Frankfurt, Sep 5 (IANS) Mario Goetze struck twice as Germany eased to a 3-1 victory over Poland in a Group D match of the UEFA European qualifiers here.
The Germans shocked the visitors with two quick goals in the opening period before Robert Lewandowski reduced the arrears, reports Xinhua.
However, Goetze sealed his brace late in the second half to sew up the victory for Germany in front of 48,500 spectators on Friday night.
With this win, the world champions have ousted Poland from the top position in the group.
The two teams staged an evenly balanced see-saw opening period yet the hosts were able to break the deadlock through Thomas Mueller, who made use of a combination via Karim Bellarabi and Jonas Hector at the 12th minute.
The visitors had the chance to restore parity just five minutes later but Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer denied Kamil Grosicki’s shot on target.
The Germans punished Poland’s wastefulness moments later as Goetze shrugged off two defenders to slot home into the near post corner from inside the box.
Despite the setback the visitors remained dangerous on counter attacks and that is how it came that Poland reduced the arrears in the 36th minute when Robert Lewandowski headed home a pinpoint cross by Grosicki to the far post.
The goal gave Adam Nawalka’s men more confidence nonetheless the visitors failed to make use of their promising chances before the break.
After the restart, Poland were unable to hold the pace with the Germans, who killed the game with the 3-1 thanks to Mario Goetze’s second goal of the night.
The midfielder made use of a blocked effort by Mueller to tap home into the open goal with eight minutes remaining.
Front-runners Germany encounters fourth placed Scotland at the eighth round in Group D on Monday. Germany leads the group with 16 points, followed by Poland with 14 points, Ireland with 12 points, Georgia with 6 points and Gibraltar with 0 points.