England win as Austria beat Germany in World Cup warm-up match

LONDON, June 03 (Agencies): England relied on goals from Gary Cahill and Harry Kane before slackening in the second half to beat Nigeria 2-1 in a World Cup warm-up match on Saturday.

On his first England appearance since October, Cahill headed in the opener in the seventh minute from Kieran Trippier's corner in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

Raheem Sterling set up Kane to double England's lead in the 39th before Alex Iwobi reduced the deficit in the opening two minutes of the second half.

After a week in the headlines over a gun tattoo and returning late for England duty, Sterling courted more controversy when he was booked for simulation for hitting the ground all too easily as goalkeeper Francis Uzoho came off his line to claim the ball. "I had a decision to make whether to play him after turning up late," England coach Gareth Southgate said. "But, actually, that wasn't a decision after he started to come under fire from every other direction.

Meanwhile, Manuel Neuer played his first match since September as Germany was beaten 2-1 by Austria in its penultimate warmup game for the World Cup on Saturday.

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper, who has recovered from a hairline fracture in his left foot, played the entire match but couldn't prevent the world champions, who were missing several regulars, from losing for the second straight game after a 1-0 defeat to Brazil in March.

Coach Joachim Loew gave Neuer a chance of proving his fitness for the tournament in Russia, two days before he has to announce his final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

"It was a good comeback after such a long time. He had two, three excellent saves," Loew said about Neuer, who played his 75th international game but first since Oct. 2016.

It was Germany's first defeat against neighboring Austria in 32 years, and it left the team still winless in 2018 after three games.

Germany plays Saudi Arabia in its last warmup game Friday before starting its World Cup title defense against Mexico on June 17. Group F also includes Sweden and South Korea.

Loew rested key players Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Mueller, who all didn't travel with the team to Austria from its training base in South Tyrol, Italy.

Germany still dominated the first half, and took the lead after 11 minutes when Mesut Ozil picked up a failed clearance by Joerg Siebenhandl and scored with a curling shot past the Austria goalkeeper.

It was Ozil's first match in more than four weeks as the Arsenal midfielder had recovered from a back injury. He played for 76 minutes before being replaced by Julian Draxler.