European Championship Qualifying: Germany Cruise To Emphatic Win Over Azerbaijan

Miroslav Klose Scores Two And Lays On Two More As Germany Storm Passed Azerbaijan.

Joachim Loew’s Germany side never had to get out of second gear against a very physical but very poor Azerbaijan team. Goals from Heiko Westermann, Lukas Podolski, Holger Badstuber, a double from Miroslav Klose and an own-goal from Rashad Sadygov capped a very easy performance for Die Mannschaft. Azerbaijan grabbed a consolation through Vagif Dzhavadov, who was arguably Azerbaijan’s most dangerous player on the night. The goal, unfortunately for Azerbaijan, was more down to Manuel Neuer’s poor handling than any great piece of skill from Dzhavadov. If Rene Adler hits form with Leverkusen, Neuer will likely have stiff competition for the number one spot after a mistake like that.

Loew’s side kept the play in the Azerbaijan half of the pitch almost exclusively, and tried to pass their way into the back of the net at every opportunity. The clinical, no-nonsense Germany we’re all so used to seeing was not on display today. They scored six, but they could have scored bundles more if not for trying to be so intricate and fancy against clearly weaker opposition.

The victory was marred by an injury to Per Mertesacker, who took a hefty elbow early on and was subbed off for Germany’s first goalscorer, Heiko Westermann. Mertesacker looked dazed and he was bleeding quite a bit, but it didn’t look anymore serious than that and he should be able to return to action this weekend for Werder Bremen.

Die Nationalelf host Turkey and then travel to Kazakhstan for their next round of qualifiers. If they can win those two games, they can virtually guarantee a first-placed finished in their qualification group.

As a side-note, Miroslav Klose now needs just 14 more international goals to become Germany’s all-time top goalscorer. While it sounds like a lot now, when you think about some of the opponents he’ll be playing against, namely Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in the return leg, it’s all beginning to look very possible for the veteran striker. Good luck to him!