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, thereby breaking the dynamic of its preparation for the Euro this summer.

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 qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar 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 must not happen. Macedonia arrived twice in front of our goal and scored twice. It was too easy", for his part lamented the one night captain Gündogan, visibly distraught at the final whistle: "We had several chances and we only scored one goal. And on the two goals conceded, we are not good, each time there is a completely free opponent in the center."

As the laborious 1-0 victory on Sunday in Romania had already shown, the German team's work is first and foremost that of realism in front of goal.

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), Romania (1-0) and therefore North Macedonia.

The idea, he had said, was to prowl a typical framework for the Euro.

But the Mannschaft, arch-dominant in the first period, this time remained sterile, and the punishment came in additional time before the break: 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 Gündogan to equalize on a penalty (1-1, 63rd).

But the Germans were definitely not there, and gave in a second time at the end of the match (2-1, 85th).

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.

© 2021 AFP