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Germany beats Gibraltar in European qualifiers
Berlin: FIFA world champions Germany cruised to a 4-0 victory over Gibraltar to earn their second win in group D at the .
Germany Friday reaped an expected win over underdog Gibraltar. The Germans dominated the game at the outsold home front in Nuremberg against hapless Gibraltar, as per reported.
The world champions took over from the kickoff, while Gibraltar made no secret of their passive strategy as they kept all their players behind the ball.
After 12 minutes into the game, Thomas Mueller opened the scoring. Shkodran Mustafi crossed the ball into the goal area where goalkeeper Jamie Robba deflected the ball into the path of Mueller, who had no problems to tap home from very close range.
Gibraltar showed a vital sign when Liam Walker’s shot on target forced Germany goalie Manuel Neuer to make a save before the break.
Germany continued to create promising scoring opportunities yet the hosts had to wait until the 29th minute before Thomas Mueller wrapped up his brace following a square pass by Lukas Podolski.
The host gained momentum and tripled the lead nine minutes later through Mario Goetze, whose long-range effort from 23 meters beat Gibraltar’s goalkeeper Robba into the far post corner.
After three first half goals things changed at the second half. The Germans lacked in penetration and were unable to overcome Gibraltar. Thus they had to wait for Gibraltar’s Yogan Santos who deflected a shot by Lukas Podolski into his own goal at the 67th minute to make it 4-0 on the scoreboards.
“I am far from being satisfied. My expectations were not met. We haven’t played like a world champion,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said after the game.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.