Rudy ready to instigate Germany renaissance

Although the after effects of the 3-2 defeat by the Netherlands had not been completely shaken off when Sebastian Rudy spoke to the press on Friday, it was obvious he and his Germany team-mates had left many of the negative emotions of that last-minute loss behind them.

Germany are eager to close the book on the Jong Oranje match, hoping that good recuperation and a shift of focus to the encounter against Spain on Sunday will lead to a fresh start at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. "There is only one thing we need to adjust," Rudy said. "The performance we delivered in the second half needs to be the performance that we show from the first minute of the next match."

The holding midfielder sparked Germany's best spell of their Group B opener when he converted a penalty just after the break to bring his side back into the game, but it was not enough to cover up a first half when the team – according to coach Rainer Adrion – was "nervous, overambitious or something along those lines". Rudy is confident that his team will learn from that experience, though, and make the step up – starting against the holders on Sunday.

"Hopefully we've discarded the nerves of that first match," added Rudy. "On Sunday, we have no room for error." Rudy does not have to look too far into his personal history for such a make or break game, having escaped Bundesliga relegation with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in a play-off against 1. FC Kaiserslautern just two weeks ago. Now, the next survival battle looms: "If we want to stay in this tournament, I think we need to win the game. Everyone is aware of this and we need to give it our all from the first minute."

One area Germany could hold the edge is in terms of stamina, given how Adrion's team seemed to up their work rate in the second half on Thursday, helping them stay right on top of the Netherlands as they sought a way back into the match. "It's quite warm here, but in the evenings you can cope with it. We kept up a high tempo until the end, every one of our players was still running."

To make sure they will have all available energy at their disposal against Spain, the team only did a light bit of recuperation work on Friday, followed by some free time in the afternoon. Their encounter against the title holders is constantly on the minds of the players, though. "We just have to win this game," Rudy stressed.