GROUP FOUR Germany 2 Russia 1: GERMANY COACH Joachim Loew said he will no longer select striker Kevin Kuranyi for international duty after his reaction to being left out of the team that beat Russia 2-1 in Dortmund on Saturday.

"I cannot accept how Kevin reacted yesterday and so in future I will no longer select him to play for the national team," Loew was quoted as saying on the website of the German Soccer Federation (DFB) yesterday.

Kuranyi left his team colleagues in the stands at the end of the first half in Dortmund and did not return to the team hotel later, the DFB said. All attempts to reach him by telephone afterwards failed, they added. Instead, two of Kuranyi's friends came to the hotel to collect his belongings, the DFB said.

Germany retained top spot in the group after first-half goals from Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack. Having built a deserved 2-0 lead at half-time, Germany came under severe pressure in the second period, and rode their luck near the end when Alan Dzagoyev's scrambled effort rebounded off a post.

Podolski opened the scoring when he picked up Miroslav Klose's pass on the edge of the penalty area in the ninth minute, hustled his way around defender Vasily Berezutsky and slammed the ball past Igor Akinfeyev in the Russian goal.

Captain Ballack was in the right place to double Germany's lead 20 minutes later by side-footing home Bastian Schweinsteiger's clever cross with Akinfeyev stranded. Russia's playmaker Andrei Arshavin got his side back in the match just after the break, stabbing Alexander Anyukov's cross into an empty net after a rare mistake by Philipp Lahm.