Soccer Football - World Cup - UEFA Qualifiers - Group A - Luxembourg v Germany - Stade de Luxembourg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg - November 14, 2025 Germany's Nick Woltemade scores their second goal REUTERS/Omar Havana
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -Germany forward Nick Woltemade scored twice in the second half to give the four-time world champions a hard-earned 2-0 win over Luxembourg in their penultimate 2026 World Cup qualifier on Friday, leaving them on the brinkofautomatic qualification.
Woltemade, who has now scored his team's last three goals after also netting the winner in their 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland last month, put the visitors in front in the 49th minute. He slid in to connect with a Leroy Sane cutback with the Germans surprisingly on the backfoot for much of the first half.
The Newcastle United striker added another in the 69th minute to keep Germany top of Group A on 12 points, with Slovakia, their next opponents on Monday, in second place on goal difference.
"In the first half we lacked intensity and did not have enough possession," Woltemade said. "We did it better after the break, increasedthe pressure. We scored at the right times. It was not a great show but we got the three points.
"It was important to find the switch in the second half and realise we did not do enough in the first," Woltemade said.
"There was quite a bit of pressure on the game. To score twice here is good but it is the three points that count no matter who scores."
Julian Nagelsmann's team lacked any real punch up front in the first half while littering the pitch with defensive errors that allowed Luxembourg to carve out several scoring chances.
Germany, however, will now book their ticket for next year's World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with a win or a draw in Monday's final qualifier against the Slovaks. The group winners earnautomatic qualification while the second-placed team will head to the playoffs in March.
The hosts were not intimidated by the Germans, and Luxembourg had chances through Aiman Dardari and Danel Sinani in the first 25 minutes, with four shots towards goal for them compared to Germany's two by that stage.
Germany's busiest man in the first half was keeper Oliver Baumann and they had to wait until the 49th minute to break the deadlock with Woltemade's well-timed run.
Dardari's 52nd minute shot flew just wide of the post as Luxembourg refused to give up, and Christopher Martins came even closer but also missed the target from point blank range in the 66th, before Woltemade's second goal settled German nerves.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
