South Africa-bound Germany needed a 90th-minute goal from Lukas Podolski to salvage a 1-1 draw as Finland came close to a win in their final World Cup qualifier. Germany had booked their berth at South Africa 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Russia on Saturday.

Löw had opted to rest Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker from the side which started in Moscow, but Löw still had captain Michael Ballack and Philipp Lahm here.

Finland, who were only playing for pride with World Cup qualification beyond them, opened the scoring when Jonatan Johannsson struck in the 11th minute. Hoffenheim’s Andreas Beck failed to stop Roni Porokara putting in a cross from the flanks, then Roman Eremenko beat Lahm to the header before Johannsson was the quickest to the ball and drilled his shot home from close range.

Johannsson had also scored in the 3-3 draw against Germany in Helsinki last September when Germany dropped their only other points of the campaign. It looked for most of the game like the hosts would finish with their first defeat in qualification games until Podolski was presented with a simple tap in.

Finland had other chances in the first-half as both Eremenko’s …

Miroslav Klose booked Germany their place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as his first-half goal sealed a 1-0 win for the 10-man Germans over Russia in Moscow on Saturday. Klose’s 34th-minute strike leaves Germany four points clear at the top of Group Four and means they can not now be caught by their main pool rivals Russia regardless of either side’s remaining World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

Russia play Azerbaijan in Baku while Germany host Finland in Hamburg in their last qualification game, but Guus Hiddink’s Russian side now face two-legged play-off matches if they are to reach South Africa.

Hambury defender Jerome Boateng started his first international in the cauldron of Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, but a second yellow card midway through the second-half earned him a red card as Germany finished with ten men.

Russia made a strong start and missed the opportunity to take the lead after nine minutes when Alexander Kerzhakov got in behind the German defence, but the Dinamo Moscow forward volleyed wide. Germany’s best chance came when Mesut Özil made a strong run into the head of the defence and Lukas Podolski’s shot was blocked by defender Vasili Berezutsky on 22 minutes.…