FC Bayern Munchen News

Mesut Ozil kickstarted an amazing German comeback, with Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle scoring a hat-trick in a stunning 5-3 victory

If you didn’t think it could better than the 4-4 thriller in the first meeting between these sides earlier in the World Cup qualification campaign, then you haven’t seen anything yet!

With seconds left in the first half on Tuesday night, Sweden, thanks to strikes from Tobias Hysen and Alexander Kacaniklic, found themselves two goals to the good. That was before Mesut Ozil started what would become an onslaught from Joachim Low’s side.

Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle scored a hat-trick, with Mario Gotze also on target, at the visitors ran out 5-3 winners at the Friends Arena.

Watch ALL EIGHT goals by clicking the video above. Enjoy!

The Bayern Munich winger stressed that his side still have room for improvement with the finals approaching

Netherlands midfielder Arjen Robben admitted that his side still had work to do before they are considered favourites for the 2014 World Cup.

With automatic qualification for the finals wrapped up long before Tuesday’s final round of qualification, the Oranje still dispatched Turkey 2-0 to finish with nine wins from 10 games and top Group G.

And Robben, who opened the scoring against Fatih Terim’s side, insisted that Netherlands had to learn whatever they could in the months ahead in order to go into Brazil as one of the top teams.

“We are not favourites for the World Cup but we are improving,” he said to SBS6. “We must look at ourselves, not at other countries.

“I think we are improving step by step. But there is still a lot of work to do. We need to remain calm and stay with both feet on the ground.

“We will play interesting matches against Colombia and France. We can learn from these friendlies towards the World Cup.

Robben also touched on the win against Turkey and his goal, which came via a free-kick in the eighth minute, with Wesley Sneijder scoring the other goal of the game two minutes into the second half.

“It was an ideal free kick,” he enthused. “I wanted it to go on goal, and when no one touches the ball, the goalie can’t do anything.

“We were prepared for the atmosphere and the crowd. Turkey played to the last chance. But we started very well. Today was a more difficult opponent compared with Friday [an 8-1 win over Hungary], but we didn’t have big problems tonight.”

Forward Dirk Kuyt, meanwhile, spoke highly of Turkey and their supporters, and maintained that despite the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup, the country’s football continues to improve.

“[Netherlands coach] Louis Van Gaal told us yesterday that we were going to play against the toughest team in this group,” said the Fenerbahce forward to NTV-Spor. “The supporters were very reinforcing for them [Turkey] throughout the whole match.

“The Turkish team came here by winning their last three games and they played pretty well. But unfortunately that was not enough for them to go to the World Cup.

“They started to win their games too late. But I think Turkish football is getting better every day.”

The Switzerland winger has admitted that the news that he will be out of action for at least seven weeks has come as a ‘bitter’ blow

Bayern Munich will be without Xherdan Shaqiri for nearly two months after the winger picked up a thigh injury while on international duty.

The Switzerland attacker suffered a tear in Friday’s 2-1 victory over Albania, which sealed the country’s place in next summer’s World Cup in Brazil, and it has now been confirmed that the 22-year-old is facing at least seven weeks on the sidelines.

“The diagnosis is bitter,” Shaqiri told Bayern Munich’s official website. “I am disappointed, but I will try to come back as soon as possible.

“I had a rupture once but that was in my left thigh. I managed to recover very quickly back then and I hope it will be like that this time, too.”

Shaqiri joins fellow midfielders Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez on the sidelines, while defender Holger Badstuber has been ruled out for the foreseeable future.

The versatile midfielder feels he has done enough to be regarded as a regular for the Euro 2008 finalists and will do his utmost to convince Joachim Low of his importance

Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos is confident that he will be part of the Germany starting XI at next year’s World Cup following his fine performances for the national team.

The 23-year-old impressed in the Nationalelf‘s 3-0 qualification win over Republic of Ireland last week and he feels he has done enough to be regarded as a regular starter for the side in future.

“The national team coach knows what to expect from me. I will do my utmost to make sure it will be a hard decision for the coach to bench me,” Kroos told Bild.

“It’s only up to me whether I play or not. I want to put in the best performance possible whenever I play.

“It’s not important to me how others feel about my performances. What matters to me is how the coach rates me. I have a good relationship with the coach and he values me.”

Kroos has made 38 international appearances so far, scoring five goals in the process.

The Bayern supremo believes the midfielder has proven to be one of the world’s best in his position as he prepares to win his 100th cap for Germany

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has voiced his admiration for Bastian Schweinsteiger ahead of the influential midfielder’s 100th international appearance for Germany away against Sweden on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old made his national team debut in June 2004 and has since developed into one of the top midfielders in Europe both for Bayern Munich and die Nationalelf.

Rummenigge believes Schweinsteiger has had to handle unfair criticism during his career, but feels the impression he has left on a string of top-class coaches is proof of his quality.

“We are very satisfied with Bastian. People often question him, but we have always been happy with him internally,” Rummenigge told TZ.

“From Louis van Gaal to Jupp Heynckes and now Pep Guardiola, they all said Basti is world class and that’s exactly what he is.

“People should not forget that Bastian underwent surgery during the summer, so he couldn’t prepare as well as he wanted to for this season. He is getting back to his best, though, and will again be a key player this term.”

Germany have already booked their ticket for the 2014 World Cup following last week’s 3-0 win over Republic of Ireland.