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Germany Slip Up In Warm-Up

Tue 27 May, 11:09 PM


Germany blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 against Belarus in their penultimate Euro 2008 warm-up friendly on Tuesday night.

The result leaves coach Joachim Low with much to ponder as he must trim his current 26-man squad down to a final 23 for Austria and Switzerland by midday on Wednesday.

Miroslav Klose, a player guaranteed to make the final cut, put Germany ahead in the 10th minute while an own goal from Vladimir Korytko doubled their advantage 10 minutes later.

Vitali Bulyga reduced the arrears after an hour and grabbed an equaliser for battling Belarus two minutes from time.

Jens Lehmann kept goal in a team featuring captain Michael Ballack, who joined up with the squad yesterday.

Arsenal's Alexander Hleb started for Belarus.

A dream debut for Bafetimbi Gomis helped France to a comfortable 2-0 victory against Ecuador.

The 22-year-old became the first Frenchman since Zinedine Zidane to grab a brace on his first senior appearance, as Raymond Domenech's gamble paid instant dividends.

The St Etienne striker will now hope to have done enough to book his place in France's squad for Euro 2008, with former Liverpool man Djibril Cisse likely to be the man to miss out.

The Marseille hit-man endured a torrid time, finding himself heckled by the home crowd before being replaced at the break.

Czech Republic warmed up for the tournament with a routine 2-0 friendly victory over Lithuania.

Karel Bruckner's side took the lead through the familiar figure of Jan Koller six minutes before the half-time interval.

And the giant striker was on the scoresheet again in the 64th minute in front of a crowd of under 15,000 at the Sparta Stadium in Prague.

Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria drew 1-1 with Nigeria in Graz. Roman Kienast struck after 13 minutes with a low shot from 18 yards after Roland Linz had backheeled the ball into his path.

Nigeria were level six minutes later when Kalu Uche exchanged passes with Ayegbeni Yakubu before scoring from the edge of the area.

Poland's preparations continued with a narrow 1-0 win against Albania in Germany.

Coach Leo Beenhakker fielded something approaching his strongest team and watched on as former Celtic striker Maciej Zurawski grabbed the only goal of the game inside the first five minutes.

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