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Goran Pandev (left) in a duel with Leroy Sané
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
The German national soccer team suffered a surprising defeat in the World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia.
At 1: 2 (0: 1) in Duisburg, Goran Pandev shot the outsider in the lead (45th + 2 minutes), Ilkay Gündogan converted a penalty to equalize (63rd).
In the closing stages, Eljif Elmas scored the winning goal (85th).
On the way to the controversial World Cup tournament in Qatar in 2022, the DFB-Elf had to accept a setback.
In qualifying group J, Germany are in third place after Armenia and North Macedonia after three match days.
The group winner qualifies directly for the tournament, while the group runner-up can go through the playoffs.
The game started with a lot of possession for Germany.
North Macedonia offered a five-man chain, withdrew deep into their own half, defended compactly and did not allow too many German degrees.
Leon Goretzka put the best from ten meters on the crossbar (9th), the ball was still slightly deflected.
Serge Gnabry (29th, 32nd) missed further opportunities, the DFB team did not have too many other opportunities despite their field superiority.
On the other side, Marc-André ter Stegen, who represented the regular goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the German goal, fended off a treacherous free-kick by Ezgjan Alioski by reflex (40th).
In stoppage time Ter Stegen had no chance: Goran Pandev, the record national player of the European Championship participant, took advantage of allocation problems in the German back four and met after a pass from Enis Bardhi from a short distance to the North Macedonian leadership (45th + 2).
In the second half, too, the German team had problems creating opportunities through play.
But the opportunity arose from the point: In a duel with Alioski Leroy Sané fell - not a tough foul, but enough for referee Sergei Karasev to decide on a penalty.
Gündogan shot the penalty in the middle of the goal (63.).
In the last half hour, the DFB-Elf remained the more active team, but the substitutions of Amin Younes and Timo Werner (56th) were hardly reflected in chances.
Werner gave the best in front of the North Macedonian goal, the attacker from Chelsea did not hit the ball correctly (80th).
Previously, the German team was lucky that a handball by Emre Can in their own penalty area was not punished (76th).
But North Macedonia didn't need the penalty: Elmas scored late after a cross from the left for a 2-1 win (85th).
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