Germany Wins 6-1 But Loses Reus to Injury

(Sky Sports UK)

MAINZ, Germany - In World Cup preparation, the German National Team capped off its last friendly before Brazil, dominating Armenia 6-1 on Friday, however, the five point victory was overshadowed by the ankle injury to midfielder Marco Reus.


According to medical staff, the 25 year-old tore the anterior ligament above his left ankle and has been ruled out of the World Cup starting in June as his diagnosis would be seven to eight weeks. His injury placed a somber mood on a German team who scored five of the six goals in the final 17 minutes.

The match was scoreless through the first 45 minutes as Reus' in
jury occurred in the 44th after going into a challenge around midfield with Armenian player Artur Yedigaryan.

In the second half, Germany was able to notch the first goal of the evening as Andre Schuerrle gave the hosts a second-half lead from a Lukas Podolski cross in the 52nd minute.

Although Armenia's Henrikh Mkhitaryan converted a penalty in the 69th minute, Germany was able to put the game out of reach as five goals were scored in the final 17 minutes by four different players.

Podolski, Benedikt Hoewedes, Mario Goetze and Miroslav Klose all contributed to give the German's its biggest win in 2014 and remain unbeaten in pre-World Cup matches this year.  Klose made history with his header goal in the 77th minute to become Germany's all-time top scorer. Klose netted his 69th goal for Germany on his 132nd appearance to break Gerd Mueller's previous mark of 68 goals in 62 matches for West Germany.

Despite the level of competition in Armenia, Joachin Low's squad looked solid on the offensive side with efficient passing from midfielders Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger who can fill the role without Reus. This is a team that is heavily favored to make a run in Brazil because of the mix of youth and experienced all stars who return to the squad after a third place performance in South Africa.

The Germans will face Portugal on June 16 in its first group game match of the 2014 World Cup.