EURO 2012 Qualification – Match Review: Germany versus Azerbaijan
FIFA 2010 World Cup semi-finalists, Germany took on minnows Azerbaijan in their second qualification match for the European Championships of 2012. Germany’s coach Joachim Lowe started the match with a formidable attacking lineup of Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Sami Khedira and Thomas Mueller in midfield with the serial goal scorer Miroslav Klose in attack.
In defence for the Bavarian giants, Holger Badstuber was shifted to a centre back position alongside Per Mertesacker as Philipp Lahm played at the right back spot. Also, S.Riether made his appearance at the left back position for the Germans.
For Azerbaijan, M. Medvedev was given the responsibility of organizing the defence and dealing with Podolski’s threat down the German left as the experienced defender played at the right back position for his national team side. Up front, V. Nadirov and A. Chertoganov started as the two strikers for Azerbaijan as they were trusted by their coach to fire them to an unlikely victory on the night.
Germany won their first qualification match after they defeated San Marino by five goals to nil; therefore all of their players were high on confidence going into the second qualification match. Azerbaijan were considered underdogs at the start of the encounter as their international pedigree is not deemed to be as high as that of the Germans. Germany were finalists in the last European Championships which were held in 2008.
The Germans started off the match as the superior team of the two, and within the first five minutes of the first half, they fired off their first shot towards the Azerbaijan goal. Constant possession around the Azerbaijan penalty area was key for the youthful Bavarians as they pushed forward to find the first goal of the match.
Azerbaijan were forced to have eleven men behind the ball as Germany kept control of the match for large periods throughout the encounter. Despite having more of the possession, Klose and co. were finding it hard to break through the Azerbaijan ranks as the Eurasian side was well organized at the back.
Schweinsteiger and Khedira, who were tasked with spreading the play from the centre of midfield for Germany looked towards Podolski’s pace on the left side of their attack to force an opening in the Azerbaijani defence. However, Medvedev had to beating of the young German winger. At the 11th minute mark, Germany made their first substitution of the match with Westermann coming on for Mertesacker in the German defence as the Werder Bremen defender had sustained an injury.
In the 20th minute of the match, Germany won a free kick which was laid off by Ozil for Podolski but the youngster’s shot was held onto by the Azerbaijan goalkeeper. In the 22nd minute, Lukas threatened again as his chipped a shot and just missed the Azerbaijan goal by a whisker. By this time, Germany were looking dangerous as Ozil was linking up brilliantly with Podolski down the Azerbaijani right.
At around the 25th minute spot, Germany took the lead finally through their substitute Westermann as the central defender capitalized on a loose ball opportunity as a result of a goal mouth scramble in the Azerbaijani penalty area. Right before the half ended in the 45th minute, Ozil and Podolski combined again to produce Germany’s second goal as the move was finished off by Lukas Podolski.
In the injury time of the first half, Klose killed the game off with Germany’s third goal of the night after Badstuber passed the ball to the veteran striker in front of Azerbaijan goal. Azerbaijan self destructed in the 53rd minute of the match as confusion erupted inside their penalty area. As an effect Sadygov misplaced his clearance and ended up scoring an own goal. This goal gave Germans a four goal lead in the match.
In the 55th minute of the match, Azerbaijan struck from their first corner of the contest but the goal was a consequence of Manuel Neuer’s horrendous mistake in the German goal rather than Azerbaijan’s attacking prowess. Nonetheless, Neuer’s blunder handed Azerbaijan a consolation goal which provided them little comfort in face of a three goal deficit as the goal brought the score line back to 4-1.
Germany added to their rout of the Azerbaijani defence in the 85thminute when their centre back Badstuber got his national side’s fifth goal of the match. In the final minute of the match, Klose added insult to injury by scoring Germany’s sixth goal of the match. The match ended with the score line of 6-1 as the Germans completely demolished their opponents at the Rhein Energie Stadion.
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