Deniz Undav shines with two goals, one assist in Germany’s 4-0 win over Finland

MAINZ – Coach Julian Nagelsmann praised the “dangerous” Deniz Undav, after he scored twice and set up another as Germany cruised to a 4-0 win over Finland in Mainz on May 31 in their final home warm-up before the World Cup.

Handed a rare start with Champions League finalist Kai Havertz yet to join the squad, Undav terrorised the outclassed Finns alongside the 18-year-old Lennart Karl on his full debut for Germany.

“Deniz was very dangerous, he was a bit unlucky with his first finish. He was involved in three goals and played a good game,” said Nagelsmann of the VfB Stuttgart striker.

Undav was replaced due to injury just after scoring his second goal, his sixth in eight games for the national team.

“It was a 10 out of 10 evening,” the 29-year-old told Germany’s ZDF network. “Good night, family was here, the main thing is we won...

“I had three goal contributions – it couldn’t have gone much better.”

Jamal Musiala, playing his first Germany match since March 2025 after missing much of the season with a broken leg, scored on his return, while Florian Wirtz also got on the scoresheet.

“I hope it was fun for everyone – it was for me,” said Musiala, 23. “It’ll do me good. I haven’t scored for a while.”

Finland, ranked 73rd in the world, were little match for the four-time World Cup winners, who have one final friendly before the tournament.

The Germans play World Cup co-hosts the United States in Chicago on June 6, before opening their campaign against Curacao on June 14.

Nagelsmann shuffled his deck against Finland, handing Undav, Nathaniel Brown and Felix Nmecha rare starts, while naming Karl in the line-up for the first time.

Said Nagelsmann: “Karl had a lot of actions in the first half, he tried a lot and also had good moments again and again in the second half.

“He’s a player who will be very valuable for us.”

Veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who was given a shock recall almost two years after announcing his international retirement, sat out with a calf injury as Oliver Baumann started between the sticks.

Undav gave Germany the lead on 34 minutes. Captain Joshua Kimmich looped in a delightful cross from the right directly to Undav, who headed home.

Early in the second half, Undav pounced on a poor Ville Koski pass and squared for Wirtz to tap home.

Just before the hour mark, Undav was in the thick of things again when he burst onto a Karl pass and coolly slotted home.

He was substituted immediately after but played down the severity of his injury.

“A little bit of pain but nothing wild,” Undav said. “Everything’s fine. I’ll need a couple of days treatment and then I’ll be fine.”

Playing his first Germany match for 434 days, Musiala added gloss to the victory when he blasted in from just inside the box to complete the rout.

In another friendly on May 31, Switzerland scored three goals in the first half but added only one more after the break as they beat Jordan 4-1.

Breel Embolo, Dan Ndoye, Granit Xhaka and Christian Fassnacht netted for the Swiss while Odeh Al-Fakhouri scored for Jordan.

Elsewhere, Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu backed his team to grind out wins at the World Cup after edging out Iceland 1-0 with a late Koki Ogawa goal in their final friendly in Tokyo.

“It was difficult to break Iceland open and they had some dangerous chances on the counter-attack,” he said.

“But we kept a clean sheet and won, and you get games like that at the World Cup, so this will help us.”

Iceland coach Arnar Gunnlaugsson, whose team did not qualify for the World Cup, said Japan’s players had “the whole package”.

“I think they will do really well at the World Cup,” he said.

“I think it’s almost like a perfect team, in a sense.

“They can do everything really well.” AFP, REUTERS