Germany vs England – Match Review
Show Some Balls this World Cup at centrebet.com
A second-half Müller double has helped Germany advance to the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup with a blitzing 4-1 victory over England at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
The Germans outplayed the English all over the park and deserved their victory, but the game will sadly be remembered by an incident that saw a goal not credited to Frank Lampard, despite video evidence suggesting that the ball had actually crossed the line.
Germany fashioned the first chance of the match in the fourth minute when Bastian Schweinsteiger ran unchallenged into the forward half of the field before lifting the ball into the path of Mesut Oezil; yet, with Oezil forced into volleying from a tight angle, he was intelligently denied by the legs of English goalkeeper, David James.
Indeed, it was Germany who broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, which began from a Manuel Neuer goal kick that was allowed to bounce by the disorganised English defence.
Sensing his moment to make the chance his, Miroslav Klose made a lambasting run into the box despite the attentions of English defender, Matthew Upson, and beat James to the ball to slide in Germany’s first.
From there, the game burst into life as England looked to generate an instant response through Gareth Barry, but his long-range effort was hit straight at Neuer.
Germany could’ve extended its lead on the half-hour mark when a brilliant back-heel return pass from Oezil allowed Thomas Müller to supply an inch-perfect pass for Klose to poach his second; but James spread himself well with his legs again making the stop.
England came close to equalising moments later as a Glen Johnson cross was headed onto the crossbar by Jermain Defoe; but the goal wouldn’t have stood anyway as Defoe had strayed offside.
Germany did get its elusive second goal in the 32nd minute however as Klose’s elevated pass released Müller into yards of space to expectedly test out James.
Though, Müller had other ideas unselfishly feeding Lukas Podolski who, despite a poor first touch, coolly slotted the ball home from the angle to double the lead for the Germans.
England came even closer to scoring minutes later when a James Milner low centre from the right flank was met fiercely by Frank Lampard; however, with Lampard’s shot sandwiched against Neuer, the ball looped up invitingly for Philipp Lahm to clear the danger for the Germans.
A 35th minute corner to Germany wasn’t cleared by Gareth Barry, and England was lucky not to concede again as Klose strongly held the ball up before firing his shot straight at James to parry away for another corner.
Germany was made to pay however as England pulled one back through Matthew Upson.
The move commenced from an English corner this time as Steven Gerrard, with all the time in the world to cross, excellently picked out Upson, who outjumped his markers to make no mistake from close range.
However, the turning point of the match was undoubtedly created by Frank Lampard, who was desperately unfortunate not to equalise for England as his cheeky lob rattled the underside of the crossbar to land a good half metre over the goal line; yet, the referee waved away play adjudging that the goal would not stand.
The chance will surely spark up the debate for video technology in football matches as it was clear from the replay that the ball had in fact crossed the line.
From the restart, England started the better, but saw Frank Lampard once again be denied by the crossbar after lashing a free-kick from well outside the area that had Neuer seemingly beaten.
Following a curling effort by Gerrard that forced a regulation stop by Neuer, Germany acquired a two-goal cushion in the 67th minute from a beautiful counter-attack that was initiated and finished by the productive Müller.
An English free-kick deep in German territory was blocked and subsequently won back by Müller, whose delightful cross-field ball found Schweinsteiger.
Schweinsteiger continued the raid on the English goal breaking excellently towards the area before delivering a pass for Müller to shoot down James with a thunderous effort that the English goalkeeper couldn’t resist.
With England committing more and more players forward, it was caught short by another German blitzkrieg in the 70th minute that started from a harmless clearance out of Germany’s defence.
Oezil got to the end of the clearance easily outpacing Barry down the left flank before bombarding into the area to centre welcomingly for Müller to sidefoot home from close range.
Gerrard attempted to restore some pride for the Three Lions with an adept run into the area, but the Liverpool midfielder couldn’t find his way past Neuer, who made an excellent reflex save to keep the English at bay.
With the sting now taken out of the game, the English, to its credit, persisted in cutting the deficit in the hope of an unlikely victory; but it just wouldn’t come as England’s tournament hopes came crashing down at the hands of a German side, who appear to be gaining momentum at just the right time.
Show Some Balls this World Cup at centrebet.com
Leave your response!