Mexico beats Scotland, Germany beaten by Austria

World best football team and World Cup holder Germany was defeated 2-1 by Austria in the preparations Sunday. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) opened a scoring in the first 11th minute, but Austria kept up pressure and scored two goals in the second half. It is the first time in 32 years that Germany, the first FIFA ranker, was beaten by Austria that ranks 26th. Germany, attempting to defend its trophy, recorded two losses and one draw in three friendly matches

Germany coach Joachim Low with his side’s sloppiness. "This defeat annoys me. We didn't execute many things we had planned," Low said. "We lost the ball too many times where we could have created a scoring opportunity. Today many things were bad. We won't fool ourselves. We have a lot to work on over the next two weeks." He positively assessed goal keeper Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), however, saying, "He doesn't have any problems with his foot after the game, that's important. And the second thing was that he reacted great in many situations, he reacted fast.”

Mexico beat Scotland 1-0 in the preparations. Giovani Dos Santos (LA Galaxy) scored a goal in the first 13th minute to give Mexico the win. Mexico, 15th in FIFA rank, was strong and cohesive through the match against Scotland that ranks 34th. Injured players including Diego Reyes (Porto), Andres Guardado (Real Betis) and Hector Moreno (Real Sociedad) did not come out to the field.


Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com