Football
ESPN staff 8y

England fight back to stun Germany as Poland and Russia cruise to wins

Eric Dier found a stoppage-time winner as England rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 against Germany in Berlin on Saturday.

Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez had given the hosts the lead before Harry Kane got a goal back and Jamie Vardy's spectacular first senior international goal brought England level.

The hosts thought they were ahead just before the half-hour mark as Gomez swept home Sami Khedira's through-ball, but the striker was incorrectly flagged offside.

Germany did take the lead three minutes before half-time as Mesut Ozil fed Kroos, who flashed in a long-range effort which beat Jack Butland at his near post. The Stoke goalkeeper appeared to hurt himself while clearing the ball moments before the goal, and he was immediately replaced by Fraser Forster.

Germany made it 2-0 in the 57th minute as Gomez found the goal he deserved in the first half by heading in Khedira's cross.

A comeback at that point seemed unlikely, but England were back in the game four minutes later as Kane gathered a corner and made a quick 180-degree turn to confound Ozil before firing past Manuel Neuer.

And England were back level on 74 minutes when substitute Vardy redirected Nathaniel Clyne's cross with a flick of his right foot, sending it behind his planted left leg and into the net.

Dele Alli had a chance to put in the winner but the 19-year-old put the ball over the bar when it seemed easier to score. But England still managed to snatch victory from the world champions when Dier rose highest to head home a corner in stoppage time.

Poland's Euro 2016 preparations ran smoothly on Saturday with a 5-0 friendly victory over Finland.

The hosts proved too hot for Finland to handle and were 3-0 up by the break thanks to goals from Kamil Grosicki, Pawel Wszolek, Filip Starzynski.

And their dominance continued after the break thanks to after Wszolek and Grosicki both added another to complete the rout.

Russia defeated Lithuania 3-0 at Spartak Moscow's Otkrytiye Arena.

Fedor Smolov provided the lead for the hosts with a shot from the centre of the box four minutes before the break.

Aleksandr Golovin doubled Russia's lead after the hour mark by putting a volley inside the far post, and Denis Glushakov settled matters with a header following a corner kick in the 72nd minute.

Austria secured a 2-1 win over Albania after scoring two goals in the game's opening 13 minutes.

They came out of the blocks firing, with Marc Janko and Martin Harnik both getting on the score sheet in the opening stages of the game.

Emir Lenjani managed to pull one back for Albania shortly after the restart, but despite still having most of the second half to play, the visitors were unable to force an equaliser.

Hungary and Croatia played out a 1-1 draw in Budapest.

Mario Mandzukic had opened the scoring for the visitors with a strike in the 29th minute.

However, Hungary pulled level towards the end of the clash, with Balazs Dzsudzsak finding an equaliser in the 79th minute.

Kazakhstan recorded a 1-0 victory in Azerbaijan as Maxat Baizhanov grabbed the only goal of the game inside eight minutes.

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