Austria stun Germany on GK Neuer's return

KLAGENFURT, Austria (AP):

Manuel Neuer played his first match since September as Germany were beaten 2-1 by Austria in its penultimate warm-up game for the World Cup yesterday.

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper, who has recovered from a hairline fracture in his left foot, played the entire match but couldn't prevent the world champions, who were missing several regulars, from losing for the second straight game after a 1-0 defeat to Brazil in March.

Coach Joachim Loew gave Neuer a chance of proving his fitness for the tournament in Russia, two days before he has to announce his final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

"It was a good comeback after such a long time. He had two, three excellent saves," Loew said about Neuer, who played his 75th international game but first since October 2016.

It was Germany's first defeat against neighbouring Austria in 32 years, and it left the team still winless in 2018 after three games.

Loew rested key players Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, and Thomas Mueller, who all didn't travel with the team to Austria from their training base in South Tirol, Italy.

Germany still dominated the first half and took the lead after 11 minutes when Mesut Ozil picked up a failed clearance by Joerg Siebenhandl and scored with a curling shot past the Austria goalkeeper.

It was Ozil's first match in more than four weeks as the Arsenal midfielder had recovered from a back injury. He played for 76 minutes before being replaced by Julian Draxler.

But in the second half, he could not do much about Austria's equaliser as Martin Hinteregger volleyed in at the back post from a high and curling corner kick by David Alaba in the 53rd.

Neuer saved an effort from close range by Marko Arnautovic just minutes later but wasn't to blame for Schoepf's winning goal in the 69th after an excellent team move that split open the German defence.

Selected results: England 2 Nigeria 1; Sweden 0 Denmark 0; Belgium 0 Portugal 0.