Germany beat England in debut futsal international
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
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Germany made a superb debut as they beat England 5-3 in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 2,000 fans in Hamburg's Inselparkhalle, followed two days later by a 3-3 draw.
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Germany made a superb futsal international debut as they beat England 5-3 in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 2,000 fans in Hamburg's Inselparkhalle.
After several months of preparations under coach Paul Schomann, Germany made their televised bow on Sunday and Timo Heinze put them ahead with the team's first goal. Timo di Giorgio doubled the lead and although two Doug Reed strikes made it 2-2 at half-time, Christopher Wittig, Lennat Hartmann and Michael Meyer of UEFA Futsal Cup elite round qualifier Hamburg Panthers sealed the win for Germany before James Webb's consolation.
"It was impressive," said Horst Hrubesch while German Football Association (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel added: "It was great advertisement for futsal, compliments to the team and coach Paul Schomann."
Two days later the sides met again and drew 3-3, Max Kilman equalising with 16 seconds to go for England in a game in which Luke Ballinger became the first player from his nation to reach 100 caps. Robbie Betson's opener for England had been overturned by Daniel Frederick and Di Girgio and although Richard Ward equalised, Stefan Winkel immediately made it 3-2 with ten minutes left.
Germany make their debut appearance in qualifying for UEFA Futsal EURO – the only UEFA national-team competition they are yet to win – in late January when they face hosts Latvia, Armenia and Estonia in 2018 preliminary round Group C. England play Bulgaria, Albania and Malta in Group D.
Germany's debut in images ...
