Waldemar Anton finally had his first go with Germany's national team under new manager Jurgen Klopp and showed why he's so revered at Borussia Dortmund. Calm, attentive and positionally brilliant, the 31-year-old helped Die Mannschaft register their first clean sheet of the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League campaign against Serbia.
With Nico Schlotterbeck out injured, Anton was slotted into the XI here alongside Malick Thiaw as Klopp brought his second squad for their game in Munich on Thursday. Although the Serbians spent much of the night pegged back into their own half with Germany in ruthless attacking mode, Dortmund's commander-in-defense came up trumps whenever called into action.
Anton shows why he's a reliable option at centre-back
Germany started the match strongly, controlling possession and swiftly the progressing the ball beyond the Serbian midfield with the help of their wide players. The home side pressed so high early on that both their centre-backs, Anton and Thiaw, stationed themselves in the Serbian half with the BVB star in particular, helping them build from the back by expertly picking out teammates.
In the eighth minute, he played Derry Scherhant on the left and the Germany No.9 dribbled his way towards the box before crossing across the face of the goal for Philipp Treu. The full-back headed it back for Aleksandar Pavlovic, whose show flew narrowly wide.
Throughout 90 minutes, he missed just eight passes and registered a 90% completion rate. He also came agonizingly close to opening his goalscoring account for the national team in the 16th minute when a corner was played in and Anton received the delivery, but couldn't keep his volley down and sent it over the bar instead.
In the 32nd minute though, Germany's risky high-line was exposed on the break with Anton way ahead of his line. A long ball forward was played to Filip Kostic on the left, and the full-back raced forward into acres of space before getting near the touchline and cutting it across the goal, where Kosta Nedeljkovic couldn't make a proper contact and the chance went begging.
It was a huge let-off for Germany, but also for Anton although Maximilian Mittelstadt spectacularly covered the space left by him in transition. But once the home side got back in shape, the Dortmund maestro resumed his responsbility of progressing the ball while also emerging the stronger one in duels. Anton won five of his duels in the air and made three recoveries too.
Midway through the second half, the 30-year-old almost bagged an assist too. He received the ball from a corner sequence inside the box and headed it into the path of Scherhant, whose right-footed shot flew just wide off target.
In a match like this where his team were in cruise control, Anton's defensive nous weren't really tested. But he still made a positive impression for his role in starting attacking moves from the back, a feature that Klopp would certainly find useful against teams playing a low-block, as well as for using his frame and physicality in winning duels that disrupted Serbia's rhythm from building up.
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