Tah and Germany U21s off to flying start

"It's not easy getting into a tournament like this so it's very important for us to have won the first game. We were under a bit of pressure and Denmark were not easy opponents. I think you could feel our anxiety a bit in the first five minutes when we were too hesitant. But overall, we played a good game and deserved to win," said the Werkself number four who played his part in the German defence that was solid for most of the game. "Apart from a few set pieces, we didn't give much away but there were a couple of things we have to do better. We want to move up a gear in the next match," said Tah.

Playing in front of 7,000 fans in Udine, the team led by coach Stefan Kuntz produced a committed and mature performance in the second half to build on a narrow but deserved 1-0 lead at the break. Marco Richter of FC Augsburg (28', 52') and Luca Waldschmidt of SC Freiburg (65') converted chances created by Germany with Tah starting alongside the two former Bayern 04 players Benny Henrichs (AS Monaco) and Levin Öztunali (Mainz 05). Robert Skov scored for Denmark from the penalty spot on 73 minutes.

Germany are back in action on Thursday (20 June, 21.00 CET, live on ARD) against Serbia who suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat against Austria early on Monday evening.