‘Rude awakening for the German team’

Germany's performance was dubbed "embarrassing" after they suffered their first World Cup qualifying defeat for 20 years in a humiliating 2-1 home loss to North Macedonia on Wednesday which heaped pressure on coach Joachim Loew.

"The disappointment is huge," said a crest-fallen Loew after the final whistle in Duisburg on Wednesday. "This is a set-back. There were a lot of mistakes and we didn't find a way to break down the deep-standing North Macedonians.

"We also let them counter-attack and had no grip on the game. "Napoli midfielder Eljif Elmas scored the winner five minutes from time after Ilkay Gundogan's penalty had drawn Germany level following 37-year-old striker Goran Pandev's first-half opener.

The German press were quick to put the boot in. "How embarrassing!" fumed daily Bild on their website. "Nasty Surprise" said football magazine Kicker while Frankfurt-based daily FAZ opted for "Rude awakening for the German team".

Loew was forced back to the drawing board to find quick fixes ahead of this year's European Championship after his team's shock home defeat.

Loew, who is stepping down after 15 years in charge at the end of the Euro 2020 tournament which starts in June, had imagined his last six months in charge differently.

Instead his team suffered only their third ever World Cup qualifying home loss, and the first since a 5-1 thrashing by England in 2001, after beating Iceland and scraping a win over Romania in their first two group games last week.

The defeat by North Macedonia, ranked 65th in the world, came only months after Germany's 6-0 thrashing by Spain, and will only pile more pressure on Loew.

Germany are third in Group J and level on six points with second-placed North Macedonia but behind leaders Armenia who have nine points. Only the group winners qualify automatically.

"We will review everything," said the coach. "We have to keep working. We have to find our consistency."