Jose Gaya scored a last-gasp goal to help Spain draw Germany 1-1 in their first match at the National League 2020-2021 A4 group.
Goals: Werner 51’ – Gaya 90’
Although there were 4 minutes for stoppage-time, Gaya scored the precious goal for Spain in the 90th+5 minute. From the cross of Man City’s rookie, Ferran Torres, on the right flank, the striker of Leeds United – Rodrigo – headed the ball to Gaya. Then, the left-back of Valencia CF received the ball and scored without the interference of any Germany players. Despite the fact that Gaya stayed in the off-side position, the full-back Robin Gosens had been out of the cross-line after a defending attempt, so the goal was still counted.
With the last-second goal, the whole Spanish team burst into immense happiness. On the contrary, the team of Joachim Low was angry, and even a player tried to shoot the ball directly to the Italian referee Daniele Orsato. Midfielder Ikay Gundogan also expressed his furious behavior towards the referee because the stoppage-time was expanded more than expected.
However, honestly, Germany players had to blame themselves for rushing to defend right after their leading goal scored by Timo Werner in the 51st minute. All the 3 substitutions of Germany played in the defending positions, while Low still had decent choices like Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt. The players who had to leave the field were all famous attacking stars like Gundogan, Werner, and Leroy Sane. We can clearly see that the Low’s intention of constructing a defending system had collapsed.
Since both teams wasted their obvious scoring opportunities, this final result was quite reasonable. The reason was that the players from both sides needed to play an intense match right after a short break, so their physical strength didn’t hit a peak yet. Hence, they all couldn’t perform excellent skills, passes, and finishes.
There were a lot of wasted opportunities
In the first half, there were plenty of straightforward chances. In the 14th minute, due to the careless pass of Emre Can, Rodrigo got the ball and sprinted to leave Kevin Trapp behind. Yet, he hesitated to shoot the ball into the empty goal ahead, so Trapp managed to tackle the ball to save German from a loss. Five minutes later, Sane delivered a powerful shot to the goal’s corner, but David De Gea proved his world-class level by refusing Sane’s promising situation.
De Gea was the most prominent highlight in the first half. Yet, early in the second half, he was defeated by Timo Werner. Gundogan executed an appropriate long pass for the running of Gosens. Then, Gosens crossed the ball to Werner. Instead of taking a shot, Chelsea’s rookie controlled the ball to beat full-back Paul Toress, and then he executed an oblique shot to help Germany take the lead. De Gea did nothing but stood still.
After the goal, Germany slowed down and waited for counter-attacking. The exceptional speed of Sane and Werner did pose a threat to Spain. In the 62th minute, Sane dribbled near Spain’s penalty area and slightly passed the ball to Werner. However, Werner was not in a good position to take a perfect shot. Therefore, even when there was barely anyone blocking the goal, the shot hit the net’s edge.
Germany truly faced difficulty when Sane had to leave the field because of injury. Their counter-attacking ability was seriously decreased, resulting in the chance for the Spanish center-back Sergio Ramos to join more attacking situations of Spain. In the first stoppage-time minute, Ramos fouled Matthias Ginter so that Ansu Fati could take a header to defeat Kevin Trap. Yet, the referee spotted the foul of Spain’s captain and refused the goal. At last, the team of Luis Enrique still managed to equalize, and they achieved 41 consecutive matches with goals.
List of players:
Germany: Trapp, Kehrer, Gosens, Draxler, Kroos, Werner (Koch 90′), Sule, Rudiger, Sane (Ginter 62′), Gundogan (Serdar 74′), Can.
Spain: De Gea, Carvajal, Ramos, Pau Torres, Gaya, Thiago, Busquets (Merino 57′), Fabian (Oscar 80′), Navas (Fati 46′), Moreno, Ferran Torres.
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