Leroy Sané sent off as Germany’s troubles deepen in 2-0 loss to Austria
Germany lost 2-0 to Austria in a friendly on Tuesday to leave next year’s European Championship host in turmoil yet again with less than seven months until the tournament begins.
Germany has won just two of its last 10 games and conceded 22 goals in that time. Coach Julian Nagelsmann was hired in September to replace the fired Hansi Flick and won his first game against the United States the next month but is now winless in three since.
Germany created few attacking chances against neighboring Austria on its way to a loss which was the latest in a series of recent low points for the former soccer superpower, following the 4-1 loss to Japan in September which finished Flick’s tenure and elimination in the group stage at last year’s World Cup.
Midfielder Marcel Sabitzer gave Austria the lead in the 29th minute, completing a counterattack by beating defender Jonathan Tah and scoring low at Kevin Trapp’s near post.
The game went from bad to worse for Germany when forward Leroy Sané was sent off for shoving Philipp Mwene to the ground after they tangled in a tackle just after halftime.
Austria made it 2-0 in the 73rd when Christoph Baumgartner beat German defender Mats Hummels and finished in style with a lob over Trapp.
Just as in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Turkey, Nagelsmann stayed with his eye-catching plan of deploying Arsenal forward Kai Havertz as an attacking left-back. However, Germany created no chances of note in the first half and was under pressure on defense.
An early warning sign came when Michael Gregoritsch was given space in the 17th minute to simply run between the two central defenders and go one-on-one with goalkeeper Trapp, who rushed out to save. Havertz ended up playing as a right-sided forward following Sané's red card.
Austria has just one loss in its last 12 games as it becomes one of Europe’s top-performing teams under its German coach Ralf Rangnick. Austria qualified for the European Championship last month.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
