On Monday night, Northern Macedonia hosted Germany in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2022. Germany topped the group with 18 points before the match, six points more than second-placed Northern Macedonia with three rounds left to play. “Die Mannschaft” thus had the opportunity to secure first place in the group in case of victory, but then group three Armenia needed to lose points against Romania.
Germany made several changes in the starting eleven compared to the 2-1 victory against Romania last time. Manuel Neuer was back between the posts, Lukas Klostermann and David Raum took a place in the back line and Thomas Müller replaced Marco Reus. In Northern Macedonia, Napoli star Eljif Elmas was present from the start and Malmö FF’s Erdal Rakip started the match on the bench.
Germany connected an early grip on the match, but without succeeding in creating any dangerous goal chances. Northern Macedonia was far from harmless and leveled the match halfway into the first half.
Just before the break, visiting Germany had a great opportunity to take the lead. Timo Werner got the ball in the penalty area, turned up and fired a shot into the post. The miss meant that both teams went to halftime break with the score 0-0 on the scoreboard.
Germany’s lead goal would instead come immediately after the break. The second half was only five minutes old when the visitors switched in a sharp counterattack. Thomas Müller ran free and alone with the goalkeeper, he unselfishly played forward Kai Havertz who could easily roll in 0-1 in an open goal.
MFF midfielder Erdal Rakip was replaced with just over half an hour left to play, but it did not help much for the home team. With 70 minutes played, Timo Werner had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot flew harmlessly into the side-netting of the goal. Werner was not satisfied with that, just minutes later the Chelsea striker had time in the penalty area and placed beautifully in 0-3 at the far post. Germany played out and in the final stages of the match, substitute Jamal Musiala further extended the lead.
Germany eventually defeated northern Macedonia 4-0, while Romania won at home against Armenia 1-0. This means that Germany became the first European nation to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
After the match, two-goal shooter Timo Werner was pleased with Germany’s effort.
– It is always difficult to meet teams like this. It was good that we did not concede a goal. If we play like this against our opponents, it is only a matter of time before we score goals, says Timo Werner according to Bild after the match.
Startelvor:
Northern Macedonia: Dimitrievski – Ristovski, Musliu, Velkovski, Alioski – Kostadinov, Nikolov, Ademi – Churlinov, Jahovic, Elmas.
Germany: Neuer – Klostermann, Süle, Kehrer, Raum – Kimmich, Goretzka – Gnabry, Müller, Havertz – Werner.
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