On Tuesday evening, the newly formed German U-21 team will probably face its first serious challenge in Latvia. Düsseldorf’s Shinta Appelkamp doesn’t want to talk about a possible fourth European Championship final in a row yet, but he did talk about the great motivational effect of Sunday’s TV evening.
On Sunday, the German U-21 squad landed in Latvia’s capital Riga. There, the newly formed team of coach Stefan Kuntz will presumably face real opposition on the pitch for the first time on Tuesday evening (18.15 LIVE! on kicker), after opening opponents San Marino proved to be uncompetitive, as expected, in the DFB Juniors’ 6:0 victory.
Still, there was room for improvement. In a video session, Kuntz and his coaching team explained to the professionals why they were no longer satisfied with the performance after the 5-0 break score. Particularly in terms of positional play and spatial distribution, there was a lack of effort against an opponent who never became dangerous offensively. “The second half was not our standard, we clearly have to do better,” Shinta Appelkamp stressed in a digital media session on Monday.
Düsseldorf’s midfielder made his DFB debut in a 4-4-2 system with a hash mark on ten, although he had already been part of the squad for the recent U-21 European Championship title in early June. Appelkamp had been called up at short notice to replace the injured Janni Serra, but was the only outfield player without any minutes.
Appelkamp sets himself the target of a regular place in the U 21s
After the generation change, he now wants to play a leading role – at the club as well as in the U 21. “My ambition is to always be on the pitch from the start,” says the Tokyo-born son of a Japanese mother and a German father, who has already played for Japan’s U 18 team. Now his focus is on the tasks with the oldest DFB juniors, who have the chance to reach the fourth European Championship final in a row. Even though he experienced this year’s triumph at first hand from the substitutes’ bench and has acquired a taste for it, he is still putting off this goal, which is set for 2 July 2023 at the final tournament in Romania and Georgia: “We don’t need to talk about that yet. First we have to qualify and then move on step by step.”
Sunday’s TV evening was even more motivating for Appelkamp and Co. than a participation in the U-21 final or even winning the title. As a team, the U-21s watched the senior national team’s match-winning performance in the 6-0 thrashing of Armenia. Florian Wirtz and Karim Adeyemi, who both won the U-21 European Championship with Appelkamp a few weeks ago, set the ball up and scored the sixth goal. “It’s great when boys who have been here make it into the senior national team. That’s what the U-21s are for, it’s a sign that you can really make it. Of course, we are all very proud of the boys.” Hoffenheim’s David Raum also came on as a substitute for the U-21 European champions in the DFB team’s resounding victory in Stuttgart.
Hansi Flick’s ensemble – surely a dream goal for Appelkamp, too, but one that is still some way off. In the present, the 20-year-old first wants to successfully complete the European Championship qualifying task in Latvia, and after that, things should also start to look up at the club.
Appelkamp on Düsseldorf’s start: “We imagined it differently “
With four points from five games, Fortuna did not get off to a good start. “We imagined it differently, especially because we also had a bad start last year. The results don’t necessarily reflect our performances. In many games, we showed what we intend to do for long stretches, to act offensively and with a lot of pressing. But we have not yet been able to convert that into good results. That’s why it’s important that we finally get three points again this weekend in Aue,” demanded Appelkamp, who has been in the starting eleven in four of Düsseldorf’s five games so far.
