Ten wins in ten, with 43 goals scored and only four conceded: Germany set a new record in their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup finals on Sunday. Joachim Löw's troops downed Azerbaijan 5-1 in Kaiserslautern on the last matchday after securing top spot in Group C on Thursday.
Two-goal Leon Goretzka, Sandro Wagner, Antonio Rüdiger und Emre Can netted for the hosts on Sunday evening. Löw comprehensively shuffled his deck, and Niklas Süle and Shokodran Mustafi had to be replaced with injury in the first half. The reigning world champions struggled against Azerbaijan for 45 minutes, Ramil Sheydaev cancelling out Goretzka's opener after the half-hour, but Germany made their dominance count after the restart.
Süle, Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich made the starting line-up. Süle was subbed off with a thigh problem, whereas Müller left the pitch midway through the second half, handing the armband to Kimmich. Mats Hummels, Jérôme Boateng and Sebastian Rudy failed to get off the bench.
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