Friendly international round-up: Germany squeeze past Saudi Arabia
Friday 8 June 2018 23:21, UK
Germany completed their preparations for the World Cup with a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Leverkusen on Friday night.
Joachim Low's side brought to an end five matches without a victory - their worst run of form since 1988.
However, despite dominating for most of the game at the BayArena after taking an early lead through Timo Werner, the world champions could have ended up with an embarrassing draw after Saudi Arabia's late revival.
After Omar Hawsawi's own goal doubled Germany's lead, Taisir Al-Jassim set up a nervy final six minutes for the hosts, who were without Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, sitting out the match as a precaution because of a knee problem.
Elsewhere on Friday, strikes from captain Robert Lewandowski and midfielder Piotr Zielinski were not enough to give World Cup-bound Poland victory over Chile, who fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in a friendly in Poznan.
Poland took the lead when Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski found the net in the 30th minute following a precise pass from Paris St Germain midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak.
The hosts appeared to have sealed victory four minutes later when Napoli's Zielinski beat Chile 'keeper Gabriel Arias after being set up by Kamil Grosicki.
Yet Chile, who failed to qualify for the World Cup and were playing without some of their biggest stars, got back in the game in the 39th minute when Diego Valdes headed home following a Polish defensive error.
Poland coach Adam Nawalka made a string of substitutions at half-time and they came out after the break in a more aggressive fashion with two strikers on the pitch as Napoli's Arkadiusz Milik joined Lewandowski.
Chile, however, levelled in the 56th minute through Miiko Albornoz.
Meanwhile, goals in each half from defender Ricardo Rodriguez - from the penalty spot - and striker Haris Seferovic helped Switzerland beat fellow World Cup finalists Japan 2-0 in Lugano.
And finally, Croatia came from a goal down to beat Senegal 2-1 in Osijek in a warm-up clash that also featured two teams heading to Russia 2018.
Ismaila Sarr had given the visitors a 48th-minute lead, only for the home side to respond with goals from Inter Milan forward Ivan Perisic (63) and Hoffenheim striker Andrej Kramaric (84).
