Germany humiliates Austria 6-2 in Euro qualifiers

Germany humiliates Austria 6-2 in Euro qualifiers

Germany's Lukas Podolski and Holger Badstuber (R) celebrate a goal against Austria during their Euro 2012 Group A qualifying soccer match in Gelsenkirchen, Sept 2, 2011.

BERLIN - Germany remained with a clean sheet in Euro qualifiers 2012 when they trashed Austria 6-2 thanks to a hat-trick by midfielder Mesut Oezil at Veltins Arena on Friday.

The Germans shocked the guests with an early goal when midfielder Oezil hammered a shot into bottom left in the 8th minute. Oezil doubled the score for Germany at the 23rd minute when he rounded Austrian goalkeeper Christian Gartzei.

Only five minutes later, German striker Lukas Podolski tripled the lead when he netted from sharp angle inside penalty area. Just before break Austria showed a vital sign as striker Marko Arnautovic headed home a cross to make it 3-1 on the scoreboards.

After the break, Oezil sealed his hat-trick when he netted a pass into path for the 4-1 lead.

Austria was only able to make it 2-4 on the scoreboards through striker Martin Harnik as Germany kept it bowling with another two goals by joker youngster's striker Andre Schuerrle and midfielder mate Mario Goetze to mark the final 6-2 score to stun the guests.

"During the European Championship qualifying this team has done great," Joachim Loew said after his 70th match as German head coach.

Germany dominated Group A with 24 points from eight victories, followed by Turkey with 13 points, Belgium 12 points, Austria 7 points, Azerbaijan 4 points and Kazakhstan with 3 points. In October the German squad faces Turkey for the 9th match day of Euro qualifiers 2012.

(Xinhua)