Soccer-Germany cruise past Italy to make up for England reverse

MUNICH, March 29 (Reuters) - World champions Germany crushed Italy 4-1 in their friendly international on Tuesday to equal their biggest win against their opponents and recover from a surprise home loss to England as they put down a marker for the European Championship. Goals from Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze and Jonas Hector in the first hour gave Italy no chance. Mesut Ozil then converted a 75th-minute penalty after Sebastian Rudy was brought down. Stephan El Shaarawy pulled a goal back in the 84th to deny Germany their biggest victory over their European rivals. The result, however, equalled their previous best performance against Italy - another three-goal winning margin from their 5-2 victory in 1939. Germany started exactly as they did against England on Saturday in Berlin, taking a 2-0 lead, with Thomas Mueller, captaining the side for the first time in his 70th international, setting up both goals with crosses from the right. Kroos drilled home after Mueller's cross was deflected into his path in the 24th minute for his second goal in two matches, and Goetze headed in a fine delivery from his Bayern Munich teammate on the stroke of halftime. Goetze, overlooked by Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola for weeks following his return from injury, did well to sneak in between two defenders to score. Germany had blown their two-goal advantage against England to lose 3-2, but there was no repeat, with defender Hector establishing a three-goal cushion with a low shot after some bad defending from the visitors. Ozil made it 4-0 with his spot-kick before El Shaarawy grabbed a late consolation goal for the four-time World Cup winners. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Stephen Wood)