Tosun treble sinks Poland

Cenk Tosun fired a hat-trick as Germany recovered from falling behind to post a commanding victory over Poland in their opening UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite round Group 6 fixture.

Michal Kucharczyk gave Poland the best of starts with just six minutes on the clock, but his strike merely roused Germany into life. They were level nine minutes later courtesy of Tosun's fine finish and the Eintracht Frankfurt striker registered again shortly afterwards, before completing his treble ten minutes after the restart. With Poland reeling, Marcos Alvarez added to the deficit.

Things had nonetheless started so brightly for Michał Globisz's charges when Kucharczyk intercepted the ball in midfield, surged towards goal and blasted in from the edge of the area. Poland failed to control their advantage, however, and were pegged back when Tosun backheeled in from Peniel Mlapa's cross. The same player then turned and scored from a Marco Stiepermann pass, and he punished Poland again when a Lennart Hartmann free-kick landed at his feet.

Not content with that, Horst Hrubesch's charges rounded off their scoring when Alvarez pounced on a Stiepermann cross from the left to further boost morale ahead of Thursday's meeting with Slovakia. Poland will need to bounce back against hosts the Netherlands on the same day.

"I haven't worked with this team for long and this lineup hasn't played together for long, but I'm pleased we've had a positive start to the tournament," said Hrubesch. "I think we perhaps should have scored one or two more goals as in the end that may be decisive, but when you start a tournament like this with a victory like this, you can be satisfied."