Germany beat Poland 3-1 in Euro qualifiers

Mario Goetze struck twice as Germany eased to a 3-1 victory over Poland in a Group D match of the UEFA European qualifiers. 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. 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.

In another pivotal Group D clash, Scotland’s European Championship hopes were left in tatters following a 0-1 defeat to Georgia in Tbilisi (Georgia). In an international friendly match, France beat Portugal 1-0 in Lisbon as the EURO 2016 hosts registered their first victory since March.

Mathieu Valbuena came off the bench to score the only goal of the game with a brilliant free-kick, five minutes from the end.