Germany advanced to the Nations League quarter-finals on Monday as Stuttgart whirlwind Jamie Leweling enjoyed a dream international debut. The 23-year-old Leweling scored the winner in a hard-fought 1-0 home success over the Netherlands in Group A3 to ensure Germany’s place in the next round and send Julian Nagelsmann into November with a perfect record as Germany coach.
Leweling was one of two German debutants in a side that made five changes to the side that beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 on Friday. He had the ball in the net in the second minute, but his effort was ruled offside as the Dutch struggled to contain a fast, fluid German side that looked the most likely to score. He did better in the 64th, though, firing into the top corner after the Dutch failed to clear a corner properly.
The goal was enough to give the DFB selection a comfortable lead over their arch-rivals, who are five points behind in second. Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina are one point ahead of the final two matches in the group. The victory also secured a top-two finish for Germany, which is sure to mean a home quarter-final in the last eight.
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It was an impressive display from a makeshift German team that could not afford to drop many points in the group. Despite failing to find the back of the net in the first half, the visitors dominated throughout. The visitors did create a few chances, though, with Maximilian Mittelstaedt hitting the post (40th minute) and Tim Kleindienst narrowly missing from a counter-attack (43rd minute).
There was little threat to goalkeeper Oliver Baumann as the 34-year-old became the oldest player to make his Germany debut. Still, he was alert when called into action in the second half, superbly punching a Donyell Malen shot wide.
A second-half flurry from Germany was rewarded with the game’s only goal as Leweling hammered a drive past Maarten Stekelenburg in front of an Allianz Arena crowd of 68,367. It was the Stuttgart winger’s fourth start for the national team. It came after an excellent showing in the previous match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he generated an expected goals (xG) value of 0.35, the highest on the field.
The win took Germany to 10 points from four matches and ensured they would top the group in a tie with Hungary, while the Netherlands was five points behind in goal difference. This means that Germany will face either the hosts or Bosnia-Herzegovina in a quarter-final in November. It is a remarkable achievement for a team not taken seriously for the tournament and a clear sign that, exactly a year after his first game as German coach, Nagelsmann has brought his team to a higher level. It will be soon that Germany play for a major trophy again. The journey began inauspiciously with an unconvincing win in the USA but now looks entirely realistic. A 1-0 victory against the Netherlands in Munich shows that Germany has finally arrived at their desired destination.