Thomas Mueller netted twice as Germany eased to an impressive 3-0 home win over the Czech Republic to keep them top of their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group on Saturday.
It leaves Germany with a perfect six points ahead of tomorrow’s next qualifier, home to Northern Ireland, who beat San Marino 4-0 in Belfast.
Germany stay top of Group C on goal-difference from surprise-package Azerbaijan on the road to Russia 2018.
Photo: EPA
“We can be very happy with the win and we had a good grip on the game,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said. “After 60 minutes you could see the opposition had run themselves into the ground and didn’t have any more clear chances.”
After Mueller gave Germany an early lead, Toni Kroos weighed in with a crisp strike just after halftime.
Mueller then hit Germany’s third with the best goal of the game midway through the second half to cap a very polished display from the world champions.
Photo: Reuters
“We’re very serious about these two games [against the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland], we could have scored more goals, but we delivered a very concentrated performance,” Mueller said. “The fans deserve some praise, the atmosphere was really good. It made it even more fun to play for Germany and, of course, I am happy to have scored twice.”
Centerbacks Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng were outstanding in shutting down the Czech Republic attack and putting in damaging long-range passes.
With his only out-and-out striker, Mario Gomez, injured, Loew opted to play Mario Goetze as his lone striker, in front of attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil, with Julian Draxler and Mueller on the wings.
The Czech Republic dealt Loew the heaviest home defeat of his 10-year tenure when they won 3-0 in Munich in October 2007 in a European Championships qualifier, but with veteran midfielder Tomas Rosicky injured and goalkeeper Petr Cech retired, Czech Republic shot-stopper Tomas Vaclik had a busy night.
The hosts went ahead after just 13 minutes. Goetze’s pass to Ozil was flicked on to the unmarked Mueller, who drilled his shot past Basel’s Vaclik.
It could easily have been 3-0 at halftime as Germany dominated the first 45 minutes.
Goetze went one-on-one with Vaclik, who brought him down, but his chipped shot went wide and the referee waved away shouts for a penalty.
Draxler’s effort was just the wrong side of the post, while a superb long-ball from Hummels found Goetze in behind the defense, but he was incorrectly flagged for offside.
Four minutes into the second half, leftback Joshua Kimmich’s pass allowed Kroos to curl his shot around Vaclik’s despairing reach to double Germany’s tally.
Germany saved their best goal for last.
Ozil released Jonas Hector on the flank and he played in a superb cross which Mueller expertly converted on 65 minutes.
It was nearly 4-0 on 80 minutes when replacement Benedikt Hoewedes fired just wide.
In Belfast, Kyle Lafferty struck twice, Steven Davis converted a penalty and Jamie Ward also scored to hand Northern Ireland a comprehensive win over San Marino, while Norway suffered a shock 1-0 loss away to Azerbaijan, who now have two wins from two.
Robert Lewandowski, Mueller’s strike partner at Bayern Munich, tormented Denmark as he grabbed a hat-trick in a 3-2 victory in Warsaw to leave Poland level on four points with Montenegro and Romania in Group E.
Romania thrashed 10-man Armenia 5-0 in Yerevan as the visitors punished their opponents after the dismissal of Gor Malakyan in just the third minute, while Montenegro defeated Kazakhstan by the same scoreline.
In Group F, substitute James McArthur rescued a point for Scotland with an 89th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw at home to Lithuania, who had taken the lead through skipper Fiodor Cernych, while another substitute, Rok Kronaveter, was on target to hand Slovenia a 1-0 win over Slovakia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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