Stuttgart Defeats Everton 3-1 in German Tour Finale

Everton’s German tour closed with a familiar, nagging theme: plenty of promise, almost no punch. VfB Stuttgart were ruthless where it mattered, running out 3-1 winners at the MHPArena in a game the visitors could, and probably should, have had wrapped up by half-time.

Christian Nørgaard was nowhere to be seen, his move not yet advanced enough for a debut, so Hayden Hackney carried the creative burden in midfield. Jarrad Branthwaite, wearing the armband, walked Everton out alongside Tim O’Brien at centre-back, with Nathanael Röhl again pressed into service at right-back.

From the first whistle, Stuttgart looked sharper on the ball. They kept Everton at arm’s length, probing patiently, until Branthwaite had to step in with an early intervention to snuff out a dangerous break. That tackle sparked Everton’s first real moment: Beto muscled his way through the middle, only for his heavy final touch to gift the ball back to a defender.

Stuttgart’s early pressure drew the first scare when O’Brien conceded a corner that was worked into a shooting chance, the effort flashing wide from a tight angle. Lewis Dibling tried to respond with a forward surge, but he never looked fully settled, his touches tentative, his decisions a beat slow.

Hackney then overreached with an ambitious through-ball that was never on, and Stuttgart sprang forward again. Everton gradually began to see more of the ball after the 10-minute mark, and the hosts briefly lost their grip.

The home goalkeeper handed Carlos Alcaraz a gift, a loose pass rolling straight to the Argentine. Alcaraz slipped in Beto, who had time, space, and the angle – and dragged his shot horribly wide. It set the tone. Everton were excellent at forcing turnovers in midfield, yet every promising transition seemed to die on the edge of the box.

One slick move finally opened Stuttgart up, Hackney arriving on the edge of the area and slicing his shot inches wide of the far post. That near-miss stung Stuttgart into action. The goal they had been threatening arrived with authority: Clinton Nartey stormed onto a loose ball and thumped a rising drive into the roof of the net, giving Mark Travers no chance.

Everton’s plans took another knock when Iroegbunam, starting in midfield, was forced off after just 18 minutes, Michael Keane stepping in and ending the fledgling O’Brien–Branthwaite partnership almost as soon as it began.

There was frustration at both ends. Dibling burst into the box and looked to have been clipped, but the referee waved play on. Stuttgart raced upfield and blazed over, a reminder that Everton’s back line still looked exposed whenever the tempo rose.

Branthwaite then drove his side forward from deep, bursting out of defence and feeding Alcaraz, whose pass found Röhl on the overlap. The full-back’s shot was blocked. Beto, desperate to make amends, attempted an acrobatic bicycle kick that never threatened the goal. Moments later, Alcaraz flashed a low ball across the six-yard box, Beto a stud’s length away from a tap-in.

Dibling began to grow into the game, beating his man more often, but his final ball lacked conviction. One teasing cross drifted in without enough pace, allowing a defender to nod clear with ease. Everton then carved out a flurry of chances. None of them went in.

Dibling again wriggled into space on the left, but hesitated for a fraction before crossing and Alcaraz’s shot was smothered by a defender. Röhl then clipped a superb diagonal onto Beto’s run. The striker, well placed, chose to square across goal for Dibling instead of shooting. The cross sailed beyond him. Another opening wasted.

The miss of the afternoon followed. Travers launched long towards Beto, who rose brilliantly to flick on for Röhl. The right-back whipped the ball back into the middle, the goal gaping. Beto swung and connected with nothing but air. From six yards out, unmarked, he had somehow contrived to miss the ball entirely.

Everton kept coming. Röhl crossed again, Dibling met it at the far post and forced a sharp low save at the near upright. From the resulting corner, Dibling delivered well, but Beto climbed and powered his header over when the slightest glance might have done.

Stuttgart, quiet for a spell, reminded Everton of their own threat when Maximilian Mittelstädt hammered a rising drive over from 25 yards. Another attack saw Keane well positioned to block and concede a corner. The set-piece produced a towering header that seemed destined for the top corner until Travers flung himself across and clawed it away, a superb save in a personal catalogue that would grow as the afternoon wore on.

Stuttgart finished the half strongly. A low drive from close range looked certain to double their lead, only for Travers to stick out a foot and divert it wide. Everton, by contrast, ended the half still ruing their finishing. They had created enough to be “a handful of goals” to the good; instead, they trailed 1-0.

No changes came at the break for Everton, Alcaraz rolling the ball to restart. Stuttgart, though, reasserted control. Travers was immediately busy, making more smart stops before producing another moment of sharp reflexes, saving on the line from an Alcaraz header that threatened to become an own goal off a corner.

Dibling tried to impose himself more, driving forward with greater purpose, but Beto was repeatedly swallowed up between two centre-backs. Keane was penalised for a foul and Stuttgart advanced again. Dibling beat his man once more yet delayed the lay-off, the move stalling on the edge of the area.

When Dibling did release the ball quickly, he threaded a neat pass down the right for Röhl, whose cross again failed to find a blue shirt. Dibling then pinched possession high up and won a free-kick, only for Everton to retreat and recycle backwards, the momentum lost. Stuttgart broke instead and rattled a shot off the post with Travers beaten.

Everton’s decision-making in the final third continued to betray them. A promising attack broke down when Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a dreadful cross that sailed nowhere near its intended target. Keane then clipped an excellent long ball onto Beto’s chest, the striker holding off his marker well – only to lay it straight to a defender.

Dibling, one of Everton’s brighter sparks, slid a pass into Armstrong, but the forward couldn’t even win a corner. Stuttgart responded with a spell of slick, one-touch passing that ended in a corner of their own, prompting a raft of changes from the home side around the hour mark.

The reshaped Stuttgart side almost conceded from a corner, a soft header drifting across goal with Travers stranded, but no Everton player could turn it in. Sean Dyche’s bench began to move as well. Röhl, Dibling, Alcaraz and Beto all made way on 64 minutes, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye, George and Barry entering the fray. Travers would soon be replaced by King, with Patterson and Aznou also coming on for O’Brien and Mykolenko.

Ndiaye injected some urgency, releasing Barry quickly down the right, only for the winger to find himself isolated and dispossessed. A brief scare followed when Branthwaite clutched at his thigh, perhaps his knee or lower leg, but after a chat with the physios he played on.

Then, finally, Everton got the stroke of luck their finishing had not earned. A neat exchange of passes sent Beto racing through. He hurdled the onrushing goalkeeper and went down under minimal contact, the referee pointing to the spot. It was an extremely soft penalty, but Beto didn’t argue. He stepped up and buried it, sending the keeper the wrong way on 72 minutes to level the match.

The equaliser did not settle Everton. Stuttgart responded with composed, incisive passing, carving through the lines and producing a deft header that clipped the top of King’s bar. The substitute keeper then made a routine save from a wide angle as the home side pushed again.

With both managers ringing the changes, the game lost its earlier rhythm. Patterns broke down, pressing lines frayed, and the contest became stretched. Stuttgart still carried the greater threat. When Keane sliced a clearance straight back into danger late on, the punishment was immediate. The ball was worked back into the box, and the third goal was dispatched far too easily, King exposed and Everton’s back line static.

Everton still had chances in a chaotic, elongated finish. A late corner saw Keane rise and head goalwards, his effort cleared off the line. Ndiaye’s follow-up was blocked twice in quick succession, one of those attempts possibly over the line, but there was no signal and play continued. Another corner arrived deep into an oddly long 10 minutes of added time, Dewsbury-Hall climbing to meet it and seeing his header bounce just wide.

The final whistle cut through a tangle of frustration and faint encouragement. Stuttgart had won 3-1, clinical where Everton were clumsy. Travers and then King had done their part. The build-up play, at times, looked sharp. But the glaring issue could not be ignored.

Everton created enough chances over 90 minutes to trouble most sides. They left Germany with a single Beto penalty to show for it and a question that will define their season: who, in this team, is going to score?