Germany beat Belgium in friendly game

Germany secured a morale-boosting friendly victory over Belgium in the Müngersdorfer stadium in Cologne on Wednesday night, with all three goals coming from well-worked set-pieces.


The game started at a high tempo, before the home side gradually asserted superiority. After just ten minutes, Torsten Frings - who was impressive all night - saw a powerful shot clawed around the near post by Belgium goalkeeper Frédéric Herpoel. From the resulting Schneider corner, Christian Wörns watched his header cleared off the line by Mbo Mpenza.
It was from corners, whether taken by Schneider or Frings, that Rudi Völler's side looked most threatening. On 20 minutes, Kuranyi failed to react quickly from Schneider's delivery and bundled wide. Five minutes later he mis-timed a downward header and sent it over the bar from another Schneider corner.
The first-half's most skilful moment belonged to Paul Freier, a young forward trying to force his way into Völler's UEFA EURO 2004™ squad. Receiving the ball on the left edge of the box, he flicked it over Vincent Kompany before hitting a ferocious outswinger just wide. Two minutes later, Ballack tried his luck with a left-footed effort from outside the box, but it was easy enough for Herpoel to claim.
Belgium struggled to create any clear-cut chances despite playing some neat football in midfield. An early Mpenza header gave Jens Lehmann a moment of panic, but it was not until the 43rd minute that they had a clear sight of goal. Luigi Pieroni slid a pass inside to Thomas Buffel only eight metres out, but the midfield player could not connect cleanly.
With the very last action of the half, Kuranyi atoned for his earlier misses by giving the home side the lead. Frings sent in a corner from the left, and the Belgian defence panicked. Arne Friedrich missed his header at the near post, and the ball bounced in off Kuranyi from close range.

The hosts picked up where they had left off after the break, with Schneider sending a direct free-kick just wide of the top right-hand corner of Herpoel's goal. On 50 minutes, a direct free-kick resulted in a goal. With Herpoel on his far post positioning his wall, Hamann took it quickly and shot low into the opposite corner with the defence in disarray.
The goal sparked a wave of substitutions as both sides looked to give fresh faces a chance. Kuranyi gave one of those replacements an excellent chance to score, putting Oliver Neuville through with a fine pass, but the pacy striker's attempted lob was well saved by fellow substitute Erwin Lemmens in the Belgium goal.
There was still time for Ballack to score the 16th goal of what is becoming a fine international career. The impressive Philipp Lahm won a free-kick on the left and Neuville sent in an inswinging cross, which the FC Bayern München man glanced in.

Goals: 45'+1' Kuranyi 1-0, 55' Hamann 2-0, 81' Ballack 3-0
Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Wörns, Nowotny, Lahm, Hamann, Frings (62' Ernst), Schneider (62' Neuville), Ballack (84' Rahn), Kuranyi (78' Bobic), Freier (71' Jeremies)
Belgium: Herpoel (58' Lemmens), Kompany, Deflandre (70' De Cock), Dheedene, Van Damme (65' Deschacht), M.Mpenza (58' Dufer), Clement, Baseggio (58' Bisconti), Blondel (46' Daems), Buffel, Pieroni
Attendance: 46.143
Referee: Wegereef (Neth)