VfB Frohnhausen wins the top match in the Lower Rhine 6 district league by a surprisingly clear margin. Accordingly, ve
Easy victory after a setback – Germany defeats Luxembourg
With a 4-0 victory over Luxembourg, the national team has sent the necessary signal for a direct World Cup ticket. The national coach can feel vindicated.
First a backward roll with leader Joshua Kimmich, then the hoped-for commanding victory and the jump to first place as encouragement: after the national soccer team’s easy 4-0 (2-0) win against the brave but overwhelmed underdog Luxembourg, Julian Nagelmann has his sights firmly set on direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
David Raum (12th minute) with his first international goal, Kimmich (21st/handball penalty/50th), who was once again called up by the national coach as a right-back with his first DFB double and the outstanding Serge Gnabry (48th minute) scored the goals for the superior DFB team against the underdogs, who were decimated early on by a red card for Dirk Carlson.
After the highest victory of the year, which could have been even clearer with more consistency, Nagelsmann travels more relaxed to the more difficult away game in Belfast against Northern Ireland on Monday.
DFB team tops the table
The British helped the DFB team to the top of Group A with their victory over the Slovaks. Their own opening defeat in the World Cup qualifying round against Slovakia (0-2) should remain a one-off slip-up on the road to the title in North America next summer.
“We are not in a position to underestimate any opponent,” Nagelsmann had said before kick-off, given the DFB team’s bumpy start in Bratislava. His caution was unfounded. Against Luxembourg, who are still without points, the victory was never in danger after a dominant start.
Nagelsmann revises Kimmich transfer
Kimmich shone in front of 25,249 spectators in the sold-out arena in Sinsheim in his new, old role as a great driving force. In his 104th international match, which saw him overtake Franz Beckenbauer (103), the DFB captain did not limit himself to his duties as a right-sided midfielder. He was simply everywhere.
“Joshua is very strong in both positions. We always try to find solutions and see which is the best option,” said Nagelsmann, explaining Kimmich’s transfer from central midfield to right-back, which had recently been identified as a problem area in the German team.
In addition, Nagelsmann relied on proven players instead of further personnel experiments. BVB center back Nico Schlotterbeck returned to the DFB starting lineup for the first time since March after his knee injury and gained 45 minutes of playing time.
DFB team starts strongly
Kimmich, one of five confident Munich players in the starting lineup, made his first offensive mark after just three minutes, setting the tone for the game. However, his powerful shot was saved by Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris. Shortly afterwards, players and fans celebrated what they thought was the opening goal – but it was too early.
Nick Woltemade, who had declared himself fit after only one training session following a bout of flu at the start of the week, deflected a Gnabry shot into the net – but with his arm. After intervention by the video assistant, the goal was rightly disallowed. It would have been the first international goal for the striker, who moved from VfB Stuttgart to Newcastle United in the summer for around €90 million.
After twelve minutes, however, the DFB team was rewarded for its dominant start. Raum scored with a direct free kick from just under 20 meters. It was the RB Leipzig captain’s first goal in his 31st appearance for Germany. VAR helps Germany Less than 20 minutes into the game, VAR was called into action for the second time, this time because of a handball by Carlson in his own penalty area that was not initially penalized. Serbian referee Nenad Minakovic reviewed the TV footage and awarded a penalty, sending Luxembourg’s defender off with a red card. Kimmich converted with ice-cold precision. Even with a man advantage, the German team remained focused and created another great chance, but Woltemade missed. After a magical pass from Florian Wirtz, who was playing freely, the 23-year-old stumbled with the ball in front of an open goal. The decimated visitors barely made it past the halfway line in what was a one-sided game. One wave of attack after another rolled towards the underdogs’ goal. At times, the game was more reminiscent of handball. Nagelsmann’s team found another gap in the Luxembourg defense, losing some of their initial fire after 35 minutes, but not before the break.
Double strike after the break
That changed shortly after the restart when Gnabry extended the lead with a crisp shot under the bar, rewarding himself for a strong overall performance with his 24th international goal. Just 120 seconds later, Kimmich scored a brace from close range.
After an hour, it was all over for the luckless Woltemade, who was replaced by new Frankfurt signing Jonathan Burkardt. Ridle Baku also came on for Karim Adeyemi, making his DFB comeback. No sooner had they taken to the pitch than they saw Wirtz hit the post.
The €150 million man from Liverpool FC showed no signs of his poor start to the season in England, even if he was unable to add to his tally.
The two coaches had mixed feelings after the final whistle.
On the ninth match day of the Lower Rhine 6 district league, Rot-Weiss Essen’s second team hosted VfB Frohnhausen. It was the top match of the day. Both teams had 19 points, third against fourth. That was the situation before the game. But the final score and the course of the game were clear: Frohnhausen won 4-0, knocking RWE out of the top four. The Frohnhausen team put in a committed and largely dominant performance, extending their winning streak to six games. VfB coach Chamdin Said was understandably pleased after the final whistle: “The team’s performance was incredible. I still can’t believe it.“
But Said also knows that the final score was higher than the game warranted. Frohnhausen was lucky on several occasions at crucial moments in the game to avoid conceding a goal. ”We were also lucky once or twice when our goalkeeper made outstanding saves to keep the score at 1-0.”
The 37-year-old couldn’t stop raving about his team and continued: “I’m just proud of the team and how they’ve performed in recent weeks.”
The mood was very different for RWE II coach Stefan Lorenz. He was more than fed up after the game. After almost two years without a competitive defeat, this is now the second defeat in a row for the Red and Whites. But Lorenz doesn’t see everything as bad: “We played an outstanding first half, didn’t score any goals, and conceded 0-1 due to an individual error.”
Even though the final score was too high, RWE couldn’t come close to matching their first-half performance. The ball rarely reached the players in the final third. In the final stages of the game, when Essen had to open up at the back, Frohnhausen took advantage of the counterattacking opportunities. “The defeat hurts, we wanted to show a reaction after the last defeat, and that worked in terms of football. In terms of points, however, we are left empty-handed and unfortunately have to swallow a bitter pill.”
