Garefrekes treble lifts Germany

Landmark
The match marked 25 years since the teams met in Germany's first-ever women's international in this city, and Silvia Neid's all-conquering side improved on that 5-1 win tonight. It had looked like an open game was in prospect when Germany No1 Nadine Angerer was forced into a smart save on six minutes, but that was to prove the visitors' highlight as Sandra Smisek opened the scoring, Melanie Behringer struck twice and Birgit Prinz found the net before Kerstin Garefrekes's second-half hat-trick.

Prinz assist
Having hit the post three times, Germany finally took the lead through Smisek in the 15th minute, 60 seconds before Behringer converted a beautiful Prinz cross. The striker helped herself to a goal on 33, volleying in from close range, before Behringer made it 4-0 soon after. The second half was all about Garefrekes as the winger capitalised on more neat work from Prinz on 53 and 64 minutes. The winger completed her hat-trick in added time, bringing the 12,000 spectators to their feet with a super individual goal. "I'm very pleased," said Neid. "To score seven goals in a EURO qualifier is not easy. We had some minor problems early on in defence but quickly sorted that out."