England stun Germany, Russia, Poland hit form
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Article summary
England came back from two goals down to win 3-2 in Germany while Austria pipped Albania, Hungary held Croatia and both Poland and Russia cruised to victories in Saturday's friendlies.
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- Full pre-UEFA EURO 2016 friendly fixture list
- Full rundown of March friendlies
- UEFA EURO 2016 final tournament fixtures
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: European Qualifiers
Germany 2-3 England (Kroos 43, Gomez 57; Kane 61, Vardy 74, Dier 90+1)
Germany: Neuer; Can, Rüdiger, Hummels (Tah 46), Hector; Kroos, Khedira; Müller (Podolski 75), Özil, Reus (Schürrle 64); Gomez (Götze 80)
England: Butland (Forster 45+1); Clyne, Smalling, Cahill, Rose; Dier, Henderson; Welbeck (Vardy 71), Alli, Lallana (Barkley 71); Kane
England gave Danny Rose a senior debut at left-back but Germany, who had a Mario Gomez goal disallowed for offside, took the lead in front of 72,000 fans in Berlin when Toni Kroos's speculative slot beat Jack Butland, who had been struggling with injury and was promptly replaced by Fraser Forster. Jonathan Tah made his Germany bow after half-time, and Gomez did end his four-year wait for a 26th international goal with a header shortly before Harry Kane pulled one back with a fine Cruyff-style turn and shot. Jamie Vardy was then brought on and within three minutes equalised with a clever flick from Nathaniel Clyne's cross and in added time Eric Dier also opened his England account with a header from Jordan Henderson's corner.
Austria 2-1 Albania (Janko 6, Harnik 13; Lenjani 47)
Austria: Almer; Fuchs (Suttner 46), Dragović, Hinteregger (Wimmer 46), Klein; Alaba (Schöpf 87), Baumgartlinger (Ilsanker 76); Arnautović (Burgstaller 87), Junuzović, Harnik; Janko (Okotie 79)
Albania: Berisha; Hysaj, Mavraj, Cana, Agolli, Lila (Roshi 46), Lenjani (Sadiku 78), Kaçe, Abrashi (Basha 86), T Xhaka (Kukeli 86); Balaj (Çikalleshi 46)
Two early goals in Vienna were ultimately enough for Austria to beat their fellow finalists. Marc Janko turned the ball in at the second attempt following good work by Zlatko Junuzović in the sixth minute and then Martin Harnik was on the spot after a long ball by Robert Almer, giving Etrit Berisha no chance with his shot – the first assist for Austria's goalkeeper in the national team. Two minutes after the break Ermir Lenjani gave Albania fresh hope when he finished from close range under the bar, but Austria held on for the narrow victory, particularly as the guests completed the game with ten men, after Ergis Kaçe was sent off after 78 minutes. Alessandro Schöpf made his Austria debut in the 87th minute.
Hungary 1-1 Croatia (Dzsudzsák 79; Mandžukić 29)
Hungary: Dibusz (Bogdán 46); Fiola, Lang, Guzmics, Korhut; Gera, Nagy (Elek 46); Németh (Nikolic 46), Kleinheisler (Böde 80), Dzsudzsák (Stieber 81); Priskin (Szalai 46)
Croatia: Kalinić; Vrsaljko, Ćorluka, Schildenfeld, Vida; Antolić, Modrić, Kovačić (Srna 76); Brozović, Mandžukić, Perišić
A trademark Balázs Dzsudzsák free-kick ensured Hungary drew with fellow finalists Croatia in Budapest. Mario Mandžukić had given the visitors the lead with their first shot on target but Croatia created little else and Hungary deserved their equaliser. A raft of substitutions saw several stake their claim for a place in France with Hungary's Zoltán Stieber looking lively and Darijo Srna, who had gone off injured in Croatia's win against Israel on Wednesday, going close with a vicious free-kick.
Poland 5-0 Finland (Grosicki 18 85, Wszołek 20 66, Starzyński 32)
Poland: Boruc (Tytoń 46); Jędrzejczyk, Glik, Pazdan, Wawrzyniak; Krychowiak (Jodłowiec 46), Starzyński (Zieliński 68); Wszołek (Błaszczykowski 86), Kapustka (Salamon 79), Grosicki; Milik (Lewandowski 63)
Poland stretched their winning run to five games in front of a capacity 42,000 fans in Wroclaw. Adam Nawałka's team edged Serbia 1-0 on Wednesday but it was more comfortable this time despite leaving Robert Lewandowski on the bench until the 63rd minute. Kamil Grosicki stole the headlines with two goals, his first the 50th for Poland under Nawałka and an assist for Paweł Wszołek, who also scored twice.
Russia 3-0 Lithuania(Smolov 41, Golovin 61, Glushakov 72)
Russia: Kritsyuk (Guilherme 46); Smolnikov, Ignashevish, A Berezutski (Yusupov 46), Kombarov; Samedov (Ionov 46), Tarasov, Glushakov, Ivanov (Maximov 69), Mamaev (Golovin 46); Smolov (Kerzhakov 46)
Russia coach Leonid Slutski gave debuts to three players, including two goalkeepers at Otkrytie Arena in Moscow. Stanislav Kritsyuk played the first half in goal and Guilherme the second but neither had too much to do as Russia dominated. Fedor Smolov had been denied by a fine Vytautas Černiauskas save before he did break the deadlock, send clear by Dmitri Tarasov to beat the Lithuania keeper one on one. Slutski made five half-time change but it did not disrupt Russia as Aleksandr Kerzhakov set up 19-year-old Aleksandr Golovin for his second goal in as many games with Russia. The third debutant, Ilya Maksimov, arrived in the 69th minute and Russia rounded off their victory with a Denis Glushakov goal from a corner.