Tom Bischof made his mark on the German U21s’ game against Malta. And he helped keep the pressure on group leaders Greece.
His parents were there to witness it all on Friday evening in Fürth, so Tom Bischof was able to give them the collector’s item to take home with them to Amorbach. “First everyone will sign it, and then there will be a little memorabilia corner at my parents’ house,” revealed the Bayern player. “There isn’t that much there yet, but with this ball it’s now four, and I hope there will be more to come.”
That’s to be expected, but three goals in one game are still a rarity for the dangerous long-range shooter. Most recently, he “managed it in the U16 or U17, but unfortunately not yet at the professional level.” Bischof scored three long-range shots in the 6-0 rout of Malta. “I practiced my finishing yesterday, and I’m pretty good at shooting.”
“I didn’t expect the three goals, but I hoped we would achieve a high score, which is important for the table situation so that we can put pressure on Greece,” says Bischof, but the Greeks had already won their home game against Georgia 3-0 before the Germans’ game, the DFB team’s next opponent on Tuesday in Tbilisi.
Greece still top of the group
“We need an away win in Georgia because we want to finish first. If not, then we want to put pressure on them,” said Bischof. Greece remain top of the table after Germany’s unnecessary 3-2 home defeat to the Greeks. At least the 6-0 win “gave us a lot of confidence because everyone had a lot of shots on goal, but unfortunately not all of them went in, so we could have scored even more goals,” said Bischof, “but Mio Backhaus also made two good saves, otherwise we would have conceded unnecessary goals. The rest of the defense was outstanding.”
Coach Antonio Di Salvo officially appointed Bischof and Stuttgart’s Finn Jeltsch as joint captains, with Bischof wearing the armband this time. “I was very happy about that. It’s a huge responsibility for both of us and a wonderful feeling to lead Germany onto the pitch with the armband,” says Bischof, who had already served as captain in the U-19s. “It pushes you even more and gives you even more self-confidence, but I would have had the same task without the armband and would have done exactly the same thing.”
This and other convincing performances should eventually propel him up another level to the senior national team, where he has already made his debut. When will that happen? “That’s not up to me to decide. I try to perform well, and then hopefully at some point I’ll move up.”
