Madrid: World Champions Germany survived a late scare to see off Saudi Arabia 2-1 in warm-up game here Friday and claim a first victory this year, putting a five-game winless run behind them as they finalised their World Cup preparations. There were also wins for Iran, Croatia and Switzerland, while Poland were held to a 2-2 draw by Chile.
Germany looked to be heading for a comfortable win as they sought to put their worst run of form for 30 years behind them as Timo Werner opened the scoring and Omar Hawsawi’s own goal doubled their lead on the stroke of half time.
Yet Saudi Arabia, who will also be in Russia, fought back, looking particularly dangerous on the counter. They grabbed a lifeline as Taisir Al-Jassim smashed in the rebound after a Mohammad Al-Sahlawi penalty was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen five minutes from full time.
Al-Sahlawi then had strong claims for a second spot-kick waved away in added on time as he went down under a challenge from Mats Hummels as Germany hung on to claim a morale-boosting victory.
Loew went on to voice his discontent at his side’s performance, but was adamant they will ready when they face Mexico in their opening World Cup game next Sunday.
“Today (Friday) we missed a lot of chances, were really open in defence and allowed too many counter-attacks from Saudi Arabia. In the end we were lucky to win,” he said.
“I’m not worried because I know we’re going to keep on improving. When it gets going, we’ll be ready. Next week we’ll be sharper, more dynamic and have even more power,” added Loew.
Chile hold Poland
Precise strikes from captain Robert Lewandowski and midfielder Piotr Zielinski were not enough to give World Cup-bound Poland victory over Chile, who fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in a friendly in Poznan
Poland took the lead when striker Lewandowski found the net in the 30th minute off a prompt by Grzegorz Krychowiak. The hosts appeared to have sealed victory four minutes later when Zielinski beat Chile keeper Gabriel Arias following a pass from Kamil Grosicki.
However, Chile got the goals back through Diego Valdes (39th) and Miiko Albornoz (56th).
Other results
Croatia 2 Senegal 1
Switzerland 2 Japan 0
Iran 1 Lithuania 0