Westerhoff treble rejuvenates Germany

Sebastian Westerhoff scored a hat-trick as Germany staked their claim for a place in the quarter-finals of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship after cruising past Hungary with an emphatic 6-2 victory.

Final round
Jörg Daniel's side are now level on four points with Group D rivals Poland, with the two countries set to meet in the final round of matches on Thursday.

Long balls
As expected, Germany took control of the game from the start and their extra physical strength soon became apparent against a Hungarian side that were beaten 3-1 by Poland on Sunday. However, Germany's penchant for hitting long balls up to Saher Senesie and Sebastian Westerhoff was proving to be a frustrating tactic, with neither side creating many chances.

Half-time lead
Most of the spectators at Slagelse stadium were no doubt anticipating that the scoreline would remain blank at the interval, but Westerhoff struck a minute from half-time to give Germany the lead. A cleverly-weighted pass from Stephan Bork found Westerhoff on the edge of the area and the FC Schalke 04 striker drove a clinical shot beyond the despairing dive of keeper Gábor Máthé.

Gomez on target
Hungary will have been aware of Westerhoff's striking talents prior to the kick off but they failed heed his earlier warning when he doubled Germany's advantage a minute after the restart. Mario Gomez flicked on a quickly-taken throw-in and Westerhoff headed past Máthé from close range.

Westerhoff treble
Hungary found themselves three goals down three minutes later, when a shot from the edge of the box by Gomez was deflected past a helpless Máthé. Westerhoff then completed his hat-trick, and effectively killed off the tie, on 54 minutes with a well-taken volley from eight metres.

Germany cruising
Germany were cruising, but András Sarlós' side at least managed to salvage some pride when Roland Dancs converted a penalty after Daniyel Cimen had brought down Dávid Disztl in the area. However, Hungary's joy was short-lived as Marcel Schuon restored Germany's four-goal advantage when he converted the second penalty of the match.

Insult to injury
Gomez added insult to injury with his second goal of the night to make it 6-1, before substitute Dávid Horváth lobbed German keeper René Adler with a header from outside the area to complete the scoring in the final minute.

'Different team'
Daniel was delighted with the result and praised his two goalscoring strikers. "We didn't play at all well in the first half, nobody wanted the ball," he said. "We made two substitutions - putting Ersan Tekken on allowed us to make our midfield more offensive and we were a totally different team in the second half. Westerhoff has such a good scoring average and he gets more or less a goal a game. Mario [Gomez] does very well for his club [VfB Stuttgart] but with us, he gets into the positions, but it doesn't always come off for him. Today it did, and I am very pleased for him."

'Lost their way'
Sarlós was clearly disappointed with both the result and his side's exit from the competition. "I thought the first half was very even," he said. "We had more chances to score but then we lost a goal at the end of the first half, and Germany got two more in the first five minutes of the second. This disturbed my team, and they lost their way for a time."