BAKU // Mats Hummels has accused his Germany teammates of being “arrogant” in Sunday’s 4-1 win away to Azerbaijan which left the defending champions with five straight wins in World Cup qualifiers.
The Germans leaked their first goal since July, but they still extended their perfect record in Russia 2018 qualifiers as Andre Schurrle scored twice in Baku.
“We were rather arrogant today, which isn’t nice, and we made life harder for ourselves than it should have been,” Hummels told to broadcaster RTL.
The Bayern Munich defender said too much possession was given casually away and there were sloppy challenges from Germany, who struggled to hit top gear.
First-half goals by Schurrle, Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez put Germany 3-1 up at the break after Azerbaijan midfielder Dimitrij Nazarov had netted an early equaliser to the delight of the home crowd.
It was the first goal Germany had conceded following seven previous clean sheets – a national team record – dating back to their 2-0 defeat against France in the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
Schurrle then added a late fourth goal to put the result beyond doubt.
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Germany were at near full-strength, but manager Joachim Low agreed with Hummels’s appraisal and admitted they were far from perfect.
“I am satisfied, but there was some negligence. All that glitters is not gold,” said Low, whose greatest success in his decade in charge was steering Germany to the 2014 World Cup title.
“The game we delivered wasn’t up to our standards.”
But after group rivals the Netherlands crashed 2-0 against Bulgaria on Saturday, Low praised his side for shutting the door on Azerbaijan after the hosts equalised with half an hour gone.
“However, I have to pay our leading players a compliment,” said Low.
“Over the last eight to 10 years, we have always won against the smaller nations, unlike other countries, who have had their problems in qualifiers.
“That’s down to the players who lead the team, the basic settings are correct.”
This was Germany’s fifth win in five World Cup qualifiers, leaving them top of Group C with 20 goals scored and just one conceded.
It was also their eighth game unbeaten, including friendlies and qualifiers, since losing to France in Marseille last July.
“We have absolutely fulfilled our duty of five games and five wins,” Low said.
“It was a bit like a cup game against a team that plays a league below you. If you do not start with full commitment from the beginning, you make them [play like they are] a league higher.
“You could see we hadn’t been together for four months and things aren’t happening automatically, so ultimately we can be satisfied.”
Schurrle, whose second goal nine minutes from time sealed the win, rewarded the faith shown by Low despite a series of below-par displays for Borussia Dortmund.
“It was a hard bit of work, we lost a few too many balls and were a bit too loose in the challenge,” Schurrle said.
“But we did well to shut the door by making it 3-1 at the break.”
“It does me good to score goals, but it’s up to me take my performances back to Germany and repeat them for Dortmund.”
* Agence France-Presse
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