Moenchengladbach, Germany - Piotr Trochowski kept Germany on course to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa with the only goal in a hard-earned 1-0 victory against Wales in a Group 4 game Wednesday in Moenchengladbach. Germany dominated throughout the match and had several good scoring opportunities but failed to score in the first half against a defensively strong Welsh side.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Trochowski and Lukas Podolski tried their luck with long-range efforts but failed to find the target in the opening 45 minutes.
SV Hamburg midfielder Trochowski finally broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute with a well-taken shot from just outside the area for his first international goal.
The Polish-born player received a ball on the edge of the area and played hide and seek with Welsh midfielder David Edwards, sending him diving in the wrong direction several times before unleashing a powerful shot that gave goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey no chance.
Trochowski said that he was confident that he would score his first goal for Germany at some stage. "I have been taking a lot of shots lately and I knew that sooner or later one would find the target."
Just three minutes after Trochowski gave his side the lead, Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack nearly doubled the score for Germany with a fierce free-kick from 25 metres, but the German captain saw the ball smash against the upright and back into play.
Ballack, who played although he picked up a slight knock against Russia and was doubtful until the warm-up, complimented the Welsh after the match. "Even though they played very defensively, they did well. We struggled to break through, but I am glad we won."
The visitors nearly scored an undeserved equalizer nine minutes from time when Craig Bellamy managed to get away from Philip Lahm and found Chris Gunter standing in front of the German goal, but his shot slammed against defender Per Mertesacker.
Match-winner Trochowski said that the game had been even more difficult than the 2-1 victory against fellow favourites in the group Russia on Saturday.
"Parts of the match Wales were standing behind the ball with 10 players and that made it very difficult. We could have been leading with two or three goals at half-time, but we could just not find the goal.
"The main thing though is that we managed to win and I think we deserved the victory."
Germany coach Joachim Loew said he was pleased with the result.
"We played two games in four days, picked up six points and are leading the group. And now we have a nice long break. I think that is something that we can be very happy about.
