STUTTGART, Germany, March 30 (Reuters) - Germany forward Deniz Undav scored an 88th-minute goal to give them a 2-1 victory over Ghana in their friendly on Monday, boosting his chances of making the World Cup squad.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann had raised eyebrows when in-form Undav was on the bench as they beat Switzerland 4-3 on Friday, but the VfB Stuttgart striker made the most of his second-half substitute appearance in front of a home crowd to bag the winner with a flick over the Ghana keeper.
Germany had taken the lead with a Kai Havertz penalty in first-half stoppage time and striker Nick Woltemade, who has struggled for form at Newcastle this season, hit the crossbar with a powerful header early in the second half.
But it was the visitors who scored with their first chance after the break, substitute Abdul Fatawu tapping in after a fine run down the left and an assist from Derrick Koehn in the 70th.
Teenager Lennart Karl came close to scoring in the 86th minute but his low shot rolled narrowly wide. Instead itwas local hero Undav, whose name fans had chanted since the first half, who grabbed the late winner.
The Germans, who have not reached a final in any major international tournament since winning their fourth World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, have been drawn in Group E with Ecuador, Curacao and Ivory Coast for the June 11-July 19 tournament.
They play their opening World Cup match in Houston, Texas on June 14 against Curacao. Germany then travel to Toronto on June 20 to take on Ivory Coast before their last group game against Ecuador in New York on June 25.
Ghana are in Group L along with Croatia, England and Panama.
(Reporting by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Toby Davis)
