Germany begins World Cup defense with 3-0 win over Norway
Defending world champions Germany eased past Norway 3-0 in their opening Group C match in Oslo.
Germany made a winning start to the defence of their World Cup crown, cruising to a dominant 3-0 qualifying victory over Norway on Sunday with the help of a Thomas Muller brace.
In control from start to finish in Oslo, the visitors – captained by Manuel Neuer for the first time since Bastian Schweinsteiger’s retirement – went in front through Muller after 15 minutes.
And it was the Bayern Munich forward who supplied the assist for Germany’s second, which club-mate Joshua Kimmich emphatically dispatched in first-half stoppage time for his maiden senior international goal.
Muller added a third on the hour mark to send Germany top of Group C – a position that, on this evidence, they are unlikely to relinquish.
Norway, meanwhile, failed to register a single shot on target and will be dreading the return fixture in exactly a year’s time.
SAN MARINO 0-1 AZERBAIJAN:
Ruslan Gurbanov’s first international goal gave Azerbaijan a 1-0 win against Azerbaijan in San Marino, who went a man down in the 52nd minute when Cristian Brolli was sent off for a crunching tackle on Ruslan Gurbanov.
CZECH REPUBLIC 0-0 NORTHERN IRELAND:
Northern Ireland held the Czech Republic to a goalless draw in Prague. Filip Novak missed a great chance in the second half for the home side, which had looked more like scoring in what was a frustrating debut for new coach Karel Jarolim.
