Moukoko wants to continue campaigning for a European Championship ticket and call Adeyemi
Youssoufa Moukoko is hoping to continue his goalscoring streak for the German U21 national team as he bids for a European Championship ticket. "Everyone who has ever played for the senior national team has this in the back of their mind," said Moukoko after the U21 footballers' 4:1 victory over Estonia in the European Championship qualifiers. Moukoko scored for the twelfth time in the tenth game in Paderborn on Friday evening.
"I always score the goals here because I get a full 90 minutes. It's very good for me to get the rhythm. I'm happy to come here every time, there's always a smile here," said the 18-year-old, who was part of the senior national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. "Nobody expected me to be at the World Cup either. Let's see what happens." At a tournament at home - like the 2024 European Championship - everyone wants to be there, of course. There has "not yet" been an exchange with national coach Julian Nagelsmann.
In the third match under Nagelsmann, the German national team will face Turkey on Saturday (8.45pm/RTL). After the 3-1 win against the USA and the 2-2 draw against Mexico during the trip to America in October, Nagelsmann wants to continue the upward trend on the way to the 2024 European Championship at home. The Berlin Olympic Stadium will be sold out with over 70,000 spectators - Moukoko will be watching on TV.
"We'll all watch together and then we hope we can go out for a nice meal," said the BVB attacker, "and then we want to win our game on Tuesday." The game in Essen will then be against their biggest rivals on the road to the 2025 European Championship finals: Poland. Germany have nine points after three games, Poland twelve after four.
In contrast to BVB striker Moukoko, club colleague Karim Adeyemi (21) skipped the international matches with the U21s, unlike in October, because he wanted to stay with the club. "I think I'll speak to him on the phone. I'll tell him how the game was. I think he watched it too," said Moukoko about his BVB colleague.
Moukoko's impressive goalscoring form for the U21 national team could potentially earn him a spot in the DFB's senior team, aiming for the EM qualification. Despite being part of the senior national team at the 2022 World Cup, Moukoko is keen on continuing his form in U21 games, as he mentioned after their victory over Estonia. After their upcoming match against Turkey, Moukoko will be hoping to watch the senior team's game against Poland, as his BVB teammate Adeyemi might not participate with the U21 team this time around.
Source: www.dpa.com
