Seven months ago, Finn Dahmen would not have to fight for his jersey after the final of the U-21 European Championship.

At that time the goalkeeper of FSV Mainz 05 was number three in the national team.

The question of who is guarding the gate revolved around Lennart Grill or Markus Schubert.

Dahmen did not play a role in the number one considerations.

In fact, however, he should contest all the encounters of the two-part European Championship, to be a penalty killer, celebrated with chants and asked for his jersey by a young fan after the final triumph. But as steadfast as he had been in the field, he remained so hard now. "I have to keep this jersey myself," he said into the Pro Sieben microphone, "the little one has no chance."

The goalkeeper had not completed a flawless tournament and nevertheless played a major role in the fact that the German team brought their coach Stefan Kuntz the second title within four years.

Ironically, his 23rd birthday could have turned out to be a pitch-black day for Dahmen: With a mistake in receiving the ball, he caused the 0: 1 in the group game against the Netherlands shortly after the break;

the entry into the knockout round was on shaky feet.

But his Mainz team-mate Jonathan Burkardt as the brilliant preparer and Lukas Nmecha as the template user saved the team from the draw and Dahmen saved the day.

Strong training performance

"It distinguishes us as a team that we have overcome all obstacles," said the goalkeeper after the 1-0 final victory over Portugal.

Emphasis on "team".

Because the DFB selection does not have the strongest individualists.

The fact that the native of Wiesbaden, who came to the Mainzer Bruchweg as a ten-year-old, would play such a role and never miss a minute of the European Championship, was initially earned through strong training performances.

In any case, it was not a gift from the coach that Dahmen made his debut half-time in the friendly against Slovenia in mid-November last year and shortly afterwards played the full season in the final qualifying game against Wales.

“The fact that I was allowed to play the two games gave me the feeling that I could also be in goal at the European Championships,” he says.

He underlined the convincing performances in the national jersey at his Bundesliga premiere at the beginning of January.

The 05er lost 2: 5 at Bayern, but Dahmen held out outstandingly, "Sky" expert Lothar Matthäus attested him a world-class performance.

Damen's international career began as soon as he was on the field with a penalty that he had to let go.

Shortly before the end of the game, however, he parried a penalty - an early pointer for the EM quarter-finals against Denmark.

In that he became a match winner when he blocked two of seven shots on penalties.

With which he returned the favor to Jonathan Burkardt on the side;

the striker had brought the German team 2-1 in extra time, but failed from the point as the first shooter.

Under Stefan Kuntz, Dahmen has overtaken the more highly traded competitor, in the club he is in the role of the challenger. Robin Zentner was the undisputed number one last season, so Florian Müller had borrowed from SC Freiburg and will in all likelihood be one of the 05er summer transfers. Sports director Martin Schmidt recently confirmed that Mainz is not planning to go into the next season with such a strong trio of Zentner / Müller / Dahmen.

The question of whether head coach Bo Svensson sees the previous goalkeeper, who looks to 78 Bundesliga and 47 third division appearances, continues in this role without restriction or calls out an open duel in which the 26-year-old hundredweight is his younger colleague with now three could be exciting Bundesliga games and their 70 in the regional league (with a goal scored from the rotation with a hoe).

In any case, a home grown man will guard the Mainzer Tor.

Zentner has been in the youth performance center since 2006, both of them worked under Sven Hoffmeister at a young age and later under goalkeeping coach legend Stephan Kuhnert.

Both are examples of the sizeable number of closing people who have been trained at Bruchweg over the past few years.

Both have a contract that runs until mid-2023.

And both want to play.