Germany closes in on Euros
Source: Agencies |
June 9, 2011, Thursday
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GERMANY swept to the brink of a place in the 2012 European Championship with a seventh straight qualifying win on Tuesday, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hat trick in a 5-0 rout of Finland kept Sweden in the hunt for top spot in its group.
Real Madrid playmaker Mesut Oezil scored one goal and set up another as Germany beat Azerbaijan 3-1 in Baku, leaving Joachim Loew's side needing two points from its last three Group A games to guarantee a spot in next year's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
Ibrahimovic inspired Sweden to a fifth win in six Group E matches, the AC Milan striker coming off the bench to score three times in 22 minutes to help lift his country three points behind the Netherlands.
World and European champion Spain followed up a 4-0 thrashing of the United States on Saturday with a 3-0 win against Venezuela, but fellow European heavyweight Italy was upset 0-2 by Ireland in Liege, Belgium, in another friendly.
In other Euro qualifiers, Hungary stayed three points behind Sweden thanks to a 3-0 win in San Marino, Belarus beat Luxembourg 2-0 to close to within a point of Group D leader France, and there were also wins for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Faeroe Islands, the former beating Albania 2-0 and the latter stunning Estonia by the same scoreline.
Germany, one of three countries with perfect records in qualifying with Spain and the Netherlands, moved 10 points clear of Belgium. Only Turkey - a point further back but with a game in hand - can stop Loew's men finishing top.
"It was important to win and to end the season with the seventh win. It was a perfect season," Germany captain Philipp Lahm said.
Oezil crashed an angled shot into the net off the post in the 30th minute to open the scoring before setting up striker Mario Gomez for the second goal 11 minutes later.
Murad Huseynov scored for Azerbaijan, which is managed by former Germany coach Berti Vogts, in the 89th, but Andre Schuerrle sealed victory for the visitors in injury time.
Ibrahimovic was a substitute after only recently recovering from an ankle injury but came on in the 25th as a replacement for the injured Ola Toivonen, with Sweden already 1-0 up through Kim Kallstrom's goal in the 12th.
After taking the captain's armband, Ibrahimovic slotted a low finish into the bottom corner in the 31st. He then stroked the ball into an empty net four minutes later after Sebastian Larsson's cutback. He clinched his hat trick with a free header at the back post.
Real Madrid playmaker Mesut Oezil scored one goal and set up another as Germany beat Azerbaijan 3-1 in Baku, leaving Joachim Loew's side needing two points from its last three Group A games to guarantee a spot in next year's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
Ibrahimovic inspired Sweden to a fifth win in six Group E matches, the AC Milan striker coming off the bench to score three times in 22 minutes to help lift his country three points behind the Netherlands.
World and European champion Spain followed up a 4-0 thrashing of the United States on Saturday with a 3-0 win against Venezuela, but fellow European heavyweight Italy was upset 0-2 by Ireland in Liege, Belgium, in another friendly.
In other Euro qualifiers, Hungary stayed three points behind Sweden thanks to a 3-0 win in San Marino, Belarus beat Luxembourg 2-0 to close to within a point of Group D leader France, and there were also wins for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Faeroe Islands, the former beating Albania 2-0 and the latter stunning Estonia by the same scoreline.
Germany, one of three countries with perfect records in qualifying with Spain and the Netherlands, moved 10 points clear of Belgium. Only Turkey - a point further back but with a game in hand - can stop Loew's men finishing top.
"It was important to win and to end the season with the seventh win. It was a perfect season," Germany captain Philipp Lahm said.
Oezil crashed an angled shot into the net off the post in the 30th minute to open the scoring before setting up striker Mario Gomez for the second goal 11 minutes later.
Murad Huseynov scored for Azerbaijan, which is managed by former Germany coach Berti Vogts, in the 89th, but Andre Schuerrle sealed victory for the visitors in injury time.
Ibrahimovic was a substitute after only recently recovering from an ankle injury but came on in the 25th as a replacement for the injured Ola Toivonen, with Sweden already 1-0 up through Kim Kallstrom's goal in the 12th.
After taking the captain's armband, Ibrahimovic slotted a low finish into the bottom corner in the 31st. He then stroked the ball into an empty net four minutes later after Sebastian Larsson's cutback. He clinched his hat trick with a free header at the back post.
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