Berlin (Germany), March 26 (IANS) Niclas Fullkrug’s brace helped Germany cruise 2-0 past Peru in Mainz following the first friendly in 2023 on Saturday.
The Germans took the reins from the get-go and came close with 11 minutes gone as Peru’s goalkeeper Pedro Gallese had to palm away Fullkrug’s dangerous header.
Gallese was hapless moments later though as Fullkrug slotted home Kai Havertz’s good build-up work, reports news agency Xinhua.
Peru’s goalkeeper remained busy but was on guard in quick succession as neither Timo Werner nor Fullkrug was able to beat Gallese from promising positions with 20 minutes played.
The hosts controlled possession and made it 2-0 at the half-hour mark after Marius Wolf raced down the right wing before squaring into the path of Fullkrug, who secured his brace this match and his fifth goal in as many appearances for Germany.
Fullkrug posed a lot of danger in front of the target but defender Luis Advincula’s block denied the German striker a hat-trick before the break.
After the restart, the flow of the game got disrupted by several substitutions and fouls by both sides.
Peru lacked ideas to threaten Germany’s defence and the hosts rattled the woodwork through Joshua Kimmich at the hour mark.
Germany got a penalty awarded in the 68th minute as the video assistant referees saw a foul play from Miguel Araujo on Nico Schlotterbeck inside the area. Havertz stepped up but hit the right post from the spot.
The hosts pressed for another goal but couldn’t overcome Peru’s defence in the closing stages.
“The boys staged a dynamic and offensively-minded performance. We are of course still not at 100 per cent which you can’t expect after a few training sessions. The team created opportunities but lacked accuracy in the final third. We scored twice and kept a clean sheet, that’s the main thing,” said Germany coach Hansi Flick.
Germany will play Belgium in Cologne for another friendly on Tuesday.
–IANS
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