Local hero Undav secures late 2-1 win for Germany against Ghana | Latest Sports News

Local hero Deniz Undav scored a late goal to secure Germany a 2-1 home win against Ghana in Stuttgart on Monday evening in a pre-World Cup friendly game.

Abdul Fatawu’s equalizer cancelled out Kai Havertz’s opener from the first half, but Stuttgart forward Undav, playing on his home stadium, fired the winner into the net in the 88th minute.

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“It was awesome to hear how the fans supported me, I enjoyed that,” Undav told broadcaster ARD.

The tight win comes after an intense 4-3 victory against Switzerland last Friday.

“It was right that we won the game. It turned into the perfect evening: claiming the win, scoring the decisive goal,” Undav said.

He recognized, however, that Germany need to “work on some small things and become more efficient.”

Havertz leads the way

Germany won the ball after Ghana keeper Benjamin Asare failed to make a clean save on a free-kick in the 31st but Nick Woltemade failed to connect with the ball before Jonathan Tah’s effort was blocked.

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Two minutes later, Florian Wirtz had the ball inside the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

But Germany finally got the opener when Havertz scored from the spot shortly before the break after they were awarded a penalty due to Jonas Adjetey’s handball.

Ghana become a threat

Germany were lucky that Jordan Ayew’s shot in the 63rd was blocked by Woltemade and deflected off the post.

But that wasn’t the case in the 70th, when the guests found the equalizer in a counterattack. Union Berlin defender Derrick Köhn easily beat substitute Josha Vagnoman on the left to serve Fatawu’s leveller.

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Undav, the hero

Germany, however, had the final word as Undav controlled Leroy Sané’s pass before finishing it into the net from close range in the 88th.

Sané was booed by the fans when he came from the bench to replace Woltemade and Undav came to his defence.

“That was sad. Leroy is part of our team, I hope next time the fans can support him,” the goalscorer said.

The next steps

“The game was good. We saw that when we’re tactically disciplined, like we were in the first 25 minutes, we’re very good,” coach Julian Nagelsamnn told ARD.

“We should have scored two, three goals in the first half though,” he added.

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The match against Ghana was the final one before Nagelsmann announces his World Cup squad on May 12.

“We’ve seen enough. We have a clear idea (about the squad) and that idea won’t change too much, but of course we need to think a lot, have a lot of conversations and make a final decision,” the coach said.

The team starts a World Cup training camp on May 25, plays Finland on May 31 and departs for the US on June 2. A final tune-up match against the US is scheduled for May 6.

Germany play debutants Curaçao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in the group stage of the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.