Germany booked their place in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final thanks to a 4-0 win over Austria. Davie Selke opened the scoring, with a costless header, thanks to a great ball from Marc Setndera. The pair then swapped roles, as Selke crossed for Stendera to rifle home a half volley from twenty yards. Second-half goals from Levin Öztunalı and Hany Mukhtar meant it was easy in the end for Germany.

Germany started the same side that beat Ukraine by two goals to nil. While Austria made a whole host of changes from the eleven that started against Portugal, that of course due to the weakened team they put out in that 2-1 defeat.

Ivan Lucic, who had been extremely impressive in the two games he'd played early in the tournament, was given a massive reprieve early on. A dangerous long ball in from Marc Stendera meant that Lucic misjudged the ball and clattered into a Germany player. Hany Mukhtar was presented with the easiest of scoring opportunities and he duly converted, only for the referee to blow for a costless-kick on the goalkeeper. The decision from Kevin Clancy was furiously disputed, but nothing would change the Scotsman's mind, leaving Marcus Sorg bemused to say the least.

Germany were making all the early running and Davie Selke spurned another good chance to send the favourites into the lead. Good play from the ever-impressive Stendera allowed Julian Brandt to combine with Mukhtar, he slid a lovely ball through to Selke and the Werder Bremen striker drove the ball wide of the goal. A relatively timid start from Austria was broken when Florian Grillitsch closed down an Oliver Schnitzler clearance, Aalen's new signing looking decidedly indecisive as he narrowly avoided embarrassment.

Despite the small surge from the Austrians, the German's took the lead. After the nervous Lucic mistimed a punch clear, the ball fell to Stendera and he whipped in another great ball. The Frankfurt man was having a great tournament and his partner in crime was there to finish things off gain, as Selke headed home unmarked to score his sixth of the tournament. Davie Selke had the costlessdom of the Austria box, while Stendera had just as much time to pick out the talismanic striker, moving himself into the lead for the golden boot by scoring that header.

After Levin Öztunalı missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0, Sinan Bytyqi wasted an equally good opportunity to level the game. The attacker found space on the edge of the box, but dragged his shot horribly wide of Schnitzler's goal. Just when it looked like Austria could find a way back into things, Germany scored their second. Hany Mukhtar sent Selke racing down the right, he found Marc Stendera and, after a scuffed pass to Mukhtar, got the ball back and rifled it into the corner. Stendera, equally as important to the side as Selke, smashed the ball past Lucic before he could so much as twitch.

Austria came out a different animal in the second-half, it was clear that Andreas Heraf had sent them out with his words ringing in their ears. As Oliver Schnitzler found out very quickly, he was made to scramble across his goal to see a Markus Blutsch drive fly just wide of his left-hand post. They just couldn't force a clear-cut chance and i the frustration began to creep into the game, as Grubeck, Lovric and Grillitsch were all booked within three minutes. Unfortunately for them, that anger was about to build-up even more. A misplaced pass in midfield let Marc Stendera pick out Öztunalı, who went past Lovric and slotted past the on-rushing Lucic to make it 3-0.

Austria had capitulated and soon found themselves 4-0 down. Hany Mukhtar, who had a goal chalked off in the first half, was on hand to tap in Levin Öztunalı's cut-back. A quick costless-kick from Kevin Akpoguma meant that Joshua Kimmich was costless to pick out Öztunalı, the Bayer Leverkusen man found Mukhtar and this time his goal counted. Germany continued to pile on the pressure, substitute Sebastian Stolze went close, but they were not worried scoring; but more so protecting their star men. Kimmich, Selke and Stendera, the latter who seemed to have a slight knock, were taken off and that gave Friedrich, Stolze and Syhre a chance. The rest of the game was a non-event, apart from a few nervous moments on Schnitzler's part and a fine block from Kempf, as Germany closed out the remainder game comfortably.

'Die Nationalmannschaft' will now face the winner of the night's other semi-final, as Serbia take on Portugal, in Budapest on Sunday. That game will be a fantastic spectacle as Europe's finest youngsters face off for the right to be crowned European Champions and Germany's bid for a two-trophy-summer also continues.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]