Victory not enough for Low

Germany coach Joachim Low bemoaned his side's inability to kill off the Faroe Islands sooner after they had to settle for a 3-0 win in last night's opening 2014 FIFA World Cup™ qualifier. Home fans could have been forgiven for expecting their side to run up a huge tally against the Group C minnows, but they had only Mario Gotze's goal to show for their first-half dominance. Mesut Ozil's second-half brace ensured the result was never in doubt, but Low expects more from his highly-rated attacking players. "We had many chances but did not score enough goals," he told kicker.de. "That is precisely our problem. We're not good enough with the opportunities we get. In some situations we could have done better. We sometimes made small errors and did not find the finish we needed." While the South Africa 2010 semi-finalists could afford such wastefulness against Lars Olsen's unheralded side, Low warned they will have to improve for their subsequent clashes in a group which also contains Austria, Sweden, the Republic of Ireland and Kazakhstan. "The Faroe Islands were not the benchmark for the other opponents against which we have to play in the group," he said. Captain Philipp Lahm was also frustrated and said: "We played well but did not get the goals, at half-time it could have been 4-0." Ozil added: "We put pressure on from the start and wanted to score an early goal. With so many missed chances in the first half we made the game interesting, but we gave everything and deserved to win. We can be satisfied with the result, we gave everything. We have taken the first step." Playmaker Gotze paid tribute to the Faroes' defensive efforts, though, admitting: "They stood very deep and it was difficult to get through. We should have been a little more consistent (in front of goal) but we took the goals well." Olsen also felt his team's efforts should be appreciated and reserved special praise for former Manchester City goalkeeper Gunnar Neilsen. "Our goalkeeper had a great day today," he said. "He saved many goals. All the players worked very hard to limit the damage. We cannot be unhappy with this result." FIFA