FRANKFURT, Germany -- Bastian Schweinsteiger captained Germany for the last time in a 2-0 friendly victory over Finland on Wednesday, receiving an emotional send-off to cap a 12-year international career that included the 2014 World Cup title.Schweinsteiger burst into tears as he was honored before kickoff and was cheered nearly every time he touched the ball. The 32-year-old midfielder decided to quit the national team after the European Championship, where Germany lost in the semifinals to host nation France in July.Leaving the match in the 67th minute, Schweinsteiger received another standing ovation. Minutes earlier, a fan managed to run onto the pitch unchallenged and took a selfie with the smiling Schweinsteiger before running off.I was very touched, I was enjoying every second, he said. It was a great honor to play for Germany and you fans.Germany used a largely second-string lineup and eased past a Finland team that rarely threatened.The match was played at a leisurely pace, with Germanys goals coming in the second half. Max Meyer broke the deadlock in the 55th and substitute Mesut Ozil completed the win in the 77th.Schweinsteiger made his debut in 2004, in a 2-0 loss to Hungary, and finished with 121 caps. His teammate Lukas Podolski, whose Germany career began at the same time and who also quit after the European Championship, was at the stadium to see his friend off but did not play because of an injury. He will get his farewell match next year.Schweinsteiger didnt want to give up the captains armband and Germany was without a captain for a few minutes, until Thomas Mueller came off the bench with a spare one.Germany plays Norway in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday as it begins its campaign to defend its title in Russia in 2018, but coach Joachim Loew rested most of his regulars, giving young players a chance to prove themselves.Paulus Arajuuri nearly put Germany ahead inadvertently when his clearance attempt bounced off Finlands post.Meyer scored after a low cross from Mario Goetze. Kevin Volland let the ball through and Meyer connected with a low shot. Ozil scored after another assist from Goetze.In other friendlies in Europe, Norway had less than an ideal preparation before hosting Germany by losing 1-0 at home to Belarus.Russia earned a 0-0 draw in Turkey in a friendly that was arranged late in order to mark an improvement in diplomatic relations between the two nations after a period of strained ties, following the shooting down of a Russia war jet by Turkey.Russias new coach Stanislav Cherchesov has thoroughly revamped the squad after the teams flop at the European Championship.The Czech Republic beat Armenia 3-0.Also, Ireland trounced Oman 4-0, Denmark thrashed Liechtenstein 5-0, Estonia drew 1-1 with Malta and Albania was held to a 0-0 draw by Morocco. Custom Soccer Jerseys Store . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Custom Soccer Jerseys China . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. http://www.customjerseyssoccer.com/ . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Discount Custom Soccer Jerseys . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Cheap Custom Soccer Jerseys . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. A ghost flitted through South African cricket on Monday. The ghost of corruption, of something that is just not cricket. The ghost of match-fixing.None of the five cricketers sanctioned by CSA in 2016 have anywhere near the profile of Hansie Cronje. Gulam Bodi was a spent force by the time he was linked to match-fixing. The same could be said for Thami Tsolekile, who is the only other international in the group, and Ethy Mbhalati, who recently had a benefit year at the end of a career that spanned more than a decade. Pumelela Matshikwe and Jean Symes were not well known but they were promising talents, perhaps with unfulfilled potential. But none were household names.They have also not been dealt the punishment Cronje was. He was banned for life; these players will be kept out of the game for between seven and 20 years, perhaps because their wrongdoing was not deemed as great. Cronje admitted to accepting money to influence the outcome of international matches, the five here have admitted to varying roles in attempting to manipulate domestic cricket. CSA has maintained it have no evidence a fix was actually carried out.In the end, that may not actually matter. The thought was there, some of the steps were taken and while South African cricket may not miss this quintet it will feel the effects of their actions in the following ways.Uncertainty The first warnings of match-fixing came out 10 months ago, in November 2015 but still the investigation has not reached its conclusion. That leaves the matter open to more speculation, fans unsure of whether their game is clean and players on tenterhooks. Judge Bernard Ngoepe, the chairman of CSAs Anti-Corruption Unit, explained the reasons for the slow pace of proceedings but gave no indication how much longer it would remain pending.Some people might have thought the process was too slow, he said. If it has to be slow, so be it. We take our work seriously and it must be remembered that we need to have something concrete to trigger an investigation.We do not engage in witch hunts. Whatever we do, we do it with a purpose. bearing in mind, we are dealing with the future of people, in some instances very young people, and not forgetting our primary responsibility which is to protect the integrity of the sport. We neither rush nor deliberately go slow. Adequate balancing is needed because you might, out of excitement or undue haste, destroy the future of people or harm the very cause you want to promote.Ngoepe explained it had been difficult to get witnesses to co-operate in the face of increasing attention while Haroon Lorgat, CSAs chief executive, appealed for discretion in the media.As is the case with investigations of this nature, be it ordinary malpractices in life, you do find that people are hesitant in coming forward and giving at once and right at the beginning all the new information that you need, Ngoepe said. Under those circumstances, you need to know how to deal with people, how to approach them, how to point out the advantages of cleaning up the sport which will be in the interest of everybody, iincluding the people themselves.dddddddddddd Despite some malpractices, we must accept that they too love the sport.Lorgat added: I would appeal to the media, sometimes part of the reason for the delay is because we are able to coax a potential witness to a point but then the media speculates and you create nervousness or fear among potential witnesses and we lose anything between three and and four weeks to get back to the position we were. Please understand when we say we are not in a position to make further comment.South Africas T20 league These five players all admitted to attempting to influence aspects of South Africas T20 tournament, its highest-profile domestic event. CSA has been trying for years to bring this competition more in line with leagues around the world but has been unable to do so for reasons ranging from scheduling to the weak Rand failing to attract major foreign names. In the 2017-18 season, CSA plans to repackage the Ram Slam as a global T20 tournament, for which it will own the rights. It will do so with the shadow of match-fixing hanging over the event but Lorgat insists it will not sabotage aims to turn it into a showpiece.CSA is fortunate in that, its got a suite of sponsors that are very confident in the way we administer and govern the game. They are aware of the investigation and the way we go about it, he said. Im confident we will be able to reposition our league.The title sponsor of the competition in its current form, Ram, said it would be reviewing its backing of the event when Bodi was banned. It has not yet indicated what it will do after the latest round of bans. Transformation In increasingly politicised times in South African sport, it is impossible to ignore that three of the four cricketers banned on Monday were black Africans and two of them - Tsolekile and Mbhalati - seniors at their franchise. With CSAs focus on transformation, which now includes targets in the national team as well as franchise sides, this is a setback and Lorgat admitted as much.Any senior player who is lost to the system is one too many, he said. The fact that they happen to be black players is probably a particular issue because we are so focused on transformation. It does impact us.But he was careful to ask that stereotypes are not perpetuated. I dont believe that corruption is unique to any race or creed, he said. Bookmakers will attempt to corrupt anybody they believe they can get to.Ngoepe responded to the implication that players from more disadvantaged backgrounds would be more vulnerable to corruption. On another day your question could have been given their poor background, would they not have been more vulnerable and taken advantage of, he said. You can look at me and decide whether I am white or black but I dont subscribe to the notion that because you come from a poor or disadvantaged background, you should open yourself up to corruption. That should never be justification for being corrupt. ' ' '