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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Sports -> 
Spain hands Germany worst defeat
    2020-11-19  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

SPAIN booked its place in the Nations League Final Four in style Tuesday, inflicting the heaviest loss for Germany in 89 years.

Ferran Torres scored a hat trick in a 6-0 win for Spain, which now heads to the semifinals as group winner. The win showed off Spain’s strength in depth to keep scoring after a raft of substitutions in attack.

France had already qualified for the Final Four and remained unbeaten in a 4-2 win over Sweden, which was relegated. Ruben Dias’ late goal gave Portugal a 3-2 win over Croatia.

Only three out of four games in League A were played as Switzerland’s game with Ukraine was canceled following a coronavirus outbreak in the Ukrainian squad. The Final Four is scheduled for October 2021.

Germany only needed a draw to reach the Nations League Final Four ahead of Spain. Instead, it got a record loss.

Germany’s players appeared in shock after the country’s worst defeat of all time in a competitive tournament. It was the biggest margin of defeat for Germany in any game since a 6-0 friendly loss to Austria in 1931.

“It’s just bitter and disappointing,” was the verdict of Manuel Neuer, who marked his 96th game for Germany — a new record for a goalkeeper — by conceding more than any German keeper for 66 years.

Spain “demonstrated everything we should have been doing with and without the ball,” said midfielder Toni Kroos.

Germany coach Joachim Low said his team simply failed to communicate on the field on a “black day,” but the World Cup-winning coach’s selection and tactics face scrutiny.

Low started with a center-back pairing of Niklas Sule and Robin Koch, which was quickly overwhelmed, and replacing Sule with Jonathan Tah had little effect. That will prompt renewed scrutiny of Low’s refusal to pick the experienced Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng after dropping them last year to focus on a rebuild.

The only negative for Spain was that captain Sergio Ramos went off with an apparent thigh muscle injury, adding to the rash of injuries for various countries’ players during the international break amid a packed schedule this season.

Olivier Giroud scored twice as France beat Sweden 4-2 to qualify unbeaten for the Final Four from first place in its group. The win, and a 1-0 victory over Portugal last week, restored France’s momentum after its surprise 2-0 friendly loss to Finland last week.

(SD-Agencies)

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