Germany U21s display clinical second half to defeat Albania U21s | OneFootball

Germany bounced back from their final defeat in Bratislava with a comfortable 2-0 win against Albania, thanks to debut goals from Ilyas Ansah and Dženan Pejčinović.

On a warm evening in Elbasan, the first half carried the hallmarks of a friendly, with both sides hesitant to step out of their comfort zones in the early stages. Albania arguably edged the opening exchanges, but could only manage to create half chances, whilst Germany received little pressure while in possession though ultimately struggled to break their hosts down and fashion clear-cut chances.

Aside from yellow cards shown to Zylyf Muça (Albania) and Joshua Quarshie (Germany) on either side of the drinks break, there was little incident to note before the half-hour mark. From then on, Germany began to assert themselves, with opportunities gradually falling their way. Weiper miscued a header, before Tresoldi showed smart control and fired a shot on the turn that forced Jukaj into a low save. Still, the European Championship runners-up were unable to breach Albania’s stubborn defence, and the score remained 0-0 at half-time.

As expected, Di Salvo rang the changes at half-time, introducing ten new players as he continues to assess his revamped squad ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier against Latvia, with only Umut Tohumcu remaining from the opening 45 minutes. The reshaped German side wasted little time making an impact. Just three minutes after the restart, Muhammed Damar slipped a clever pass into Ilyas Ansah inside the box, and the Union Berlin striker marked his U21 debut in style with a clinical finish past Jukaj to make it 1-0.

Germany’s dream start to the second half continued moments later. In the 52nd minute, Tom Rothe threaded a sublime defence-splitting ball through to Dženan Pejčinović, who calmly poked it beyond the onrushing Jukaj to claim a debut goal of his own. Albania looked perplexed for the first time in this match, with all their hard work defensively undone within seven minutes of the restart.

The tempo naturally dipped after the double blow, but Germany remained in control. Albania briefly raised their intensity in search of a response, though this only left them more exposed to Di Salvo’s side, who pushed for a third goal that ultimately never came. The game ended 2-0, a result that underlined Germany’s depth and clinical second-half display.

Di Salvo will be encouraged by the sharpness of his substitutes, particularly Ansah and Pejčinović, after a first half in which his side dominated without reward. The performance leaves the head coach with plenty to consider as Germany now shift focus to their next test: the start of their 2027 European Championship qualifying campaign against Latvia in Rostock on Tuesday (20:30 CEST).