Former national team director Oliver Bierhoff has praised Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann as "very brave" over his squad selection for recent friendlies against France and the Netherlands, while praise for Toni Kroos also continued on Thursday.
"But it has paid off," Bierhoff said after Nagelsmann's team won both matches in an impressive turnaround from modest results and performances in the past.
Debutant left back Maximilian Mittelstädt was a starter in both games and scored against the Dutch. His VfB Stuttgart team-mates Waldemar Anton and Deniz Undav also earned maiden caps off the bench, while their was no place in the squad for the likes of Mats Hummels and Leon Goretzka.
"On the one hand, the players are inexperienced, but on the other hand, there's always a risk when you're playing at a really fast and high international level. We've often noticed that. That even players who were quite good in the Bundesliga still have to get used to this pace," Bierhoff said.
"But I didn't see any signs of that against two big teams like France and the Netherlands. That's positive. Especially when they are embedded in a functioning team with players who have the experience."
Bierhoff said that the victories have created a positive mood again among fans, which could boost the team at Euro 2024 which hosts Germany open on June 14 against Scotland.
"You could see how quickly the mood can turn, how quickly the enthusiasm is there. The fans want to be able to think positively," Bierhoff said.
"It's mutual. But the basis is now well established. I can only hope that we get off to as good a start as we have at many other good tournaments. Namely, that you get a clear win in the first game."
Former Germany player Stefan Effenberg said in a column on the t-online portal that the impressive two victories have made Germany "a co-favourite" for the Euros.
Effenberg and Felix Magath, a Euro 1980 winner and long-time coach, were also the latest to heap praise on Kroos who came out of almost three years of international retirement and pulled the strings in midfield, giving Nagelsmann's team some much needed stability.
"He epitomises exactly what the national team has been missing in recent months. There's never been anyone who takes charge like that, who is there for others, who radiates calm and composure. Kroos has given that back to this team," Effenberg said.
Magath admitted he had been sceptical at first about the return of the 2014 World Cup winner and Real Madrid player Kroos.
"I also didn't know what condition he was in and how the team would receive him. But he was outstanding. He was the boss right from the start," Magath told Sky TV.
Also pleased with the comeback was Kroos' father Roland Kroos, a former coach of now fourth tier Greifswald who said he was also well aware of some scepticism before the matches.
"The pressure and the expectations were huge. So of course it's all the better when he comes back with such a performance in the two games," Kroos Sr told the Ostsee-Zeitung daily.
"Toni can calm the game down with his confidence on the ball, which is good for the German national team."
