Wales - 1 Germany - 0They say never write off Germany, but on this evidence the Republic of Ireland have little to fear in Ibaraki next month. The visitors may have been without a quintet from Bayer Leverkusen, but an excellent Wales display made the Germans look alarmingly poor in the Millennium Stadium last night.

Carsten Jancker struck a post late on but defensively, faced by the pace of Robert Earnshaw and Ryan Giggs, they were a shambles.

As far as Germany were concerned this match was about experimentation and staged with their opening World Cup fixture very much in mind. The roof was closed, as it will be in Sapporo on June 1st when Rudi Voller's side take on Saudi Arabia, though they will need greater urgency then to unsettle the Saudis.

The first half was nothing short of drab, brightened only fleetingly by the livewire debutant Earnshaw. After nine minutes John Hartson's header and Earnshaw's flick sent Giggs scurrying into the area only for the Manchester United winger to smack his shot straight at the imposing Oliver Kahn.

Thereafter Dietmar Hamann and Jens Jeremies imposed their customary stranglehold over central midfield and, steadily, chances were eked out and spurned.

Yet while Miroslav Klose's header went wide and Linke's similar attempt from Christian Ziege's corner should have served as warning shots, too often the neat interchanges down either flank were nullified by the lack of bite in the centre. Oliver Bierhoff's feeble attempt from Frings' cross typified the malaise. They soon regretted that profligacy. Only 16 seconds into the second half Earnshaw gathered Hartson's flick, left Christoph Metzelder as he cut across the box and rasped a shot beyond Kahn and into the roof of the net.

WALES: Crossley, Delaney, Page, Melville, Speed, Davies, Savage, Pembridge, Giggs, Hartson, Earnshaw (Coleman 90). Subs not used: Coyne, Barnard, Taylor, Evans, Weston, Jenkins. Booked: Speed, Delaney. Goal: Earnshaw 46.

GERMANY: Kahn, Linke, Metzelder, Heinrich, Ziege (Asamoah 63), Jeremies, Hamann (Kehl 72), Frings, Deisler (Bode 63), Klose, Bierhoff (Jancker 72). Subs not used: Lehmann, Ernst, Bierofka, Freier, Rahn, Schindzielorz, Borowski. Booked: Frings, Heinrich, Asamoah.

Referee: Roy Olsen (Norway).