New Germany coach Joachim Loew enjoyed a winning start as his side trounced a hapless Sweden 3-0 in a friendly in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday.
It was the perfect beginning for Loew, who took over from Jurgen Klinsmann after this summer's World Cup, and the team will now be full of confidence for their first Euro 2008 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on Sept. 2.
Even more so as the Irish were trounced 4-0 at home by the Netherlands also on Wednesday.
"We tried to bring the momentum from the World Cup into this match," Loew explained. "I think we did that and it was great to win my first game 3-0. It is a positive sign for the Euro qualifiers."
"I think you could see our team matured at the World Cup and we have a lot of confidence from that tournament. We just have to carry on in the Euro qualifiers," he said.
For his Swedish counterpart Lars Lagerback it was a case of an unpleasant deja vu.
"It was almost a repeat of the World Cup," bemoaned Sweden coach Lars Lagerback.
"We played against one of the best teams in the world tonight and if they play like they did tonight they will qualify for the European championships," he said.
Loew started with seven of the team that defeated Portugal 3-1 in the World Cup third-place play-off under Klinsmann's regime and watched as Germany raced into a two-goal lead after just eight minutes.
Bernd Schneider scored only his second international goal in the fourth minute after a clever cutback from Tim Borowksi.
World Cup Golden boot winner Miroslav Klose, presented with his German Player of the Year award before the game, then stole center stage taking advantage of some slack defending to bend in an eighth minute shot.
Sweden were shell-shocked -- just like they were when Germany scored twice in the first 12 minutes of their last 16 World Cup victory -- and it got worse.
Klose grabbed a second with a trademark header in the 44th minute taking his tally to 31 goals in 63 matches.
The Werder Bremen forward is now his country's current top-scorer along with captain Michael Ballack, who missed the game through an injury he sustained for Chelsea in Sunday's 2-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool.
Sweden were missing key stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Freddie Ljungberg and it showed.
With a 3-0 half-time lead Loew handed international debuts to Hertha Berlin left back Malik Fathi and Mainz 05 defender Manuel Friedrich.
The second half tailed off with Germany reducing the pace of their game and Sweden going through the motions.
A male pitch invader then livened the fans up in the 80th minute as Germany coasted to victory.
New manager Steve McClaren said England had set high standards in the first match under his tenure -- then challenged his team to repeat it time and again in order to become world beaters.
England beat European champions Greece 4-0 in a friendly at Old Trafford on Wednesday to put the frustration of their lackluster run to the World Cup quarter-finals behind them.
Afterwards, the smiling boss stressed the straightforward ethos of teamwork, possession, attitude and discipline.
"We made the right decisions at the right time," McClaren said.
"We counter-attacked with pace, we kept possession, opened them up, used the width at the right times and that was the most pleasing thing for me -- in possession we looked like a team which was cohesive and worked together," he said.
John Terry headed England's first goal after 14 minutes and Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard made it two on 30 minutes. Liverpool striker Peter Crouch tapped in number three five minutes later and took his personal goal haul to eight in eight internationals on 42 minutes.
Centrehalf Terry, McClaren's new captain after Beckham quit following the Portugal match, led by example throughout.
"It was a dream start for him," McClaren said.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),
RSS