Germany rallied from a 3-1 first half deficit to draw even with Ukraine, 3-3 on Friday night. The Germans made a series of costly mistakes in the first half, and allowed the Ukrainians to three goals despite dominating the flow of the match. In the second half, the Germans seemed to cool their heads defensively, cutting off the Ukrainian's options on offense while springing lethal counter attacks.
Ukraine Vs. Germany, 2011 International Friendly: Germans Rally From Two Down, Draw 3-3
German coach Joachim Löw responded to his side's lackluster defending in the first half by removing defender Christian Trasch and defensive midfielder Sami Khedira during the break in favor of more attacking options in midfielders Simon Rofles and Andre Schurrle; his gamble paid off in the 65th minute, when Rofles blasted in a brilliant team effort.
Löw also gambled by putting superstar-in-making Mario Goetze next to already-a-star-but-might-even-get-better Mesut Özil in the creative midfield; I'm still not entirely sure whether this worked out--they were both replaced in the 68th minute in favor of Lukas Podolski and Thomas Müller, the eventual goal-scorer. They seemed to work pretty well together, but seemed a bit out of sync (which makes sense, seeing as they've rarely held the creative duties together).
Ukraine will be happy that they put on such an impressive display for their home fans, despite the result: they came out and battled with one of the best five teams in the world and grabbed a metaphorical point (though, of course, this game means nothing). Germany should take this time to analyze their first half and try to figure out where they went wrong; and, no doubt, they’ll look into the Goetze-Özil partnership, as they’re one of the most promising young duos in the world right now.
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