Wales 0 - 2 Germany: Early Ballack blast downs Welsh

Published on Thursday 2 April 2009 00:57

GERMANY took another ominous step towards South Africa 2010 but at least Wales' youngsters were not humiliated.

Wales manager John Toshack can at least be thankful for that small mercy after the soul-searching which followed Saturday's embarrassing home defeat to Finland. But the points in World Cup Group 4 were always heading to a Germany side which was never stretched.

Michael Ballack blasted home an early 30-yarder to set the tone for the night, with the unlucky Ashley Williams scoring an own goal for Germany's second.

Toshack lost skipper Craig Bellamy earlier in the day with a recurrence of his knee problem, while Jason Koumas was out with a hip problem.

Elsewhere he axed Chris Gunter, Carl Fletcher and David Edwards, bringing in Sam Ricketts following suspension, Ashley Williams, Robert Earnshaw, Sam Vokes and Aaron Ramsey, for his full debut.

After just 11 minutes, Ballack unleashed a swerving drive from 30 yards that crashed into the top corner past Wayne Hennessey. However, that came from Germany being allowed to take a throw on the left that was clearly a Wales ball.

After an encouraging first half Wales did not need a stroke of bad luck just three minutes into the second period.

James Collins had held up Mario Gomez on the right and looked to have run the ball out but the Stuttgart striker swung in a low cross to the near post that was then stabbed past Hennessey by Williams' out-stretched boot.

Wales: Hennessey, Ricketts, Ashley Williams, Collins, Nyatanga, Davies, Ramsey, Ledley, Bale, Earnshaw, Vokes. Subs: Myhill, Evans, Fletcher, Cotterill, Gunter, Robinson, Edwards.

Germany:Enke, Beck, Mertesacker, Rolfes, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Tasci, Ballack, Hitzlsperger, Podolski, Gomez. Subs: Wiese, Hinkel, Westermann, Marin, Helmes, Schafer, Trochowski.

Referee: Terje Haunge (Norway)

Attendance: 26,000