Goals from Miroslav Klose and Mesut Oezil gave Germany a 3-0 win over Turkey on Friday and lifted it three points clear at the top of Group A in European Championship qualifying.
Joachim Loew's side took time to open up a well-organized Turkey team in front of a crowd of 74,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, a city with a large Turkish community that gave the visitors vocal support. Loew said it was ''almost an away game.''
Klose broke the stalemate in the 42nd minute after a Thomas Mueller shot hit the crossbar. The Bayern Munich forward headed the rebound past goalkeeper Volkan Demirel from close range.
Real Madrid midfielder Oezil, who is of Turkish heritage and was constantly booed by the Turkey fans, scored in the 79th minute, picking up a pass from Philipp Lahm and leaving Volkan no chance with a powerful shot.
Klose wrapped up the win in the 87th, pouncing on a poor clearance by the keeper. That brought his goal tally for Germany to 57 in 104 games.
''It's impressive how the team is playing at the moment,'' captain Lahm said. ''Three games, nine points, then beating Turkey, which is certainly the strongest opponent in the group.
''But that all counts for nothing if we don't win on Tuesday, and we want to build on this in Kazakhstan.''
Loew's side was without key midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, whose place was taken by Bayern Munich teammate Toni Kroos.
Loew also was without Borussia Dortmund midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz from his original 22-man squad. Both he and Schweinsteiger will miss Tuesday's qualifier in Astana.
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Lineups:
Germany: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Holger Badstuber, Heiko Westermann, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil (Marko Marin, 90), Lukas Podolski (Christian Traesch, 86), Miroslav Klose (Cacau, 90).
Turkey: Volkan Demirel; Sabri Sarioglu, Servet Cetin, Omer Erdogan, Gokhan Gonul, Nuri Sahin (Sercan Yildirim, 78), Mehmet Aurelio (Tuncay Sanli, 25), Emre Belozoglu, Hamit Altintop, Ozer Hurmaci, Halil Altintop (Semih Senturk, 63).
