Germany can't afford mistakes, coach says

Germany will need to raise its game if it wants to make it to Brazil in 2014, the team warned on Tuesday, despite securing another three points against Austria to stay top of its World Cup qualifying group.

Goals in each half from Marco Reus and Mesut Ozil ensured Germany stayed ahead of Ireland and Sweden in Group C, after a 3-0 victory against the Faroe Islands in its first qualifier on Friday.

But a goal by Werder Bremen midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic in the 57th minute, as well as narrowly missed chances by a combative Austrian team in the last few minutes before the final whistle, kept the Mannschaft on its toes until the end.

"I'm very happy with the result because we got three points away in Austria against a strong team," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

"With the game itself, I'm only marginally happy ... all the Austrian chances came from errors on our part. After the 2-1, we should have controlled the game.

"We got ourselves into difficulty and we were lucky (Marko) Arnautovic missed that chance," he said after the Werder Bremen midfielder missed a close-range shot on goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira agreed: "We can be happy with our three points but not with the way we won them."

"We were up 2-0 and then we let Austria back into the game with tactical errors. That should not happen."

Germany seemed to have the game in the bag when Junuzovic hit the back of the net, spurring the Austrians back into action, encouraged by about 47,000 spectators in the packed Ernst Happel Stadium.

"We made mistakes and literally handed our opponents two or three invitations (to score)," said Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller, who helped Germany to its second goal when he was brought down by Austria's Veli Kavlak, leading to a penalty that was expertly converted by Ozil.

"We did not deliver a perfect game ... we were just lucky in the end."

The encounter had been built up on the Austrian side as their best chance in years to beat traditional rivals Germany, with confidence at a high following several international victories, and players benefiting from experience playing abroad.

(China Daily 09/13/2012 page23)