Germany lost 1-0 to Ivory Coast this Saturday (20), in Group E of the World Cup, when coach Julian Nagelsmann made three substitutions, including the exchange of midfielder Musiala for center forward Deniz Undav.
The 29-year-old striker took eight minutes to equalize the score, 22 minutes into the second half, and found the net again in stoppage time for the Germans to win 3 more points.
The victory guaranteed qualification for the next phase of the World Cup, something that had not happened since 2014, an edition in which Germany became four-time champions. At the time, Undav was about to turn 18 years old.
Born in the small port city of Varel, in northwest Germany, Undav played for Werder Bremen’s youth teams.
He began playing as a professional at TSV Havelse, also German, and played for Union Saint-Gilloise, in Belgium, and Brighton, in the Premier League. In 2023, he was loaned to Stuttgart, with whom he signed permanently the following year.
It was precisely in 2024, ten years after Germany won their fourth title in Brazil, that Undav entered the field for the national team for the first time, in a friendly against France, won 2-0.
His first goal for the country came in September of that year, in a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands. The player scored to equalize and then provided the assist for the turning goal, but on that occasion Germany ended up conceding equality.
In total, the Stuttgart player accumulated nine goals and four assists in 11 matches played for Germany, two of which were in the World Cup. He never played a full game — either he started among the starters and ended up being substituted, or he came on during the game.
He scored one goal and contributed to two other of the seven German goals against Curaçao, in the debut, and shares the tournament’s top scorer position so far, with three goals, alongside Argentine Lionel Messi and Canadian Jonathan David.
For Stuttgart, he scored 25 goals and 14 assists in 46 matches played last season.
