Dejagah galvanises Germany

By Pete Sanderson at St Léonard stadium

A dazzling solo goal from midfield player Ashkan Dejagah helped Germany to an important UEFA European Under-19 Chamionship finals victory after they left it late in a thrilling Group B match against Poland.

Early blow
Poland had given Germany an early scare after Lukasc Piszczek headed them into an early lead, but goals from Mario Gómez, Aschkan Dejagah and Paul Thomik left Germany within a victory against Turkey on Sunday of progress to the semi-finals. The win also guaranteed Germany at least a third place in the group and therefore a berth in next year's FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

Cagey start
Fielding the same eleven that were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Spain on Tuesday, Germany engineered the first decent opening of the game. Gómez combined with Michael Delura down the left before slipping a ball through to Marcel Jansen but, with the goal at his mercy, the midfield player screwed his shot into the sidenetting.

Stooped to conquer
But if the 1,100 fans at the sun-drenched stadium expected Dieter Eilts' men to have the game all there own way, they were soon prove wrong. An uncharacteristic lapse in concentration from the German defence allowed Poland's midfield livewire Marcin Tarnowski to scamper down the right and with the German rearguard sleeping, Tarnowski's fizzing cross picked out Lukasz Piszczek, and the youngster scored a delightful header to add to the two goals he scored in Poland's 4-3 loss to Turkey.

Vicious strike
The Germans were not fazed by this early blow though and immediately set about restoring parity. Mop-haired striker Mario Gomez, arguably their best player during their disappointing performance against Spain, who looked their most likely source of a goal. With 12 minutes played he wriggled free of his marker, cut in from the right before sending a vicious shot just centimetres over.

Honours even
But it was not long before Gomez made a more telling impact. With Poland caught on the attack, the forward latched onto a neat ball from Dejagah before crashing a 20-metre shot beyond the despairing dive of Lukasc Fabianski. The goal seemed to add extra gusto to the German game and, for the next 20 minutes they peppered the Polish goal, with Gomez and the tireless Delura the chief tormentors.

Renewed spirit
A long and exhausting post-mortem had followed the rather lacklustre defeat to Spain but, as Stephan Bork's shot grazed the upright and Gómez forced Fabrianski into an acrobatic save, there seemed no more need to quibble. But a thunderous free-kick from Marcin Smolinski which Adler spectacularly turned around the post, showed that the contest was by no means over.

Late goals
Indeed, Poland were quicker out of the blocks in a lively opening to the second half. First Piszczek prodded wide from three metres after good work from Tarnowski, then Kowalczyk's header was well saved by Adler. But Germany finished the game with a bang when Dejagah scythed through the Polish defence on 76 minutes before despatching a shot beyond Fabianski to make it 2-1. Then, in the dying moments of the game, Thomik crashed in Lukas Sinkiewicz's knockdown from a corner to complete a memorable victory.