Germany forward Nick Woltemade scored twice in the second half to give the four-time world champions a hard-earned 2-0 win over Luxembourg in their penultimate 2026 World Cup qualifier on Friday, leaving them on the brink of automatic qualification.
Woltemade, who has now scored his team’s last three goals after also netting the winner in their 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland last month, put the visitors in front in the 49th minute with the Germans surprisingly on the backfoot for much of the first half.
The Newcastle United striker added another in the 69th to keep Germany top of Group A on 12 points, with Slovakia, their next opponents on Monday, in second place on goal difference.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team lacked any real punch up front in the first half while littering the pitch with defensive errors that allowed Luxembourg to carve out several scoring chances.
Germany, however, will now punch their ticket for next year’s World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with a win or a draw in Monday’s final qualifier against the Slovaks.
The group winners earn automatic qualification while the second-placed team goes into playoffs in March.
Meanwhile, The Netherlands kept up their three-point advantage over Poland in their World Cup qualifying group as the two sides drew 1-1 on Friday, leaving the Dutch a point away from qualification.
Jakub Kaminski handed Poland a halftime lead as they needed victory to keep alive slim hopes of topping Group G and securing automatic qualification for next year’s finals in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Memphis Depay replied for the visitors at Stadion Narodowy shortly after the break to ensure the Dutch moved to 17 points with Poland second in the group standings on 14.
The Netherlands need only draw at home to bottom-placed Lithuania in their last fixture in Amsterdam on Monday to book their World Cup berth.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)