Duisburg (Germany) (AFP)

After 17 consecutive wins in World Cup qualifying, Germany was beaten at home in Duisburg on Wednesday 2-1 by the surprising North Macedonia, leaving Armenia with first place in Group J on the road to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. .

Despite a goal from Ilkay Gündogan on a generous penalty (63rd), Macedonia won thanks to Goran Pandev (45th + 2) and Elif Elmas (85).

Since a 4-4 against Sweden in 2012, the Mannschaft had not dropped a single point in a qualifying group at the World Cup.

The Germans are third in their group with 6 points, behind Armenia (9 pts) and tied with Macedonia.

"The disappointment is huge," admitted coach Joachim Löw, "it is difficult to do a hot analysis, but we were tired, we lacked freshness, we were slow in attack, but even when we were fast we have not found the means to pose problems to our adversary ".

"It shouldn't happen, I don't have much more to say," whispered the one-night captain Gündogan, visibly distraught at the final whistle.

Because if Gnabry, Goretzka or Werner miss the Euro (June 11-July 11) enormous opportunities as they did against Macedonia, they risk paying dearly in the "death group", against the France, world champion, Portugal, reigning European champion, and Hungary, co-organizer of the Euro.

- New message to Qatar -

Uli Hoeness, honorary president of Bayern and consultant on RTL, also attributed the poor performance to fatigue, Löw having renewed almost the same team for his three matches in one week, against Iceland (3 -0).

Archi-domineering in the first period, the Mannschaft remained sterile, and the punishment came in added time of the first period: Goran Pandev, badly marked by the defense, found himself alone at six meters in an ideal position to beat ter Stegen (1-0, 45th + 2).

With a goal in advance, this Macedonian team built to resist obviously had the best part.

It took an unclear foul on Sané in the box for Ilkay Gündogan to equalize on a penalty (1-1, 63rd).

But the Germans were decidedly not there, and a change of system during the match (going from a defense to four to a defense to three) seemed to destabilize the team even more, which gave in in the 85th minute.

Before the match, the German selection once again delivered a message in favor of human rights, further increasing the pressure on Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, targeted by human rights organizations for its treatment of workers migrants, many of them being exploited and working in dangerous conditions, according to these organizations, on sites linked to the next 2022 World Cup.

The emirate ensures for its part to have done more than any other country in the region to improve their working conditions.

© 2021 AFP