Germany only won its last friendly before the World Cup in Qatar with a lot of effort. The DFB team, which was very mixed in terms of personnel, avoided embarrassment against Oman in Muscat on Wednesday and won 1-0 with a goal by substitute Niclas Füllkrug in the 80th minute. The World Cup participants Croatia (in Saudi Arabia) and Poland (against Chile) also recorded late successes. Argentina, on the other hand, performed confidently in their World Cup dress rehearsal against the United Arab Emirates.
For match winner Füllkrug it was a successful debut in the national team. “In the end I’m happy that I was able to help,” said the Werder Bremen striker and warned to assess the weak performance “realistically”. “Everything was okay, it fulfilled its purpose,” said national coach Hansi Flick after the final whistle. He also started Youssoufa Moukoko, who made his debut for the German team four days before his 18th birthday.
Flick experimented in the last game before the start of the tournament in Qatar and did without regulars like Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry and Niklas Süle as well as a comeback from Mario Götze. Germany’s first World Cup opponent next Wednesday is Japan.
Late victories for Croatia and Poland
Croatia beat Morocco 1-0 seven days before their first World Cup match thanks to a goal from “Joker” Andrej Kramaric. The Hoffenheim striker scored in Riyadh in the 82nd minute. However, the turned inside out team of the vice world champion had a hard time for a long time. Salzburg’s Luka Sucic was in his fourth international match for the first time and played until the break. Superstar Luka Modric was only substituted on in the 65th minute. “We didn’t play well and were lucky,” said team boss Zlatko Dalic.
Similar to Germany and Croatia, Poland also relied on rotation against Chile. Team boss Czeslaw Michniewicz did without the stars Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski in the starting XI. The Poles were redeemed by Krzysztof Piatek’s 1-0 lead (85′).
Poland will play their World Cup opener on Tuesday against Mexico, who lost a friendly against World Cup spectators Sweden 2-1 in Girona. Marcus Rohden (54th) and Mattias Svanberg (84th) scored for Austria’s upcoming European Championship qualification opponents, Alexis Varga (60th) scored the equalizer.
Argentina goes to the World Cup with 36 games without defeat
World Cup favorites Argentina, led by captain Lionel Messi, won the last World Cup friendly with ease. The “Albiceleste” are unbeaten in 36 games after a 5-0 win in Abu Dhabi. Another unbeaten game would see Argentina equal the record (37) held by Italy. The “Squadra Azzurra”, which had not managed to qualify for the World Cup, had remained unbeaten for around three years from October 2018. The Argentines conceded their last defeat to date in July 2019.
Against the United Arab Emirates, trained by Argentinian Rodolfo Arruabarrena, Julian Alvarez took the lead on a template from Messi (17th). Angel di Maria (25′, 36′) with a brace worth seeing and Messi (44′) with a right-footed shot in the corner made it 4-0 before the break. Then Joaquin Correa met (60th). For the Argentines, the World Cup begins on Tuesday against Saudi Arabia, other group opponents are Mexico and Poland.
