The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Germany

The Czech Republic made a mockery of Germany's unbeaten record in Euro 2008 qualifiers with a thumping 3-0 away win at Munich's Allianz Arena to seal their qualification.

Having already qualified for Euro 2008 thanks to last Saturday's 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland, Germany lost their place at the top of Group D to the Czechs, who needed a win to book their place at next summer's tournament.

The Czechs blitzed Germany's defence with all three goals coming from their midfield as coach Karel Brueckner's tactic of playing a 4-2-3-1 formation paid off.

It made a mockery of double World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer's pre-match assertion that the current German team were the best and most consistent in the whole of Europe as they suffered their first defeat in 10 qualification games.

The last time Germany lost 3-0 at home was against France four years ago.

German coach Joachim Loew had named his strongest available team with captain Michael Ballack, defender Philipp Lahm, striker Miroslav Klose and midfielder Bernd Schneider all injured, while goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is suspended. But the Germans had no excuses as they got off to a nightmare start to find themselves 2-0 down in a little over 20 minutes.

A mix-up in the German defence left the Czech's towering lone striker Jan Koller unmarked in the penalty area with the goal at his mercy, but he laid the ball off to midfielder Libor Sionko to beat Timo Hildebrand after two minutes.

And a long goal clearance by the Czech Republic's goalkeeper Petr Cech was headed on by Koller into the path of midfielder Marek Matejovsky, who beat defender Christoph Metzelder for pace and hit his shot past Hildebrand on 23 minutes.

Germany have not won a game by coming back from 2-0 down since 1976 and they showed precious few signs of matching that feat with strikers Kevin Kuranyi and Lukas Podolski virtually anonymous.

In front of his home crowd, Bayern Munich's Podolski let his frustrations get the better of him as he picked up a yellow card on 46 minutes.

Defender Metzelder and midfielder Piotr Trochowski made way for Simon Rolfes and Clemens Fritz soon after, as Loew tried to improve his side's attack.

Germany fell 3-0 behind when Czech midfielder Jaroslav Plasil cut back inside defender Arne Friedrich on 63 minutes and beat Hildebrand to put the result beyond doubt and his side into Euro 2008.

In desperation, Loew introduced Germany's player of the year Mario Gomez as he played three strikers, but it had little impact.