Nebel & Weiper dazzle but Germany miss out on EUROs glory

In the end, Germany U21 ultimately missed out on the European Championship title, despite the fact they never gave up. A great display of fight and two Mainz stars certainly leaving their stamp on the tournament final was not quite enough for the young Germans, as they were defeated 3-2 by England after extra-time. The 05ers home-grown talents Brajan Gruda, Paul Nebel and Nelson Weiper all made the starting line-up for Germany, who were twice denied crucial goals by the woodwork.

England somewhat surprisingly dominated the early exchanges and found themselves deservedly 2-0 ahead through strikes from Harvey Elliott and Omari Hutchinson. Freiburg keeper Noah Atobolu kept Germany in the contest, preventing a third goal on a handful of occasions. However, his side were back in it in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Nebel demonstrated some terrific solo work to supply Weiper with a headed chance from nine yards out, which he converted with applom.

With an hour played, Nebel then took it upon himself to bring his nation level, curling home off the right-hand post following a corner. The Mainz midfielder would have assured his status as player of the match had he then found the net once more in the third minute of injury time at the end of proceedings, but ultimately saw his effort rattle the crossbar.

Germany’s comeback was halted in its tracks barely 120 seconds into extra time, however. Disorder in the Germany box left Jonathan Rowe, who had only just come on, with far too much room in the box, enabling him to latch onto the end of a cross from the half field to head his nation in front once again.

Germany controlled much of the football during the additional 30 minutes but without creating much in the way of major opportunities. The one they did receive fell to Merlin Röhl just moments before the full-time whistle; however, like Nebel before him, his attempt from 18 yards out ricocheted off the crossbar. That marked a bitterly disappointing end to such a promising tournament from head coach Antonio Di Salvo’s team, who would have more than earned it, should they have taken the trophy home with them.

Nelson Weiper, scorer of four goals at the U21 EUROs, spoke after full-time: “I am so proud of the way got ourselves back into things today. We came so close to making it 3-2, but ultimately you have to say congratulations to England. We believed in ourselves, because this team was something special and that is not to be taken for granted.”