Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/585015
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Germany leave Joachim Low unsatisfied Joachim Low says Germany have work to do ahead of the European Championship after labouring to a 2-1 win over Georgia on Sunday THE world champions qualified for the finals in France as Group D winners but only after losing their penultimate game against the Republic of Ireland and then labouring past Georgia 2-1 with a late Max Kruse winner. Low's men were becoming frus- trated in their final qualifier in Leipzig after failing to make early dominance count and seeing Jaba Kankava cancel out a Thomas Muller penalty with a stunning strike. "We are like a boxer at the mo- ment. We're landing punches but they're not knocking the oppo- nent out," Low said on uefa.com. "We won the group and can be happy about that, but I am not satisfied with the last two match- es. "It will take some hard work to get back to the level of perform- ances of the World Cup but there is a long way to go until the finals and we know that a long period of preparation will do us a lot of good." He added: "We know that is not what we demand from ourselves. Not the way we are currently op- erating in front of goal. We made our own life difficult. "We sang the same song as in Ireland. Three, four huge chanc- es early on and then the mistakes start creeping in. "First of all, we are satisfied with the qualification but not satisfied with our last two games. That is not our standard. We have work ahead of us." The hosts should have gone ahead with one of three oppor- tunities that fell to Marco Reus early on but the attacking mid- fielder failed to score as did sev- eral of his team-mates in a one- sided first half in which Germany had more than a dozen attempts on goal. "Marco usually does not waste them but today he had three huge chances early," said Low. "He has the quality but tonight we did not show we can make this big number of chances count." Low will look at the make-up of his team and try to modify their approach ahead of the finals next summer. He said: "Tactically there are a few things we need to consider. Our style of play will remain mostly the same but there are some details that need adjusting. "It is not our style to send long balls into the box. It would be better to approach the opponents' goal with combinations. "But in France we will meet teams that will attack us, not like some of the defensive teams we have met recently." Low demands greater German efficiency Zlatan strikes again as flat Sweden head for playoffs ZLATAN Ibrahimovic scored his eighth goal in eight Euro 2016 qualifiers as Sweden beat Moldova 2-0 in Stockholm on Monday, but his side must content themselves with a playoff spot after Russia beat Montenegro 2-0 to claim sec- ond spot in Group G. Undefeated group winners Austria thumped Liechtenstein 3-0 to finish on 28 points, eight more than Russia and 10 ahead of the Swedes, who will find out their opponenets when the playoff draw is made in Nyon, Switzerland on Sunday. Making his first competitive start at a half-full Friends Arena, striker John Guidetti struck the woodwork in the fourth minute and it took the Swedes a further 20 to open the scoring. Captain Ibrahimovic beat the offside trap and latched on to a long ball from Andreas Gran- qvist before coolly rounding Ilie Cebanu and rolling the ball into an empty net. He was also involved in Sweden's second, chasing down another long ball which Cebanu rushed out to meet but could only clear as far as Guidetti, who rolled the ball unselfishly to Er- kan Zengin to chip into the top corner. The crowd were not content with the comfort- able win, however, and a late chorus of boos and whistles greeted the flat effort of the Swedes who will have to display considerably more en- ergy if they are to negotiate the playoffs. In other matches, Austria defeated Liechten- stein 3-0 and Russia defeated Montenegro. Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates scoring the opening goal against Moldova during their Euro 2016 group G qualifying soccer match at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden