NATIONS LEAGUE PLAYER RATINGS | Germany 0-2 France | OneFootball

After their poor performance in midweek against Portugal, Germany were looking to end the season on a high as they played a France side who were coming off their 5-4 loss to Spain on Thursday.

The biggest story heading into this game was a fabricated idea that Rayan Cherki is better than Florian Wirtz, solely off a cameo as France were getting battered by Spain. As both are close to moving to the Premier League, what better way for the pair to show their quality than against one another?

Germany started the first half the brightest of the two and had several good chances to open the scoring within the first five minutes, but Mike Maignan was able to keep the hosts out. Nick Woltemade, Niclas Füllkrug, Florian Wirtz and Karim Adeyemi were constantly causing problems for the French backline.

Later on in the first half, Germany were awarded a penalty after Adeyemi was played through and seemingly brought down by Maignan; however, after a VAR review, the penalty was overturned, and the Dortmund winger was booked for diving. Minutes later, Germany would then have another good chance when Woltemade, Füllkrug and Wirtz would combine, only for the latter to hit the post.

Just before half-time, Woltemade would once again force a good save off the French keeper. Against the run-of-play for most of the half, France would open the scoring when a cross fell to Kylian Mbappé in the box and, after some quick feet, he was able to curl the ball, albeit with a touch, Marc-André ter Stegen, into the net.

The only substitution made at half-time was Woltemade being replaced by Stuttgart teammate Deniz Undav, and the sub had an immediate impact when Germany won the ball back, and he was left wide open to equalise and make it 1-1. However, the goal was disallowed after it was deemed that Füllkrug had fouled Adrien Rabiot in the process.

Apart from the earlier stages of the second half, Germany regressed in comparison to their first half performance. As they began to chase the game, they left gaps at the back, and this allowed France to have several opportunities going forward, but they were not clinical enough to take them.

Right at the end of the game, a defensive mishap between Koch and Tah played through Mbappé, who squared it to Olise to make it 2-0.

Ultimately, it will be a frustrating afternoon for Germany, and they will end the season on a low note. Their performance in the first half should have seen them be one or two up, but one mistake allowed France to get back into the game and kill any momentum. After the goal, the performance was similar to that of Wednesday.

The positive from this game is that Germany can learn from losing two games on the bounce, and take this heading into next year. The defence will need to be sured up somehow, and it will also come down to finding the missing pieces to play alongside Wirtz and Musiala in the future.

Germany:

Marc-André ter Stegen (6), Joshua Kimmich (6), Robin Koch (5), Jonathan Tah (5), David Raum (5), Leon Goretzka (5), Pascal Groß (5), Karim Adeyemi (7), Florian Wirtz (7), Niclas Fülkrug (6), Nick Woltemade (6)

Others: Deniz Undav (6), Maximilian Mittelstädt (5), Tom Bischof (5), Thilo Kehrer (5), Serge Gnabry (5)

GGFN MOTM: Karim Adeyemi (7)

Was Germany’s brightest player for most of the game. With question marks surrounding who will play alongside Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala next summer, Adeyemi has definitely thrown his hat in the ring for the position. In a team that lacks pure pace, Adeyemi will bring a lot to the team.

GGFN | Jack Meenan