Germany Knocks Out San Marino 13-0 in Euro 2008 Qualifier

Coach Joachim Löw's German team successfully fulfilled the expectations of the 5,000-strong crowd at the Stadium Olimpico in San Marino and dispatched the overmatched hosts 13-0. The match was one of 21 European Championship qualifying matches matches that took place on Wednesday.

Not unusually, it took a while for the clear favorite to crack the defensive wall. Even after Lukas Podolski beat his defender and headed the ball into the net in the 11th minute, San Marino stood firm for another quarter of an hour.

Löw acknowledged San Marino's stiff resistance in that first half-hour, but was satisfied by his players' reaction.

"We had fun"

"We came into the match with a good attitude, a professional attitude even against such an opponent," Löw said. "All in all, I think we saw lots of great goals and that we had fun."

After 30 minutes of play, the flood gates burst. The pressure, and the condition of the professionals from Germany, proved too great for San Marino. By the end of the first half, the score stood 6-0 on two goals by Podolski, two from Miroslav Klose, one from Michael Ballack and another from Bastian Schweinsteiger.

The German juggernaut continued directly after half-time on an indirect kick by Schweinsteiger. Podolski matched his first-half performance with another two goals, bringing his total to 20 in just 35 games in a German national uniform.

Thomas Hitzlsperger, currently on the bench in Stuttgart, scored his first two goals for the national squad. Defender Manuel Friedrich also got his premiere goal in just his third game on the German team. Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, whose yellow jersey remained unstained during the match, almost had a chance to score on a penalty kick just one minute from time.

Fair play?

"Running up to take the kick, I wasn't so sure because it seemed like humiliation," the Arsenal keeper said. "I got up to the penalty spot and then the San Marino players started saying 'Fair Play, Fair Play!' and so I thought it better to forget it and not humiliate the opponent."

Bernd Schneider, who again played a very good match, then converted the penalty kick. Captain Ballack, who played just 45 minutes, said he was pleased with the result, and believes that the team is going down the right path.

"When we come up against difficult opponents, we'll have to adjust more to that team's abilities," he said. "Nevertheless, we want to play our style of soccer and we've done that the last few weeks."

Germany's next match will be more difficult, when they have to travel to Slovakia, who lost to the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Both Germany and the Czechs have a maximum of six points after two games.

Finally, just under two months after their World Cup final loss, France got a bit of revenge by beating world champions Italy 3-1 in Paris.