Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored six seconds after kickoff in Saturday’s 2-0 friendly win over Slovakia, the fastest recorded goal in international soccer, just before Florian Wirtz scored the fastest Germany goal ever in their 2-0 defeat of France.
The 24-year-old sprinted from the center circle and skipped past three challenges before firing a low shot from outside the box into the bottom corner.
As Slovakia’s home fans looked on in disbelief, Austrians in the away section at the Tehelne pole stadium in Bratislava celebrated as the RB Leipzig midfielder was mobbed by his teammates.
Photo: AFP
“We’ve done this variation before, sprinting away at full risk from the kickoff. Somehow the sequence of steps worked out so that I got the run,” Baumgartner said. “Of course it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that ... it’s of course sensational.”
The goal came earlier than Lukas Podolski’s for Germany against Ecuador in 2013 when the forward pinched the ball from a defender and scored seven seconds into the match.
In Germany’s friendly against France Toni Kroos, coaxed out of international retirement for Euro 2024, wasted no time with a precise pass for Wirtz, who let fly from outside the penalty area to score in off the crossbar after seven seconds.
Photo: Reuters
The German Football Federation said it was the quickest goal ever scored in a national team game.
Wirtz’s goal took a little longer than Baumgartner’s, with his seven second strike still enough to replace Podolski as Germany’s fastest goalscorer, the Bundesliga Web site said.
“It will do a lot of good,” Germany sporting director Rudi Voller said. “We always hoped and tried, also in the last games, to spark a bit of euphoria and I think we achieved it with a game like that.”
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