a day before the meeting with the Belgians, information appeared that a rape had been committed in the hotel where Mbappé and his friends met. stayed in the Swedish capital.
French coach Didier Deschamps was tired of defending himself from journalists, and Mbappé’s Real Madrid teammate, tricolor team captain Aurélien Tchouameni, had to answer media questions about Kylian.
– We spoke with Kylian both before and after the last games. We don’t care where you watched the games. “Everyone in the national team is waiting for his return,” said Tchouameni, who took the national team captain’s armband in Mbappé’s absence.
Be that as it may, France is fine without its big star. With nine points, Deschamps’ men occupy second place in Group 2 of League A, one point behind the Italians. The Belgians are in third place and have five points.
The Belgians have big problems. In four rounds of the group stage of the Nations League, the Red Devils only managed one victory, two losses and one draw. The future of the national team coach, former mentor of Spartak Moscow, Domenico Tedesco, is in doubt. And after the match against the French, Belgian fans chanted calling for the specialist’s dismissal. Tedesco himself has no intention of going anywhere.
– We need to work hard to improve results. However, I have never been afraid of difficulties anywhere. Against France, the Belgian team created enough chances, but in the end they came up empty, which is very disappointing for me. We had to win or just score a point. It’s a shame it didn’t work out,” Tedesco said.
Tournament format
There are 54 European teams competing in the Champions League. They are divided into four leagues (A, B, C and D) based on the results of the previous tournament. Teams were then assigned to pots after a tie, again depending on their performance in the 2022/23 Nations League.
The winners and champions of the second rows of the A-league groups will meet in the quarterfinals at home and away, after which the four strongest teams will advance to the final tournament and compete for the trophy. Those teams that occupy fourth place in Leagues “A” and “B” will automatically be relegated to Leagues “B” and “C”, respectively. The last two teams that finished fourth in League C will be relegated to League D.
