A hard piece of work, but Germany are off and running on the qualification trail for Euro 2012. Thanks to Miroslav Klose’s fifty-third international goal in his 102nd international, three valuable points were secured in Brussels this evening – with a sure-fire three more to come in next week’s fixture in Köln against Azerbaijan.
It was the Mannschaft’s seventh straight victory in seven matches over Belgium since reunification, and has got out of the way one of the group’s potential banana skins. It was a hard-earned victory against a hard-working and at times unlucky Belgian side, but one that will settle the nerves that are usually present at the beginning of any long qualification campaign.
The winning goal in the 51st minute was created by a cast of FC Bayern München players: Belgian skipper Daniel van Buyten was robbed by Bastian Schweinsteiger who laid the ball back to Thomas Müller, who then delivered a perfect pass for Miroslav Klose to complete the perfect poacher’s goal – his 53rd strike for the Nationalmannschaft in his 102nd international.
In the group’s other fixture, minnows Kazakhstan lost at home 3-0 to danger team Turkey – with FC Bayern’s German-born Hamit Altintop scoring the second of the Turks’ three goals.
v Belgium, King Baudouin Stadium, Brüssel/Bruxelles, 03.09.2010
1-0 (0-0)
Klose 51. / –
Team: Neuer – Lahm, Mertesacker, Badstuber, Jansen (46. Westermann) – Schweinsteiger, Khedira – T. Müller, Özil (88. Cacau), Podolski (70. Kroos) – Klose
Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway)
Assistants: Kim Thomas Haglund, Frank Andås (Norway)
Fourth Official: Tommy Skjerven (Norway)
Yellow Cards: Schweinsteiger, Cacau / Kompany
Red Cards: – / –
Attempts on Target: 6 / 4
Attempts off Target: 9 / 6
Corners: 6 / 4
Fouls Committed: 7 / 19
Attendance: 47,000