BERLIN: Germany turned an important corner in their Euro 2012 preparations by following up defeat against Switzerland with a 2-0 win over Israel in Leipzig. Mario Gomez and Andre Schurrle scored the goals.

The three-time European champions, among the title favourites, dominated with a performance that was a marked improvement on their 5-3 defeat by the Swiss last  Saturday. Germany face Portugal on June 9 in their first match in Group B which also includes Holland and Denmark.

Coach Joachim Low said: “This was a decent final test of our preparation and will give us a bit of encouragement. Obviously not everything worked well yet. We could have scored more goals but to go with a win into next week is good for us. There is still a bit to work on.”

With Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger sidelined by a thigh injury, Toni Kroos partnered Sami Khedira in a holding midfield role. Captain Philipp Lahm switched from his usual right back position to left back with central defender Jerome Boateng playing on the right.

Gomez broke the deadlock five minutes before halftime, converting a  Thomas Muller assist for his 22nd goal in 52 internationals. Substitute Schurrle grabbed a deserved second goal eight minutes from time to end an unusul run of two defeats.

A ankle injury to  midfielder Yann M’Vila took the shine off an otherwise encouraging 2-0 victory for France over Serbia. The Rennes midfielder, a target for several Premier League clubs, clashed with Dusan Tadic and was substituted after only four minutes.

France still went on to win with ease, scoring early goals through Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda while creating several other chances.

Kiriakos Papadopoulos scored the only goal in the 24th minute as Greece completed Euro 2012 preparations with their  first win in five games against Armenia. Greece begin their finals campaign by taking on against hosts Poland in the Opening Match next Friday.

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