February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Germany produced the most impressive result in last Wednesday’s pre-World Cup friendlies when they hammered Isr’l 7-1 in Kaiserslautern.
Hometown hero Miroslav Klose stole the show by hitting a hat-trick during a 16-minute spell in the second half, as the Germans sounded a warning to Group E rivals Ireland, Cameroon and Saudi Arabia.
Klose struck in the 49th, 51st and 65th minutes, after Isr’l had taken the lead in the 28th minute through an own goal credited to goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann (62nd), former skipper Oliver Bierhoff (69th), Ghanaian-born forward Gerald Asamoah (75th), and Lars Ricken (77th) were the other scorers.
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With Ireland outclassing Russia 2-0 in Dublin on strikes by Steven Reid (3rd) and Robbie Keane (20th), Saudi Arabia were the only Group E members to go down as they slipped 1-0 to Denmark in Riyadh on Ebbe Sand’s 17th minute header.
As in their loss to Brazil the previous week, the Saudis squandered numerous chances.
Lions growl
Cameroon, basking in the glory of their latest African Nations Cup victory, sent out a warning to Germany and the Republic, cautioning the two sides to underestimate them at their own peril.
“We’re in a tough group, but we won’t be scared of anyone,” said former West Ham linkman Marc Vivien-Foe. “We’d be happy if Germany or Ireland thought we were going to be easy because that would be a mistake.”
North poleaxed
Pawel Kryszalowicz (6th, 67th), Radoslaw Kaluzny (12th), and Michal Zewlakow (69th) led Poland to a 4-1 rout over Northern Ireland in front of a meager 221 fans in Limassol, Cyprus. Steve Lomas (18th) got the North’s lone goal.
Poland tackle the United States, Portugal and co-hosts Korea in Group D.
The U.S. fell 1-0 to Italy in Sicily, on an easy tap-in by Alessandro Del Piero (63rd), while Portugal had Jorge Costa’s 28th-minute goal canceled out by Fernando Morientes (41st) in a 1-all tie with Spain in Madrid.
Toast of England
Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell was the toast of England after his spectacular volley earned Sven-Goran Eriksson’s youthful side a 1-1 draw with Holland in Amsterdam.
The Dutch, still smarting from their Irish-engineered World Cup failure, had gone ahead through Patrick Kluivert (27th) when the 21-year-old all but booked passage on England’s Orient express with his acrobatic equalizer (61st) from a David Beckham cross.
England’s “Group of Death” rivals Argentina failed to impress Welsh manager Mark Hughes in a 1-1 draw in Cardiff. They needed a Julio Ricardo Cruz equalizer on the hour to peg back Craig Bellamy’s 34th minute goal for Wales.
Champs reign
World Cup holders France edged Romania 2-1 in Paris, courtesy of Arsenal duo Patrick Vieira (1st) and Emmanuel Petit (26th). Ioan Ganea (88th) replied for the visitors.
In other results, Stefaan Tanghe (82nd) tallied for Belgium in a 1-0 win over Norway in Brussels, Croatia drew 0-0 with Bulgaria in Rijeka, while Sweden stretched their unbeaten run to 16 matches after a 2-2 stalemate with Greece in Salonika. Anders Svensson (31st) and Stefan Selakovic (64th) connected for Sweden, while Fissas (54th) and Giorgos Karagounis (85th) replied for Greece.