Klose call for Germany after Russia beat Wales

WCQ Group Four: Miroslav's Klose rescued a point for Germany's with a hat-trick to scrape a draw against Finland in their World…

WCQ Group Four:Miroslav's Klose rescued a point for Germany's with a hat-trick to scrape a draw against Finland in their World Cup group four qualifier this evening, while earlier in the day Russia moved into position with a 2-1 win over Wales in Moscow.

Klose had to pull Germany back into the game three times and scored his final equaliser seven minutes from time.

Jonatan Johansson got the first Finland goal after the German defence failed to clear and he slotted the ball easily past Robert Enke.

Five minutes later, Klose replied after Sami Hyypia miscontrolled a pass but Finland regained the lead in the 43rd minute when Mika Vayrynen converted Daniel Sjolund's pass.

READ MORE

Klose struck again before the break when he latched on to the ball after a mistake by goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Sjolund's header with little over half an hour to go gave Finland the lead for the third time but Klose earned Germany a point, bundling the ball home after a goalmouth scramble.

In Moscow, Spurs defender Gareth Bale was given a penalty taking lesson by new clubmate Roman Pavluchenko as Wales suffered their first defeat of the new qualifying campaign.

Bale had the opportunity to give Wales an unexpected lead when he won a 16th minute penalty in the Lokomotiv Stadium, but he was careless with the spot-kick, making no secret of which side he had opted it for and striking it at a perfect height for goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who made a good stop to his right.

Five minutes later, a softer award from Slovenian referee Damir Skomina gave Pavlyuchenko an opportunity which he finished in style when dinking it down the middle of the goal and leaving Wayne Hennessey wrong-footed and powerless to prevent the hosts from taking the lead.

Bale went someway to making amends when setting up Joe Ledley for an unlikely second half equaliser but the home side struck back through Pavel Pogrebnyak to claim the points nine minutes from time.

In the group's other fixture, Liechtenstein drew 0-0 at Azerbaijan.