Werder Bremen were represented by Torsten Frings, Clemens Fritz, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker in the German starting eleven as Joachim Loew's men beat Slovakia in Hamburg to round off a wonderful 2006/2007 season.
Werder Bremen were represented by Torsten Frings, Clemens Fritz, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker in the German starting eleven as Joachim Loew's men beat Slovakia in Hamburg to round off a wonderful 2006/2007 season.
In the last game of the 2006/2007 season for the German national side, the DFB selection took on Slovakia at the World Cup arena in Hamburg and secured their place at the top of Euro 2008 qualifying Group D with a 2:1 win and have put themselves in a very comfortable position with a view to reaching the European Championship tournament in Austria and Switzerland next year. VfB midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger netted the winner for Germany with a first half header.
There was no one really expecting a footballing gem on the final day of a long and energy sapping season and in the end Jogi Loew’s men took the points thanks to a mixture of individual quality and determination. The Slovakian’s were aware that they needed a win to keep alive any remaining chances they may have had of qualifying but their limited attacks proved too harmless to really test the German eleven.
Werder Bremen winger Clemens Fritz got the nod on this occasion ahead of VfB Stuttgart’s Roberto Hilbert in the starting eleven with only Thomas Hitzlsperger representing the German champions from the outset whilst Werder had, alongside Fritz, Mirosalv Klose, Torsten Frings and PerMertesacker in the first choice selection. In a game that Germany seemed in control of without possessing the superiority they had shown throughout the season, the first two successful strikes were ironically own goals. Firstly Jan Durica, under severe pressure from Miroslav Klose, turned a loose ball over his own goal line. The Werder striker erupted in celebration, having been on the end of a goal for the national team after a long drought but UEFA officially recognised the effort as having been scored by the Slovakian defender (10’).
At the other end of the pitch some ten minutes later, Christoph Metzelder found himself caught out of position on the left and in the chase for the ball with the opposing striker, the Dortmund defender toe poked the ball past keeper Jens Lehmann to make it 1:1.
With the first half drawing to a close, Phillip Lahm took control of the ball on the edge of the Slovak penalty area and, twisting inside on to his weaker left foot, the Bayern Munich full-back picked out Thomas Hitzlsperger on the back post with a perfectly weighted cross and the VfB man nodded past the stranded keeper to give home side the lead again (43’).
After the break, the German’s took their foot off the pedal and allowed the hopeful but harmless Slovak’s to come at them. In the 65th minute, Loew introduced striker Mario Gomez for Schalke’s Kevin Kuranyi. The VfB man could, and probably should have had a penalty as he was held going for a header just two minutes after his substitution but the referee allowed play to continue.
For the final quarter hour, Miroslav Klose was allowed to begin his summer holiday’s and Loew brought local lad Piotr Trochowski from HSV but there was to be no change in the final score line. Germany had their three points to continue the fabulous run of results under Joachim Loew and round off a more than satisfactory season for the national team.
