Klagenfurt, (Austria): World Champions Germany crashed to a 1-2 defeat against Austria on a day goalkeeper Manuel Neuer returned to the playing XI, here Saturday night.
Neuer has proven his fitness after eight months of being sidelined by a fractured foot in timely fashion, with four names to be cut ahead of Germany naming their final 23-man World Cup squad, Monday.
But the ‘keeper was powerless to stop second half goals by Martin Hinteregger and Alessandro Schoepf after Mesut Ozil gave the Germans an early lead.
The result however, is a big concern for Germany head coach Joachim Loew with the World Cup to kick off in less than a fortnight. The World Champions are now winless in their last five games since suffering back-to-back defeats after losing 0-1 to Brazil in Berlin last March.
“It was a good comeback from Manuel after so long out,” Loew told broadcaster ‘ZDF’. “The defeat is annoying, we did well in the first half, but we lost a lot of ball in the second half and made life hard for ourselves. A lot of things were bad today (Saturday).”
This was Austria’s first win over their neighbours in nearly 32 years – dating back to October 1986 when they defeated Germany 4-1.
After 259 days out injured, Neuer pulled off a string of saves in an impressive first half display, but had little chance to stop Austria’s goals after Germany’s defence leaked badly in the second half.
In another friendly played in London, hosts England relied on goals from Gary Cahill and Harry Kane before slackening in the second half to beat Nigeria 2-1.
On his first England appearance since October, Cahill headed in the opener in the seventh minute from Kieran Trippier’s corner in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.
Raheem Sterling set up Kane to double England’s lead in the 39th before Alex Iwobi reduced the deficit in the opening two minutes of the second half.
In Brussels, European champions Portugal held Belgium to a tame 0-0 draw, a result overshadowed by fears that defender Vincent Kompany may have sustained an injury early in the second half.
The injury-prone Kompany walked off shortly after the break after appearing to overstretch while making a defensive challenge. It was not immediately clear if he was injured or left the field as a precaution.
Kompany’s departure was the major talking point in a disappointing goalless draw which underscored that Belgium’s star-studded squad still has work to do if it is to live up to its billing as one of the favourites to win the World Cup in Russia.
