Germany Underscore Euro 2008 Aspirations

Cooler days have reached Central Europe but the hot summer nights that carried Germany so far in the World Cup in June and July are continuing, and that was no different in Bratislava in a 4-1 win over Slovakia on Wednesday.

The hero of the evening was the same man who was loudly criticized after his red card on Saturday against Georgia, Lukas Podolski. The Bayern Munich forward struck twice against a Slovakian side that was completely outmatched by the red-shirted Germans in the first half.

If anyone was skeptical of Germany, for whatever reason, after this summer, those doubts should now be laid to rest.

"Lots of people said after the World Cup that it would be difficult to keep up that level of play. But we have proved in the last four matches that we can do that. Today's match in Slovakia was difficult. We played a super first half and deservedly won 4-1," Lukas Podolski said after the match.

Slovakia swamped in first half

The analysis of the first half was correct. Similar to a 3-0 home loss to the Czech Republic last month, the Slovaks played nervously in the early stages and handed control of the ball to coach Jogi Löw's Germany.

They graciously accepted it, playing carefree, attacking soccer that paid dividends. Podolski scored in the 13th minute. 12 minutes later, Michael Ballack headed the ball past a defenseless Kamil Chontofalsky. 11 minutes after that, Bastian Schweinsteiger fired home a rebound of a Ballack shot.

The embarrassing 2-0 loss from September 2005 was forgotten, and the possibility that Germany could look ahead to the Euro 2008 is a bit nearer.

"That was a big step (towards qualifying)," said coach Jogi Löw. "We definitely tried to prove that we can produce a good result and a good game on the road against an opponent like Slovakia. I think that we did that."

Poldi's second goal ends Slovak pressure

The second half started off positively for a suddenly motivated Slovakia. 13 minutes after the re-start, Stanislav Varga scored for the hosts. After withstanding further Slovakian pressure, Germany turned things around and Podolski scored again. 4-1 for Germany.

In other Group D action, Looking at some other results of interest. In Germany's Group D, the Czech Republic lost their first points with a 1-1 draw in Dublin against Ireland. Wales shook off their weekend drubbing against Slovakia and beat Cyprus 3-1.