Germany make solid start
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Article summary
Germany 2-0 Albania
First-half goals from Semih Aydilek and Dennis Diekmeier gave Germany a winning start and a two-point lead in Elite round Group 4.
Article top media content
Article body
Early strike
Within six minutes Horst Hrubesch's team were in front when Timo Gebhart's cross fell to Semih Aydilek to turn in. Dennis Diekmeier doubled the lead on 37 minutes from 25 minutes out and nearly had another before the break but his penalty was saved by Sulejman Hoxma. In the second half Germany sat back, and they now lead the group by two points as their next opponents Croatia drew 1-1 with Slovakia. Hrubesch said: "We deserved to win. The only thing to fault was that we missed too many chances."