Low: I Still Have Work To Do
By Max Wise
Germany will not get ahead of themselves despite getting their EURO 2020 qualifiers to a flying start with a crucial win against Holland in Amsterdam, says Joachim Low.
Nico Schulz's 90th-minute strike helped Germany to defeat Holland 3-2 at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Sunday as Die Mannschaft recorded their first win in three recent meetings.
First-half goals from Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry put the visitors in control but, just like the last time the two sides met in last year's Nations League, Holland hit back to draw level as Matthijs De Ligt and Memphis Depay struck early in the second half.
That drama did not end there as Schulz scored to give Germany a winning start to their European Championship qualifying campaign.
Low praised the performance of his charges after the victory that puts them at the summit of Group C, but acknowledged that he still has some deficiencies to solve in the team.
"Getting three points here in Holland to kick off our qualifying campaign is fantastic and will really help our process," Low told www.dfb.de.
"But we saw that we still have a lot of work to do. We need to maintain control better at 2-0 up. The team battled brilliantly and I can only take my hat off to them.
"We played really well in the first half; we controlled the game and we had some great movement in attack and runs behind the defence. We fully deserved to lead at the break and we had implemented what we had practiced in training superbly.
"Their first goal back came at a bad time. We fought hard in the second half and tried to get our opponents under control again, but our football wasn't on the same level anymore.
"We started to get flustered and gave the ball away too easily. It's a process that a young team has to go through. What pleases me is that the team never lost the belief that they could win the game, and in the end, we got our reward."
The Germans, who are undergoing a rebuilding after ostracising some key members of their 2014 World Cup winning side, went into the game as underdogs but came out victorious on the night.
Germany went close to opening the scoring in the opening minutes when Serge Gnabry warmed the hands of Holland goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen after some good work in the build-up by Leroy Sane
The visitors were not to be denied, however, as Leroy Sane gave them a deserved lead after 15 minutes.
A low cross from Nico Schulz picked out the Manchester City winger, who picked his spot for the opener following Matthijs de Ligt's tumble.
Holland carved out their best chance in the 25th minute with Manuel Neuer spreading himself wide to save Ryan Babel's powerfully hit shot.
Neuer was again at the right place at the right time, a few minutes later, as Babel side-footed Georginio Wijnaldum's cross straight at the Bayern Munich goalkeeper, but in truth, the former Liverpool forward should have scored.
Holland were made to pay for their missed chances as Serge Gnabry doubled Germany's lead after holding off Virgil Van Dijk and curling a nice effort into the top corner in the 34th minute.
The hosts came back from the break firing on all cylinders and duly halved the deficit through de Ligt, who rose highest to nick Depay's inviting cross past Manuel Neuer in the 48th minute.
Depay turned goalscorer in the 63rd minute when he threaded a near-post finish past Manuel Neuer after a scramble in the penalty box to pull Holland level.
The last time the two sides met was in November 2018, when Holland came from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the Nations League, and it looked like a case of deja vu again, but Germany had other ideas this time around.
Gundogan's incisive pass picked out substitute Marco Reus, who in turn served Nico Schulz to side-foot a perfect finish past Cilessen to give the Germans victory in the 90th minute.
