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Duisburg (dpa) - Next embarrassment instead of EM tailwind: Joachim Löw crashed with his last nine-point contract for the Qatar World Cup against outsiders North Macedonia.
After the next historic defeat, the outgoing national coach is preparing for his last title run in the summer with a heavy mortgage.
At the international premiere against the world number 65.
conceded the superior, but again inefficient national soccer team around substitute captain Ilkay Gündogan with the 1: 2 (0: 1) on Wednesday evening in Duisburg, the first defeat in a World Cup qualification for almost 20 years.
Seasoned Goran Pandev with his goal in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half and Eljif Elmas (85th) made the unpleasant surprise in Duisburg perfect.
The interim compensation by Gündogan's foul penalty (63.) was worthless.
Instead of going towards the European Championship with the pleasant feeling of three qualifying victories, Löw is again in need of explanation, as after the 0: 6 in Spain.
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In 76 days, the first EM emergency in Munich will not be against an outsider from the Balkans, but against world champion France.
The calls for a comeback by Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels will definitely get louder.
For his not yet named successor, Löw also left a World Cup scenario that was not thought possible.
Instead of leading Group J with nine points, Germany starts in September with a new national coach as third in the table behind Armenia and North Macedonia in a hot autumn qualifying.
Only the group winner is sure to be at the finals in Qatar in Advent 2022.
For Löw it was the first defeat in the 33rd and final World Cup qualifier.
The last bankruptcy was under team boss Rudi Völler in 2001 in a 1: 5 against England.
With almost early summer temperatures, Löw had relied on personal continuity, but tactical variability.
"I expect that we play tempo right from the start," said the 61-year-old shortly before the kick-off at RTL and already revealed that Robin Gosens, who had just moved into the starting line-up, should play "further up front" on the left defense.
Which the Italy professional from Atalanta Bergamo did.
With the two central defenders Emre Can and Antonio Rüdiger and Matthias Ginter on the right, Löw formed a back four with extremely high standing full-backs.
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The DFB-Elf started the game with offensive and fast pace and could have taken the lead after less than ten minutes.
Kai Havertz from Chelsea played fine on Munich's Leon Goretzka, but his shot in the penalty area hit the crossbar (9th).
An extreme game of patience developed for the superior hosts.
At first the flanks of Gosens and Ginter still lacked the precision to bring unrest into the well-organized back team of the North Macedonians.
The Germans had three chances in the first half after Serge Gnabry initially failed to goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski (27th) and a little later shot over the gate from a good position (31st).
As in the 1-0 win in Romania, there was a lack of efficiency and determination in the final - which this time was severely punished shortly before half-time.
In stoppage time, which was mainly due to a slightly theatrical treatment break from Arijan Ademi, the 37-year-old veteran Pandev suddenly appeared free in front of Marc-André ter Stegen and scored after a cross from Enis Bardhi to the surprising 0: 1.
Ter Stegen was allowed between the posts for regular goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and played his 25th international match.
"He's a great goalkeeper who has been playing at a high level for a long time," said Löw and stated that Neuer "certainly does a break well".
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The captain was not in the squad, but before kick-off he stepped onto the pitch with all the substitutes for another action, with which the observance of human rights was warned.
The team unrolled a banner sprayed with the words “We for 30” - and, like before the game in Romania, referred to the 30 articles in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
After the break, the picture was initially similar.
The Germans set the tone, but didn't get any chances.
"Our team seems relatively tired," analyzed the former Bayern President Uli Hoeneß in his role as an RTL expert.
In his last European Championship qualifier as national coach, Löw reacted, who according to information from the newspaper “AS” should be at the top of the wish list for Spanish champions Real Madrid, and brought in Timo Werner (for Havertz) and Amin Younes (for Gosens).
Until the equalization by Gündogan, the actions lacked determination.
If there were still some pinball situations in the penalty area in the first round, the Löw-Elf rarely got into the dangerous zone.
When it succeeded after a pass from Goretzka to Leroy Sané, the Munich man was fouled in the sixteen meter space by Ezgjan Alioski.
Gündogan safely converted the penalty to 1: 1.
Ten minutes before the end a few meters in front of the goal, Werner gave away the huge chance to make it 2-1 - on the other hand, Elmas scored the guests' winner five minutes later.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210331-99-48119 / 2
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