Fuellkrug strikes late to fire Germany past Netherlands

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 after just four minutes, with Joey Veerman taking advantage of some sloppy defending from Maximilian Mittelstaedt to give the Dutch the lead.

Mittelstaedt, playing just his second game in Germany colours, made up for his mistake shortly after 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." "I'm proud of the team. We came out of a difficult time. We have momentum and belief back, even if we didn't start the game well.

"A couple of months ago we may have fallen in a heap, but that didn't happen. We've played two very good friendlies - it's just a shame we won't get any points (at the Euros) for that." Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said "the match was a bit more complicated than it was against the French, but we managed to get a second win in a row - it feels good."

"The game could have turned the other way in the second-half, but in the final 15 minutes we were dominant and showed we wanted to win."

Germany came into the match riding a wave of optimism rarely seen in recent years, buoyed by a convincing 2-0 win over France on Saturday after a disappointing 2023 in which they won just three of 11 matches. Nagelsmann picked an unchanged XI but unlike Saturday's rapid