Germany on Monday fired six past Norway while England fought back after an early scare to beat Slovakia in European qualifying for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
Timo Werner scored a double in Germany’s 6-0 rout of Norway in Stuttgart, Germany, to leave Joachim Loew’s world champions with a perfect eight out of eight record atop Group C.
However, as second-placed Northern Ireland beat the Czech Republic 2-0 in Belfast, Germany will have to wait until their next match, away to Northern Ireland on Oct. 5, to seal automatic qualification to Russia.
Photo: EPA
Werner, booed by his own fans in Germany’s 2-1 win in Prague against the Czech Republic on Friday last week, came off to a standing ovation this time after netting in the 21st and 40th minutes.
After struggling to beat the Czech Republic, this was a far more polished performance, with Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil’s 10th-minute opener sparking the rout.
Paris Saint-Germain star Julian Draxler netted the second, with Werner’s brace putting them four goals up at the break.
Schalke 04 midfielder Leon Goretzka grabbed Germany’s fifth, with Werner’s replacement, 32-year-old veteran Mario Gomez, rounding off a productive night.
It was the perfect antidote after Friday’s labored trip to Prague marred by a group of 200 right-wing German fans chanting Nazi-era slogans.
“That showed the beautiful side of football,” said Loew, who had said Friday’s scenes in Prague “shamed Germany,” following Werner’s ovation after his two goals. “It was a huge amount of fun to play here and we played our part in that with some great combinations and goals.”
Northern Ireland guaranteed themselves at least a place in the playoffs thanks to Jonny Evans’ second international goal eight years after his first and his West Bromwich Albion teammate Chris Brunt’s 41st minute free-kick.
“I thought I might have been offside,” Evans said. “I thought I’d head it anyway and see what happens. I saw it go into the net and I don’t remember much after that.”
Manager Michael O’Neill praised his men after yet another solid defensive display.
“We’re in a great position now. We’re guaranteed second place and seven clean sheets out of eight is a phenomenal record,” O’Neill said.
At Wembley, England were stunned when Stanislav Lobotka gave Slovakia a third-minute lead after a costly error by Marcus Rashford.
However, the 19-year-old atoned in style by setting up the equalizer for Eric Dier and then netting a sumptuous 20-yard winner in the second half.
Victory sent England five points clear of Slovakia in Group F — Gareth Southgate’s side need only two points from their final two games against Slovenia and Lithuania to seal qualification.
“To come from behind against a side with very good footballers, particularly in midfield, we had to show character,” Southgate said. “Marcus Rashford showed, like the rest of the team, great character. He made the mistake for their goal, but he kept persevering.”
Scotland kept alive their hopes of a playoff place with a 2-0 home win over Malta, the goals coming from Christophe Berra and Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths.
Gordan Strachan’s team are alive and kicking on the road to Russia in fourth place, on 14 points.
Poland held on to the Group E summit, beating Kazakhstan 3-0, with Denmark going second on the strength of a 4-1 win in Armenia.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier