Bayern Munich’s Tom Bischof and Stuttgart’s Dennis Seimen reflect on poor Germany U21 debuts | OneFootball

VfB Stuttgart goalkeeping prospect Dennis Seimen’s eagerly anticipated audition for the Germany U21 squad on Friday night did not go as hoped. A genuine howler from Semen in the 14th-minute enabled the Greek U21s to take a 0-2 lead against their German hosts. Although Antonio Di Salvo’s charges were able to battle back from the early deficit, they ultimately lost 2-3.

The defeat constituted the first loss for the German U21s in a qualifying match in nearly four years. Way back at the beginning of Di Salvo’s tenure, the U21s fell 0-4 to Poland at the WirMachenDruck Arena in Aspach on November 11th, 2021. Since then, despite a disappointing 2023 Euros and some defeats in friendlies, Di Salvo’s youngsters went 16 qualifying fixtures without a defeat.

The search for answers was on following the Friday loss. The fact that Di Salvo’s selection remains injury-ridden certainly didn’t help. In addition to the four players who have officially departed DFB camp, Southampton centre-back Joshua Quarshie (a regular starter) was unable to play on Friday. Two players Di Salvo called up late – Eintracht Frankfurt’s Elias Baum and Dynamo Dresden’s Julian Pauli – have also had to leave camp injured.

Bayern Munich midfielder Tom Bischof – another eagerly anticipated U21 debutant – was given the captain’s armband and did register an assist on Tom Rothe’s 2-2 equalizer. The rising FCB midfield talent nevertheless lamented the team’s sloppy start when conducting his post-match interview with ProSieben MAXX. Di Salvo, too, referenced errors in his own interview.

“We have to be present from the very first minute onward and have enough balls to play forward,” Bischof told the German broadcaster. “We were simply afraid to play the ball forward. The spaces were too big. We should have closed down the field more. If we had done that, it would have been a better game more like the victory we envisioned.”

“I warned them [the team] about the Greeks,” Di Salvo added. “We made too many simple mistakes. Then the mistakes pile up because your confidence drops. We cannot afford any more mistakes or slip ups.“

Seimen’s goalkeeping error was emblematic of the entire error-strewn first half that simply didn’t work. Poor marking off a free-kick in the 13th enabled Konstantinos Kostoulas to score the opening goal. Less than a minute later Seimen fumbled a back-pass in front of the onrushing Stefanos Tzimas. The former Nürnberg striker collected the ball and then proceeded to out-deke Seimen for the 14th-minute 0-2.

The clearly rattled German hosts made several more embarrassing amateurish errors before the half was out. Seimen recovered a bit to make some quality saves, but was himself spared further blushes by some lucky bounces and tight offside decisions. Seimen and the rest of the DFB defensive ranks looked out-of-sorts on Dimitris Rallis’ match-winning 2-3 in the 81st minute.

The 19-year-old Seimen certainly didn’t look like someone capable of challenging Werder Bremen keeper Mio Backhaus’ hold on the Germany U21 No. 1 slot. The current SC Paderborn loanee also almost certainly didn’t look like the net-minder his parent club VfB Stuttgart have earmarked to replace No. 1 Alexander Nübel next season.

“Of course, I’m extremely aggravated about it,” Seimen said of his mistake in the mixed zone on Friday night. “But it’s happened now and I have to put it behind me. I just thought I could kick the ball away. I’m pretty disappointed, but life goes on.“

“He knows full well that he made a mistake and there’s no escaping that,” Di Salvo added at the post-match press conference. “Logically, he had to clear the ball [out into touch], but I’m annoyed at how it came to that back pass. We simply played back unnecessarily.

“Mistakes are part of football and it happens,” Di Salvo was then sure to emphasize. “I will talk to him and build him back up, just as Klaus Thomforde [the goalkeeping coach] will. It happened. We will put it behind us. It’s all the more reason to pull together and do better [against Northern Ireland] on Tuesday.“

GGFN | Peter Weis