Germany is in an uncomfortable situation after losing its first match in the European Football Championship 2020 to world champion France last night, but despite that it is confident in its ability to avoid a repeat of what it suffered in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, when it was eliminated in the first round.
German defender Mats Holmes’ goal against his country gave France a clean goal in Group F, and then Germany became required to obtain points in its remaining two matches in the first round against defending champions Portugal and Hungary next week.
The last two matches of Germany in the group stage will also be held in Munich.
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“Of course we know very well that there is an opportunity to improve our performance, because we really want to fight seriously in this tournament and make our fans happy and achieve success,” the veteran defender added.
Certainly, the fighting spirit was absent from the German national team in the World Cup in Russia 3 years ago, when it badly bid farewell to the tournament from the first round after losing its opening match against Mexico, and achieved one victory during its first three matches.
In yesterday’s match, Germany faced a team considered by many to be the most integrated in the world, and fought to the end in the hope of changing the course of the match and avoiding losing its first match in the tournament for the first time in the history of all its participations so far.
Despite his failure to adjust the result, the German team performed a great performance during the second half, and as a result, it was already praised by the German media.
Given the tournament’s group stage system, a single win may suffice to advance to the round of 16, while midfielder Toni Kroos said it was pointless to dwell on defeat.
“We have to think about what’s coming,” he added. “Definitely losing in the first match out of 3 matches means that you are under tremendous pressure.”
And the fate of coach Joachim Loew’s team may be determined based on the way he dealt with pressure against the Portuguese team in the second round next Saturday.
As for midfielder Joshua Kimmich, the German national team showed during the defeat to France that it can compete and withstand the strongest teams.
On this, Kimmich said, “We showed during the match that we can definitely withstand the strongest teams at this level.”
“France is one of the favorites to win the title. In our next match we have to prove that we are also among the favorites to win the title,” he added.