OVERCOMING A slow first half, Germany moved up a gear in the final 30 minutes to beat Ukraine, 2-0 in their group nine World Cup qualifier last night in Bremen.

So annoyed was German coach Berti Vogts by his charges failure to carve up the Ukrainians' defence from the start that he could only stare blankly when Oliver Bierhoff finally made the long awaited breakthrough with his 63rd minute strike. Mario Basler wrapped up the three points 10 minutes later.

Bierhoff's half volley slid low through a jungle of legs in the area for his seventh goal in 13 internationals.

I'm glad I scored this goal, he said, Bit was really important for us. We played more freely after it. The win was enormously important for us." The result gives Germany 11 points from five games, putting them a point ahead of Portugal in the group table, and one point behind Ukraine, who have amassed 12 points from six games.

As predicted, the Ukrainians adopted a defensive strategy and failed to test German goalkeeper. Andreas Koepke, a spectator for much of the match.

Vogts anticipated this and selected an aggressive line up with Juergen Klinsmann and Bierhoff up front, supported by acknowledged goal scorers Mario Basler, Dariusz Wosz and Fredi Bobic in the midfield.

But they failed to gel and a frustrated Vogts watched grimly, `clearly regretting that, because of his players' Bundesliga commitments, he was only able to train his squad once prior to the game.

We wanted to put them under pressure from the opening hut it didn't happen," a hoarse Vogts said. We saw tonight that the Ukiainians have some very good footballers among them. We stood too far away from our opponents it was a tough match."

Vogts was forced to abandon his attacking plans early on when Bobic was stretchered off in the 16th minute with a cut to the forehead after clashing heads with Yuri Maximov.

Debutant Jens Nowotny, a defender from Leverkusen, came on and the Germans' game became bogged down, prompting whistles from the 33,000 crowd.

Accordingly, the relief felt by Bierhoff's 63rd minute goal was enormous. It was heightened by Mario Basler, who combined beautifully with Wosz and Klinsmann in a zig-zag manoeuvre on goal before scoring the European champions' second in the 72nd minute.