Werner ends scoring streak, but Germany still win

Timo Werner’s three-match scoring streak has come to an end, but Germany were still able to come from behind and beat Romania, 2-1 in last night’s slate of World Cup qualifying action.

Werner had scored in each of their three qualifying games during the last break (Liechtenstein, Armenia, Iceland), but this time was kept off the scoresheet. He did appear to win a penalty early on, until VAR forces of the universe conspired against him again. On a positive note, this was his fifth consecutive start for the national team, something that he hasn’t done since the 2018-19 season.

Timo played an hour and change, and was part of a double-sub that included Kai Havertz coming on, alongside Thomas Müller, who’d end up scoring the winning goal for the home side. Serge Gnabry had equalized early in the half, after Ianis Hagi (yes, son of Gheorghe) gave visitors Romania the early lead inside of ten minutes, after nutmegging Antonio Rüdiger, who survived that cosmic embarrassment to play the full 90.

Elsewhere, Mateo Kovačić also played an hour as Croatia took care of Cyprus, 3-0, and Ethan Ampadu played the full game as Wales battled it out for a 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic in Prague. Ampadu had recently made his first couple appearances for Venezia, so hopefully things are going to start looking up for him a bit in that regard as well.