Berlin / Hamburg – Marc André ter Stegen is a great goalkeeper and can confidently be counted among the five best in the world at the moment. The 29-year-old has further improved in all aspects of goalkeeping in recent years, is football-wise, so when it comes to playing, he may even be number one worldwide. His problem: With Manuel Neuer there is a competitor in Germany who has made history with the national team, who has also shown no nakedness in both national and club jerseys for years and has a big advantage compared to Ter Stegen: Neuer plays for the consistently successful FC Bayern, while Ter Stegen stands between the posts at a crisis club, namely FC Barcelona, which is no longer one of the big players in Europe due to its financial problems and the departure of Lionel Messi.
On Friday evening, however, Ter Stegen was once again allowed to show itself on a large German stage. In Hamburg, at the World Cup qualifier against Romania, because Neuer had received a ban from the team doctor due to adductor problems. Now it was the case that this evening in the Volksparkstadion was extremely nerve-wracking for the ambitious goalkeeper, but also for the entire German national team. It was nerve-wracking, because after an early goal against a beastly opponent, after an early goal that Ter Stegen had no chance, the team of national coach Hansi Flick really had to do everything to turn the game around. Substitute Thomas Müller became the match winner with his goal to make it 2-1 in the 82nd minute.
Referee Cekir reverses his decision
Flick had left the eternal Müller out, a bit surprisingly, but brought Marco Reus as a drummer in the central offensive midfield from the start. Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry occupied the wings, Timo Werner gave the center forward, although Werner is actually not a center forward at all. The Chelsea London striker, however, was the one who, in the style of a good center forward, sped into a duel with Andrei Burca after five minutes in the opponent’s penalty area, fell on a slight touch – and first of all over the decision of referee Cüneyt Cakir was allowed to rejoice: penalty.
While Joshua Kimmich was preparing to take the penalty kick and was only waiting for the “go”, the video referee intervened and asked Cakir to please look at the scene again. Lo and behold: The referee withdrew his decision, teeing off instead of penalty, which was also correct in view of the slow motion.
Hagi tunnels Rüdiger
Ianis Hagi made a big appearance in the ninth minute. The son of the legendary Gheorghe Hagi initially went one-on-one against Thilo Kehrer with a lot of speed and a clear intention, who let the Glasgow Rangers professional pass without much resistance and hoped that colleague Antonio Rüdiger would now clarify the matter. But Hagi tunnelled Rüdiger and cleverly chose the poke at the end, so that Ter Stegen no longer had time to react. The 0: 1 was the third goal for the DFB selection in the World Cup qualification, and the first goal for Flick as national coach.
The reaction of the DFB-Elf was brisk, maybe a little too wild for a goal to be achieved immediately. Gnabry tried in the 17th minute after a cross from Reus and a moment of chaos in the Romanian defense while lying down to maneuver the ball into the net, but just missed the goal. It was a good chance, an even better one opened up for the Bayern professional in the 33rd minute after a pass from Kimmich, but this time the ball slipped over his instep when he finished. Keeper Florin Nita had no trouble catching the ball safely.
Flick exchanges victory with Müller
After the restart, the German national team managed to increase the intensity further. Balls were recaptured early on, the rows were quickly bridged, with a lot going over the right side, i.e. via Gnabry and Jonas Hofmann from Mönchengladbach, who was nominally a right-back, but acted more like a right-winger. It was Gnabry who equalized in the 52nd minute. With a full right shot from 18 meters, in which Nita made herself very, very long, but ultimately not long enough to get the ball.
In the 67th minute, Flick finally brought Müller for Reus, but also Havertz for Werner, of course with the aim of forcing the decision. And it was reserved for Müller to bring this about. At a corner that Kimmich kicked in front of the goal and extended by Leon Goretzka with his head, the 32-year-old stood on the second post at the right moment in the right place and pushed the ball over the line.
And ter Stegen? Well, he was almost idle for the second 45 minutes. There was a back pass that had to be processed, here a command to the people in front, another little excitement in the 87th minute and another in stoppage time. There was nothing more to prove what a good goalkeeper he is.