AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Germany coach Joachim Loew hailed the last gasp victory over the Netherlands on Sunday as an important step in the rebuilding process for his team.
Nico Schulz scored a last minute goal to hand Germany a 3-2 triumph at the Amsterdam Arena in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier as Loew looks to reconstruct a side who were world champions in 2014, but flopped badly in Russia last year.
They were then relegated from the UEFA Nations League after poor results in the second half of 2018.
"A game like this belongs to the process which such a young team must go through," Loew said after the match, where Germany were 2-0 up at halftime after goals from Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry but allowed the Dutch to come back and equalise.
"What I liked was that we believed in it again. The team showed terrific fight and we had a little of the game luck that we have been missing sometimes recently.
"In the first half we really played very, very well with the strikes putting together some very, very good processes."
After halftime it was somewhat different, the coach added: "We fought and fought madly, but we did not play at the same level as in the first half."
Germany's next game is in Belarus on June 8 where the introduction of more young talent is expected.
Loew dropped World Cup winners Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Mueller earlier this month saying the team needs to look to the future.
(Reporting By Mark Gleeson; Editing by Christian Radnedge)