Germany edge past Netherlands, England play draw with Belgium
FRANKFURT: An 84th-minute header from Niclas Fuellkrug sent Euro 2024 hosts Germany past the Netherlands 2-1 in a friendly in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
Brought on with 17 minutes remaining, the Borussia Dortmund striker leapt highest to head in a Toni Kroos corner, with goal-line technology confirming the ball had crossed the line.
Germany were forced to come from behind in the match, conceding ater just four minutes, with Joey Veerman taking advantage of some sloppy defending from Maximilian Mitelstaedt to give the Dutch the lead.
Mitelstaedt, playing just his second game in Germany colours, made up for his mistake shortly ater however, unleashing a stunning strike from outside the box to level the scores on the 10-minute mark.
The victory continues Germany’s recent uptick in form, a second-straight victory less than three months from hosting Euro 2024.
Kroos, called back into the German side having retired from international duty in 2021, told RTL “I’m convinced we’ll play a good tournament.”
Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham scored at the death to restore English pride on Tuesday to claim a 2-2 draw ater Youri Tielemans struck twice for Belgium in the teams’ final match before squads are announced for Euro 2024.
Injury-hit England produced a display full of atacking verve but the visitors were a constant threat on the break and Tielemans made them pay for defensive lapses.
Aston Villa midfielder Tielemans opened the scoring ater a bad error from England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and headed home a second later in the first half ater Ivan Toney had equalised from the penalty spot.
Belgium survived a succession of England efforts and seemed certain to hold out for the win in front of more than 80,000 fans at Wembley before Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham struck deep into stoppage time.