Two weeks prior to the World Cup in South Africa, new skipper Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were rested, but Holger Badstuber earned a maiden cap and Mario Gomez hit the target as Germany comfortably beat Hungary 3-0 in Budapest. Joachim Löw’s side face their final pre-tournament test against Bosnia Herzegovina in Frankfurt on Thursday.
Bayern quartet Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller and Jörg Butt all sat out the meeting with the Hungarians, in which former FCB man Lukas Podolski opened the scoring from the penalty spot on five minutes. The Germans, captained by Miroslav Klose in his 95th international appearance, added second-half goals from subs Gomez (69) and Cacau (73) to complete a routine victory over a lifeless home team in front of a 20,000 crowd at Ferenc Puskás stadium.
Gomez replaces Klose
With three days to go until the final 23-man squad is announced, The visitors got off to a near-perfect start. Lone Hungary striker Sandor Torghelle, who plays in the German second division for Augsburg, hauled down Per Mertesacker in the box after a corner, Podolski coolly converting from the spot, handing him a 38th goal in 72 appearances for his country and maintaining his 100 percent record from penalties (three out of three).
The hosts had 1860 Munich keeper Gabor Kiraly to thank for keeping the score at 1-0 before half-time. Löw, who used the match to experiment in a number of positions, made a number of changes in the second period. Gomez replaced Klose on 61 minutes and double the score shortly afterwards. And just before the end, Holger Badstuber was sent on to make his international debut.
Altintop defeated
While the Germans were running up a 475th victory in official international matches, Hamit Altintop and Turkey were losing 2-1 to the USA. A 55,407 crowd in Philadelphia saw Arda Turan hadn the Europeans a 27th-minute lead, but the home side upped the tempo after the break and Jozy Altidore poked home to level on the hour. Two minutes after Altintop was substituted, Clint Dempsey struck a 75th-minute winner.
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