Germany were booed off after failing to impress in a fortunate 1-0 win against fellow World Cup finalists Chile as the South Americans dominated their hosts in Wednesday’s friendly international.
With Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez in the thick of things, the enterprising Chileans showed why they finished third in the South American qualifying group for the World Cup.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side had the Germans under pressure for long spells and created 17 shots to the Germans’ seven.
The corner count of Chile’s 14 to Germany’s four told its own tale and the hosts enjoyed only a brief period of pressure in the first-half which led to Mario Goezte’s 16th-minute winner.
Chile were only denied an equaliser with an hour gone by the woodwork when Valencia’s Eduardo Vargas clattered the crossbar with Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer well beaten.
In the match build-up, Germany coach Joachim Loew had insisted “the clock is ticking” for his squad to prove their form 99 days before the World Cup starts.
But Loew has more questions than answers from his final friendly before naming his provisional World Cup squad on May 8 and his side were booed off the Stuttgart pitch.
Captain Philipp Lahm did well in a solid midfield partnership alongside Bayern Munich team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger, but that was one of Germany’s few bright spots.
Despite Chile’s strong start, Germany took the lead when Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil jinxed his way through the Chilean defence.
His brief stumble caught the Chilean defenders out and he recovered to find Goetze unmarked for the Bayern Munich midfielder to fire home.
Chile’s best first-half chances came just before the break as midfielder Charles Aranguiz fired wide under intense pressure from Germany defender Kevin Grosskreutz.
Then Juventus’ Arturo Vidal fired over the bar moments later.
The Chileans found plenty of holes to exploit in the German defence, especially down the flanks.
There was no new record for Miroslav Klose who is poised on 68 goals for Germany having equalled Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record, and the 35-year-old made way for Chelsea’s Andre Schuerrle after the break.
Chile dominated the second half with Vargas hitting the crossbar after Sanchez’s cross.
Sanchez was a constant thorn in the side of the German defence and Neuer then had to pull off a point blank save to deny Vidal.
Schweinsteiger, on his first friendly appearance since August 2011, had a great chance late on and was a tireless presence in Germany’s midfield despite his recent return from injury.
Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski came off the bench to put pressure on Johnny Herrera when he charged down a clearance in the dying stages as Germany held on for an unconvincing win.