All posts tagged: Germany super sub

Deniz Undav: From machine operator at factory to Germany’s World Cup hero | Football News

Deniz Undav: From machine operator at factory to Germany’s World Cup hero | Football News

For a man who’s always been made to wait a long time for his chances, Deniz Undav has perfected the act of seizing them with both hands when they arrive. Like on Saturday, when Julian Nagelsmann sent him on as a substitute in a desperate roll of the dice in the 60th minute of their FIFA World Cup game against Ivory Coast. It took him just eight minutes to score Germany’s equaliser. And then, score their winner in the 94th minute in one of his best nights in Germany colours. It’s a remarkable Cinderella story for a man, who, at the age of 14 was rejected by Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for being “too small” and then, by 17, was working eight-hour-long shifts in a factory as a machine operator to supplement his income of £120 per week as a semi-professional footballer in the German fourth-tier. Those days at TSV Havelse, a club in Hanover, as a 17-year-old shaped Undav. “When they told me at Bremen that I didn’t have a future with them because …