For the third time in this World Cup, Porto Alegre will have the honor of hosting a world champion team. Following France and Argentina in the first round, Germany will now play in the capital after beating the United States 1-0, a result that guaranteed first place in Group G. The North Americans, despite the loss, also qualified.
Read other texts produced by ZH in Spanish/English
Judging from the start of the match, Germany did not enter the field with an arranged draw in mind, a hypothesis raised by the condition of the two teams, which would guarantee qualification with an equal score. The German put on intense pressure in the early minutes.
With a series of slow passes, sending the ball from one side to the other, the German controlled the opening of the match and created good opportunities for scoring. It didn't take long, however, for the game to fall into the stalemate feared due to the comfortable position of both sides. Most of the time, the North Americans restricted themselves to falling back and blocking their opponents attempts.
Missed opportunity
Even without the impetus of the opening minutes, the Germans had at least one good chance to score before half time. Özil received the ball in the goal area and sent a low ball, picked off by Howard.
Early into the second half, Germany scored the winning goal. Özil crossed from the right and Mertesacker headed dangerously. Howard got a hand to it, sending it out of the area. Müller picked up the loose ball and tried for the left corner from a medium distance, securing his fourth goal in the World Cup, joining Messi and Neymar as top goal scorers.
See all the cover pages of the ZH editions in English
Translation: traduzca.com
- Mais sobre:
- world cup
- football
- zh in english
- matches