UPDATE 1-Soccer-Germany outclass Slovakia in 4-1 victory

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By Peter Laca

BRATISLAVA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Lukas Podolski shrugged off media criticism to score a pair of goals as Germany outclassed Slovakia 4-1 in their Group D Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday.

Podolski, struggling to make Bayern Munich's starting team and sent off in Germany's friendly against Georgia on Saturday, set the tone with the first goal after 13 minutes.

The visitors attacked at will throughout the match on their way to making it three wins out of three in the campaign.

Miroslav Klose set up the score after sprinting down the right side past three Slovak players before playing the ball back to his unmarked strike partner.

Skipper Michael Ballack made it 2-0 12 minutes later as he headed home Philipp Lahm's free kick.

Bastien Schweinsteiger stretched the lead further in the 36th minute when goalkeeper Kamil Contofalsky could not hold Ballack's shot. Schweinsteiger drove home the rebound cementing a game that was never in doubt for the visitors.

"A lot of experts said it would be difficult to keep this good run up after the World Cup. We've proven in the last five matches we were able to do just that. We played a super match and deserved to win 4-1," said Podolski.

"I've said all along it doesn't interest me at all what happens off the pitch. What's important is what happens on the pitch. The rest doesn't mean a damn thing."

Stanislav Varga spoiled goalkeeper Jens Lehman's shutout with a header in the 58th minute before Podolski scored his second of the evening when Klose again provided an open goal after the duo sprung the offside trap.

Germany coach Joachim Loew said: "We had a very good first half. We controlled the match and were able to make our mark. It was a joy to watch the way the energy was flowing. We proved that we can stand up to a strong opponent away as well.

"It was difficult to keep up that high level in the second half. We were a bit careless but what was good was the way we reacted after they scored their goal. We bounced right back and got a fourth."

Slovakia came into the match buoyed by a 5-1 drubbing of Wales on Saturday and were looking to repeat a 2-0 friendly win over Germany 13 months ago when the two nations last met.

But that confidence was quickly broken and the Slovaks never appeared to get back into the match.

"We started really badly and gave up three goals on three chances. We were motivated but the Germans are a quality team, that's not an excuse, that's a fact," said Slovak defender Peter Petras.

The game was marred briefly by a skirmish in the crowd when several German fans battled Slovak police, who used truncheons.

Before the match about 180 German hooligans registered by German police were stopped at border crossings as they tried to travel to the match. Last year German fans fought with Slovak police after match between the teams in Bratislava.

(Additional reporting by Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin)

((Reporting by Alan Crosby and Peter Laca; Editing by Mitch Phillips; bratislava.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: alan.crosby.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420 224 190 477))

Keywords: SPORT SOCCER EURO SLOVAKIA