Klopp's team delivers - but there is more

Jürgen Klopp was joking when he was asked about the sparse crowd the day before the game against Serbia. 5,000 children were allowed to be in the stadium despite the UEFA ban on the Serbian supporters. "Then we have to send 5,000 Serbian children home tomorrow with the thought: You don't always win in football. There's no threat here, but the goal is to win the game."

One can only imagine how frustrated the kids were. But they saw a German national soccer team that clearly dominated their Serbian team, especially in the first half - and ultimately won 3-1 (2-0).

Now Serbia – No. 44 in the FIFA world rankings – is not a major football power, but every game still has to be won first. Just like on Friday evening, when Germany exuded dominance before the break, which in numbers reads as follows: 85 percent ball possession, 517:93 passes played and 12:1 shots on goal - impressive. In many situations, the German players did what the national coach asked of them.

In the second half, Germany no longer acted as consistently and in some phases were far too careless, even if the team was unlucky with an offside goal (Joshua Kimmich) and a hit on the post (Derry Scherhant). Brajan Gruda, from Leipzig, scored after a nice solo. It was a strong debut for the 22-year-old, who acted courageously, occasionally moving inwards, daring to get into a one-on-one situation and looking for a finish. These are things that the national coach wants to see.

After Jürgen Klopp called up an XXL squad with 44 players for his first four international matches at the end of September/beginning of October and achieved one win, two draws and one defeat, there was a performance in Belgrade that gave confidence for the tasks ahead. Knowing full well that Monday's opponent - the Netherlands - has much more quality. In the first leg, both teams drew 1-1.

Final against the Netherlands for the quarter-finals

In the parallel game on Friday, the Netherlands qualified for the duel with Germany with a 7-0 win at home against Greece. Klopp's team will definitely be challenged more than in Belgrade. But these are games that need a selection that is in the process of development under a new national coach, is filled with many young players and needs to mature. In terms of progressing in the Nations League, they now have a final.

The team delivered in Belgrade, in a game in which a number of experts had already weighed in beforehand, whether through the media or their own social media accounts. There was talk of a grace period that was over. And that the national coach, according to the tenor, has to expect that there will be criticism in the event of a defeat. One can assume that he was aware of this before the game. But in the end there is a victory.