Germany beats Gibraltar in European qualifiers
Berlin, Nov 15 (IANS) FIFA world champions Germany cruised to a 4-0 victory over Gibraltar to earn their second win in group D at the UEFA European qualifiers.
Germany Friday reaped an expected win over underdog Gibraltar. The Germans dominated the game at the outsold home front in Nuremberg against hapless Gibraltar, reported Xinhua.
The world champions took over from the kickoff, while Gibraltar made no secret of their passive strategy as they kept all their players behind the ball.
After 12 minutes into the game, Thomas Mueller opened the scoring. Shkodran Mustafi crossed the ball into the goal area where goalkeeper Jamie Robba deflected the ball into the path of Mueller, who had no problems to tap home from very close range.
Gibraltar showed a vital sign when Liam Walker's shot on target forced Germany goalie Manuel Neuer to make a save before the break.
Germany continued to create promising scoring opportunities yet the hosts had to wait until the 29th minute before Thomas Mueller wrapped up his brace following a square pass by Lukas Podolski.
The host gained momentum and tripled the lead nine minutes later through Mario Goetze, whose long-range effort from 23 meters beat Gibraltar's goalkeeper Robba into the far post corner.
After three first half goals things changed at the second half. The Germans lacked in penetration and were unable to overcome Gibraltar. Thus they had to wait for Gibraltar's Yogan Santos who deflected a shot by Lukas Podolski into his own goal at the 67th minute to make it 4-0 on the scoreboards.
"I am far from being satisfied. My expectations were not met. We haven't played like a world champion," Germany coach Joachim Loew said after the game.