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Slovakia beat Germany 3-1 in international friendly

Xinhua, May 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

World champions Germany suffered a 3-1 loss to Slovakia in their penultimate friendly before the European Championship on Sunday in Augsburg.

The EURO 2016 in France kicks-off in two weeks but the reigning FIFA world champions are still in search for their form as the "Nationalelf" controlled the proceedings until the 40th minute before Slovakia turned the tides to grab a 3-1 on the road thanks to the goals from Marek Hamsik, Michal Duris and Juray Kucka.

The hosts ensured a fairy tale start into the friendly as Kucka brought down Mario Goetze inside the box, allowing Mario Gomez to convert the subsequent penalty into the bottom right to open the scoring with 12 minutes into the game.

The visitors failed to gain a foothold into the game whereas the Germans combined their way through Slovakia' s territory. However, the hosts lacked in accuracy as neither Leroy Sane nor Julian Draxler were able to overcome Slovakia' s custodian Matus Kozacik following promising opportunities.

As a result, Jan Kozak' s men shocked the wasteful hosts against the run of the game after Hamsik had all time and space to hammer home from 20 meter into the top left corner to restore parity in the 41st minute. The visitors gained momentum and doubled the lead only three minutes later as Duris headed home a corner at the near post to secure the 2-1 lead.

A 25-minute half-time break, due to severe weather, disrupted the flow of the clash. However, it did not stop Slovakia to score another goal as Kucka' s volley shot on target nutmegged Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the 52nd minute to make it 3-1.

Germany pressed frenetically to reduced the arrears but Slovakia were able to protect their lead to the end, although Goezte came close twice in the dying minutes of the game.

"I am satisfied with our offensive performance. However, we had a lot of problems in our defence. Therefore Slovakia were able to make the most of their few chances," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

Loew will announce his final 23-men squad on Tuesday before Germany face Hungary for their last friendly ahead of the EURO in France on Saturday. Endit