Northern Ireland U21 vs. Germany U21 preview: Team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

Three teams are unbeaten in Group F of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier, but the 2025 finalists aren’t one of them. Following their rollercoaster defeat to Greece, Antonio Di Salvo’s side desperately need to beat Northern Ireland in Belfast.

Northern Ireland U21

Since UEFA increased the number of participants to 16 teams in 2021, smaller nations have a better chance of qualifying for the U21 championship. Northern Ireland has yet to take advantage of the format as they’re still waiting for a debut appearance.

After a combative draw in Georgia, Tommy Wright’s side overcame Malta at home to sit second in the group behind Greece, who have won both of their first two games. Portsmouth’s striker Makenzie Kirk and the team’s captain Michael Forbes scored their first international goals in the 2-0 win over Malta.

The former Newcastle United and Manchester City goalkeeper was also in charge of the team when they held England to a goalless draw at the Showgrounds and beat Serbia away from home in the Euro 2025 qualifiers.

Team News

Wright preferred the classic 4-4-2 formation in both of their first two qualifying games in this campaign. Eoin Kenny, who helped Dundalk FC to an immediate League of Ireland Premier Division promotion, partnered Kirk up front.

Germany U21

Di Salvo came off a first qualifying defeat in nearly four years. Before the Greece game, Germany U21 have won 14 of their 16 encounters since their campaign to make it into the  2023 edition. The DFB trusted the young coach despite Germany being knocked out of the group stage back then, and he led them to the final last summer.

The 46-year-old will now hope to avoid a first back-to-back defeat in a couple of years. One of the big factors for their consistent results was the stability in the team’s selection. That was not the case since the extra-time defeat to England in Slovakia.

Nick Woltemade, Noah Atubolu, Ansgar Knauff, Eric Martel, and Jan Thielmann are among the big names who played their last games for the U21s in the summer. Di Salvo has been experimenting since then, which could be visible from the six changes in the lineups against Latvia and Greece.

Team News

As such, it’s difficult to predict the starting XI for Tuesday’s game. Goalkeeper Dennis Seimen is highly-rated by Stuttgart, but he had a night to forget in his competitive debut for the U21s. In defense, Tom Rothe and Lukas Ullrich are the only players who started both games in the qualifying campaign so far.

With his goals against Latvia and Greece, Hoffenheim’s Muhammed Damar will be one of the first names in the lineup for Tuesday. And, after publicly showing his interest in representing Italy, this could potentially be Nicolò Tresoldi’s last game in Germany colors. Including his hat-trick in Rostock against Latvia, the Cagliari-born striker scored eight goals for Germany U21 in 13 competitive appearances.

Predicted Lineups:

Northern Ireland: McMullan; Russell, Fogarty, Forbes ©, Barr; Robinson, McStravick, Kelly, Kearney; Kirk, Kenny

Germany U21: Seimen; Ullrich, Blank, Rothe, Morgalla; Bischof ©, Ouédraogo, Damar; El Mala, Tresoldi, Weiper