Germany wins anew, England stumbles

STEVE DOUGLAS— With a third straight win in qualifying, defending champion Germany is enjoying a comfortable ride on the road to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Things just got a bit tougher for England, though.

While England's winning start to Group F ended with a poor display in a 0-0 draw at Slovenia on Tuesday, Germany maintained its 100 percent record after three rounds by beating Northern Ireland 2-0. Only three other teams — Belgium, Greece and Switzerland — have opened European qualifying with three successive victories.

Goals in the first 17 minutes from Julian Draxler and Sami Khedira gave Germany a commanding lead that was never really threatened in Hannover. Joachim Loew tied Sepp Herberger's record of 94 wins as Germany coach and it couldn't be going much better for the world champions' settled team: Three wins from three games, eight goals scored and none conceded.

England also leads its group but the displays are hardly encouraging for its fans. Three days after a tedious 2-0 win over Malta, England required a brilliant performance from goalkeeper Joe Hart to earn a point in Ljubljana.

One of Hart's saves was sensational, when he tipped Jasmin Kurtic's header onto the bar off a corner and then clawed the loose ball away from the line in his next movement. Hart also denied Slovenia in two one-onone chances, gifted by slack England back-passes.

England's national team is in a state of flux, just a few months after an embarrassing last-16 loss to Iceland in the European Championship. Gareth Southgate is in interim charge after Sam Allardyce left as coach last month — after just 67 days in the job — following a newspaper sting, and captain Wayne Rooney was dropped against Slovenia because of poor form.

England's young team is still the favorite to qualify from Group F and has a two-point lead after three games.