BVB talent Yusufa Moukoko makes impressive U21 debut

BVB Jewel Youssoufa Moukoko impressively continued her record pursuit on her debut in the German U21 national team.

The 16-year-old scored two goals in a sovereign 6-0 (5-0) debut at the European Championship qualification in San Marino. The newly formed team of DFB trainer Stephan Kuntz celebrated an all-round successful restart 88 days after the European Championship victory.

“Yusufa is a top talent, we don’t even need to talk about it,” Kuntz said in “ProSieben Max”: “but he still has to develop. He is currently in a difficult phase, now he has There are completely different opponents. Two goals are good – but that doesn’t mean the boy is finished with his development now. You have to let the boys mature too.”

Moukoko was the first 16-year-old in history to play for the U21s at Ceravalle and his goals (39th/41st) also made him the youngest scorer on the most important U team. The other goal was scored by Tom Cross from 1.

Young star Moukoko has already set several records in her short career – all of them starting with “Youngest”. Most important: Youngest Bundesliga player, Youngest player in the Champions League, Youngest Bundesliga goal scorer. It was not until September 2020 that Moukoko, who was also entitled to play for Cameroon, made his debut in the DFB’s U20 team, having already reached the foundation of the senior national team.

Germany’s strong hold on San Marino

In his first game since a disappointing qualifying round at Olympia, Kuntz saw the expected one-sided fight from the start, although eight debutants were in the starting line-up. Even after an early goal by Cross and new captain Burkard, the DFB coach was able to sit on the bench.

After this, the German U21s, who celebrated the two highest wins in their history against San Marino in 2009 (11:0) and 2011 (8:0), had everything under control. The lack of coordination was hardly noticeable, instead Maukoko hit the blank target at first without problem and artfully in the fall shortly afterwards.

The previous age record for U21s was held by Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), who made his debut in October 2020 at the age of 17 years and 159 days. The youngest ever scorer was then-Schalke Julian Drexler in 2011 with 17 years and 323 days.

Kuntz admits: “interest from associations and clubs”

Meanwhile, shortly before kick-off, Kuntz had for the first time reaffirmed the “interest of associations and clubs” in his person. “It’s normal for you to think that,” he said of his unclear future. DFB Vice President Ronnie Zimmerman confirmed that he expects the successful coach to remain in place until the end of the year. “We’ll make the decision easy for him,” Zimmerman said.

Kuntz & Co will continue on Tuesday in Latvia, with other rivals being Poland, Israel and Hungary. Only the group winners will qualify for the 2023 finals in Georgia and Romania, where the Paris 2024 Olympic tickets will also be awarded.