Football
ESPN staff 9y

Germany coach Joachim Low rues 'more than 20 attempts' to score

Germany coach Joachim Low said his side had "more than 20 attempts" to score, but he was left to rue their missed chances after Poland defeated the World Cup champions 2-0 on Saturday.

The victory was Poland's first over their western neighbours in 19 attempts, and it also marked Germany's first defeat in a qualifier since 2007.

Low insisted Germany will still qualifty for Euro 2016 -- they sit in third place with three points from two games, behind Poland and the Republic of Ireland and even on points with Scotland.

"We created numerous chances but didn't manage to score any," Low said after the match.

"We lost but it is not a dramatic defeat. Life will not be any harder after this loss. This defeat will not put us in trouble in the qualifiers - we've been beaten but we still have a good chance of qualifying for the finals.

"We have some new young players in the team and they have to gain experience.

"Tonight everything worked well except we did not convert our chances -- from more than 20 attempts we failed to score.

Arkadiusz Milik scored with Poland's first shot on target in the 51st minute, heading Lukasz Piszczek's floated cross to the empty net after Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer missed it.

"I was too late but of course I wanted to get the ball," Neuer said. "It was my mistake. But if I'd stayed on the line I wouldn't have got the ball either."

Robert Lewandowski set up Sebastian Mila to score inside the far post in the 88th minute.

"We're delighted to have beaten Germany for the first time. You can see how much it means to people," said Piszczek, who plays club football for Borussia Dortmund.

"We had a little bit of luck, that's why we won. We took our chances. We had two or three, and we scored two goals. Germany had a lot of chances and they didn't take them."

Goetze and Andre Schuerrle, twice, sought a response but found Wojciech Szczesny equal to their efforts. Eric Durm failed to trouble the Poland goalkeeper after Mueller set him up, and was at fault for the second goal when Lewandowski got behind him and set up Mila's clincher.

"He was perhaps badly positioned," acknowledged Low, who said his side would seek to make amends against Ireland. "After a loss you always need to show a good reaction."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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