Germany Cruise into Euro Quarters

Jerome Boateng scored his first international goal to set Germany on their way to a 3-0 win against Slovakia at Euro 2016 on Sunday as the world champions cruised into the quarterfinals.

Boateng opened his account eight minutes into his 63rd international appearance and Joachim Loew’s side never looked back against outclassed opponents.

Mesut Ozil had a penalty saved soon after but Julian Draxler set up Mario Gomez to double the lead two minutes before half-time and the impressive Draxler then completed the scoring just after the hour mark.

There was never any threat of a repeat of Slovakia’s 3-1 win when the teams met in a friendly just four weeks ago and Germany move on to a last-eight tie against either reigning champions Spain or old rivals Italy next weekend.

“I hit the ball well and am glad it went in. It was also about time,” defender Boateng told ZDF of his goal as he admitted that Germany never gave Slovakia a look in.

“We wanted to make sure at all costs that they didn’t get into the game, pressed us or put pressure on us out wide.”