Jamie Leweling shoots the DFB team against the Netherlands in the Nations League quarter-finals

And on his little anniversary he has now achieved something that his two predecessors had attempted in vain. With the 1-0 win against the Netherlands, a German team successfully left the preliminary round of the Nations League behind for the first time. Second place is already secured before the final two games in November, and thus a place in the quarter-finals, which will be played in March with the return leg.

What initially looked like a lightning start against the Netherlands still required a bit of a run-up for the Germans and their goalscorer Jamie Leweling (64th minute) in his first international match. But even though a remarkably powerful first half was followed by a somewhat more reserved second, it was a well-deserved success against their rivals, who looked weak for a long time and only fought back late.

Thomas Müller first made a fashionable impression in a blue jacket with a colorful pocket square. Like his fellow 2014 World Cup winners Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos as well as İlkay Gündoğan, the European Championship captain of the summer, he was sent off with some pomp (although Kroos had apologized because of an obligation in Madrid). And as soon as the ball rolled after a farewell applause for the deceased former national players Johan Neeskens and Dieter Burdenski, it was already in the Dutch net.