<p>Germany’s 20-year, 35-match unbeaten run in World Cup qualifiers was surprisingly ended by North Macedonia on Wednesday, while England and Italy secured their third straight victories on the road to Qatar.</p>
<p>Germany was beaten 2-1 in Duisberg to lose a qualifying match for the World Cup for only the third time, and the first since a 5-1 thrashing by England in 2001. The other loss, by Portugal, came in 1985 when it was West Germany.</p>
<p>Somewhat improbably, the Germans find themselves third in their group after three games, behind North Macedonia and 99th-ranked Armenia, which beat Romania 3-2 for a third straight win having trailed after 87 minutes in Yerevan.</p>
<p>England also has a maximum of nine points after Harry Maguire scored an 85th-minute goal to clinch a 2-1 win over Poland, which was without injured striker Robert Lewandowski at Wembley Stadium.</p>
<p>Italy and Denmark are the other two teams to have won their opening three qualifiers.</p>
<p>Italy won 2-0 at Lithuania and is now 25 games unbeaten under coach Roberto Mancini, while Denmark beat Austria 4-0 away and has a continent-high 14 goals in qualifying.</p>
<p>Spain and France are recovering from opening-round draws and now have two straight wins after beating Kosovo 3-1 and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0, respectively.</p>
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<p>Steve Douglas is at <a href="https://twitter.com/sdouglas80">https://twitter.com/sdouglas80</a></p>
