Germany’s national soccer team can avert a late setback at the European Championships. Joker Füllkrug’s goal in stoppage time saves the group win.

No victory, no brilliance, but still first place: the German national team fought their way into the last 16 of the home European Championships as group leaders in an unwanted endurance test. In the 1:1 (0:1) draw against the tactically clever and aggressive Swiss, joker Niclas Füllkrug’s goal in stoppage time (90.+2) at least saved the DFB selection a celebrated draw – otherwise, however, there was too much trouble on the slippery turf in Frankfurt.

Germany will now play the second-placed team in Group C in Dortmund on Saturday (21:00). Who that will be, however, will not be known until Monday evening at around 11 p.m., when England (4 points) and Slovenia (2) as well as Denmark (2) and Serbia (1) have played. In purely mathematical terms, Germany can face any of these four teams – although Jonathan Tah will be suspended due to his second yellow card.

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann’s side looked very hesitant, but showed great fighting spirit – they fought their way back into the game after Dan Ndoye (28) put a damper on things. With three wins from three preliminary round games, Germany last reached the round of 16 at the 2012 European Championships, and whether they can continue this time also depends on whether the reshuffled squad can find more stability again.

But Nagelsmann did not want to look ahead to upcoming opponents such as Spain in the quarter-finals anyway. “We don’t even know whether all the supposed favorites will make it through,” he said on MagentaTV. But it was clear to the national coach: “We want to win the group.” It was indeed hard-fought against an extremely uncomfortable opponent – and on what was expected to be a terrible pitch.

Nagelsmann refrained from experimenting. As announced, his starting eleven in the third group game was the same as in the first and second – the last time Rudi Völler had done this was at the 2002 World Cup. “It’s about rhythm,” said the national coach. His first eleven had not yet played “countless games in this constellation”. Nevertheless, he will have to make changes due to Tah’s suspension

What also concerned Nagelsmann: the pitch. “You have no grip on the pitch,” he complained on ARD before kick-off, emphasizing: “It’s important that nobody gets injured.” The ball did indeed bounce around on the pitch, causing problems for high-class players such as Kai Havertz, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. As did the Swiss’ plan to defend high and aggressively.

Nevertheless, the ball was soon in the net after a formidable long-range shot from Robert Andrich – the jubilation led to whistles against referee Daniele Orsato from Italy, who, however, withdrew the goal due to a foul by Musiala on Michel Aebischer and after studying the video footage (17′). Nagelsmann was furious, which happened even more frequently thereafter – also due to the rustic style of the Swiss.

There were no objections to Ndoye’s goal from FC Bologna. He took the first chance for his team, but Antonio Rüdiger’s outstretched toe cleared the offside. The first setback for the German team in the tournament initially had an effect. The game became congested in midfield. Even Toni Kroos was not the usual calming influence.

That only changed to a limited extent in the second half. Germany’s play looked hesitant and hectic, with problems at almost every turn. There was little structure to their efforts to equalize and at times it resembled a desperate scramble. On top of that, Musila failed to score with a powerful shot against Yann Sommer and Ilkay Güdogan missed the follow-up shot (50′).

Nagelsmann reacted. He brought on Nico Schlotterbeck (61) to give him some match practice alongside Rüdiger for the round of 16. At the same time, he replaced Maximilian Mittelstädt with David Raum. And he brought on Hoffenheim center forward Maxilian Beier (65′), who shortly afterwards was clipped by Joshua Kimmich in the penalty area when he had a chance (70′). The VAR ruled no penalty.

Switzerland began to look at the clock and coach Murat Yakin’s team were no longer very interested in attacking. Leroy Sane came on for Wirtz, Niclas Füllkrug for Musiala – but Havertz had the best chance first: his header landed on the goal net. Füllkrug’s then found the net from Raum’s cross