Germany 3-0 Hungary

Germany won a comfortable 3-0 victory against Hungary as Brazilian-born Cacau scored his third goal in two games for his adopted country.

Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez were also goalscorers in the penultimate friendly match for Germany before the World Cup.

With Germany captain Michael Ballack ruled out of next month's World Cup through injury and substitute Philipp Lahm rested by coach Joachim Loew, Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose took the captaincy in Budapest.

Sami Khedira took over Ballack' slot in the German midfield and put in an impressive performance before being taken off with a minor muscle strain in the second half.

Had it not been for a string of saves during the first half by Hungary and 1860 Munich keeper Gabor Kiraly, Germany's goal tally would have been much higher.

Penalty breakthrough

After just five minutes, Germany won a penalty as Per Mertesacker was judged to have been fouled in the area during a bout of pre-free kick jostling . Podolski fired his shot into the top right hand corner to make it 1-0.

The score stayed that way going into the break, and early in the second half Loew brought on Stuttgart striker Cacau for midfielder Mesut Oezil, who had put several shots on frame in the first half and had been unlucky not to score.

Mario Gomez, also a substitute, added another goal from close range on 69 minutes, after being set up by Marko Marin. In a solo effort on 72 minutes, Cacau ran onto a headed Mertesacker clearance that had taken a fortunate bounce through midfield and freed the striker for a run toward the Hungarian goal. He beat Kiraly and tapped home to seal a convincing display from Germany.

Germany fly to South Africa on June 7 after their final warm-up game against Bosnia-Herzegovina next Thursday in Frankfurt, and start their World Cup campaign in Group D against Australia on June 13.

rc/AFP/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Catherine Bolsover