Through two games at Euro 2025, Germany hasn't been the most impressive of top sides. The results flatter to deceive. After beating Poland 2-0 in the opener, Germany came back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Denmark 2-1, thereby qualifying for the knockout rounds. That's a tidy resume, even if neither Poland (27th FIFA rank) or Denmark (12th) are truly elite opposition, and there shouldn't be much to quibble from six points out of six, especially after Germany went out in the group stage of the 2023 World Cup. However, the specifics of how Germany is playing and its glaring weaknesses in defense might yet come back to bite the side as the competition gets tougher.
Still, though, the way Germany came back to beat Denmark deserves some recognition, even if it wasn't free of controversy. In a way, a tough and sloppy match might have been what Germany needed to prove, to itself mostly, that it was no longer carrying an emotional albatross from the last World Cup, a process that began in earnest with an encouraging bronze medal at last summer's Olympics. The first-half one-two-three punch combination the Germans suffered might have sank them if the weight of disappointment still hung around their necks, but on Tuesday, it didn't.
