World Cup

Germany scored the only goal of the game in the 35th minute when Miroslav Klose put the ball into the net after a defensive mix-up. Mesut Oezil made a brilliant pass which drew Russian goalkeeper Igor Akenfeyev off his line leaving an empty net which Klose capitalized on.

The win means Germany have qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team now has 25 points, four ahead of Russia, with one match remaining to be played in Group four.

After the match, Germany coach Joachim Loew was satisfied with his team's performance.

"I was convinced the whole week we would be very concentrated. I felt everyone had the will to win here and not to play for a draw," said Loew, and added, "Of course I have to say, too, that we also had a bit of luck in some situations."

The game started slowly with each side sizing up the other. Loew had put together a defensive-minded line-up by giving a first cap to Hamburg defender Jerome Boateng, lining up five midfielders and leaving Klose on his own up front.

Klose scores the winning goal

Andrei Arshavin gave Russia the best chance it had in the first half when he slipped away from Boateng in midfield, maneuvered around Simon Rolfes and then found Vladimir Bystrov, who failed to score when his weak kick was saved by Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler.

Only five minutes later, Klose scored.

Russia stepped up the pressure within three minutes when Arshavin had two fierce shots on goal, but both were saved by Adler. Bystrov also got close to scoring with an amazing overhead kick.

Not to be outdone, Germany came back right away with a long-range kick from Oezil which bounced off the top bar.

Now, Russia started to threaten with every attack and wasted another great opportunity when Yuriy Zhirkov broke into the goal area but found no one to pass to him.

When Russia led another attack down the left, Boateng brought Bystrov down in the 69th minute which led to a second yellow card from Swiss referee Massimo Busacca. The German squad had to spend the last 20 minutes playing one man short.

German goalkeeper Adler was the man of the evening

It was a busy night for German keeper Adler who then again saved a goal on a shot by Pavlyuchenko by parrying it wide of the near post after Arshavin sent the Tottenham striker clear on the right.

An appeal for a late penalty was turned down when Arne Friedrich, in as a substitute, brought down Bystrov.

With the win over Russia, Germany is guaranteed a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and thus the last group match against Finland in Hamburg on October 14 is now academic. Russia plays Azerbaijan in Baku, next.

The biggest question of the night was how Germany would perform on the artificial turf of Luzhniki Stadium. No German national team had ever played on artificial turf before. That question has now been answered.

av/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Rick Demarest