Germany still haven't figured out exactly what they should do in midfield when they don't have a fit and in-form Bastian Schweinsteiger, but they were good enough to grab all three points on Tuesday. Austria certainly made things hard from them in Vienna and Die Mannschaft didn't look anything like the team that easily breezed through Euro 2012 qualifying, but they did what they needed to do to snatch a 2-1 win.
Marco Reus opened the scoring at the end of a very frustrating first half with a fantastic individual effort in the 44th minute. Just like the match against the Faroe Islands on Friday, he took the ball into the box by himself, found a shooting lane between two defenders and placed a great shot past the keeper to put his side ahead.
Shortly after the break, Thomas Müller drew a foul on Veli Kavlak in the box, and Mesut Özil converted from the spot to put Germany on top. They fell asleep soon afterwards, perhaps a bit too comfortable in their lead. Austria got back into the match in the 57th minute, when Marko Arnautovic hit a perfect cross for Zlatko Junuzovic, who headed home.
The rest of the match was rather uneventful, but Austria threatened goal more than Germany in the final half hour. Manuel Neuer was forced into a couple of saves, but made them comfortably to preserve Germany's win.
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