Germany crush England- 4/1
Germany inflicted England’s record World Cup finals defeat on Sunday
after a 4-1 victory in their Last 16 match that was overshadowed by one
of the worst refereeing mistakes in the tournament’s history. Germany’s
superior movement and ruthless finishing made them worthy winners on an
afternoon when England’s defending was shockingly sub-standard and their
talisman, Wayne Rooney, once again failed to deliver on the game’s
biggest stage.
But there is no saying what would have happened if England had not
been denied a goal that would have levelled the match at 2-2 just before
half-time, when a Frank Lampard shot bounced off the underside of the
bar and landed a yard over the goal-line.
Matthew Upson had just headed England back into the match after
Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski had given Germany a two-goal
advantage.
Two second-half goals for Thomas Mueller enabled the Germans to run
up their most convincing win against their biggest rivals, but they were
both scored on the counter-attack as England sought an equaliser they
should not have been obliged to chase.
Referee Jorge Larrionda’s misjudgement was all the more inexplicable
because he was well-placed to see the incident. Yet, after looking
across at his linesman, he waved play on.
The controversy over the incident will rumble on but England will
also have to ask themselves some hard questions after what was, at
times, a shambolic display.
England’s vulnerability at the back had been exposed early on and,
after goalkeeper David James had denied Mueller, Klose exploited it to
get on the end of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s upfield punt to give Germany
the lead.
John Terry allowed the ball to fly over his head and Klose outmuscled
and outpaced Upson before flicking the ball past James with the outside
of his boot.
Mueller did the damage for Germany’s second. Taking Klose’s
first-time pass, the Bayern Munich midfielder broke into the box before
switching the ball to Podolski, who beat James at his near post from a
tight angle. Neuer pulled off a superb reflex save at close range to
prevent Lampard finishing off James Milner’s low cross just before Upson
gave England a lifeline.
Germany’s goalkeeper had been impressive up to then but his lack of
experience showed when he charged off his line and got nowhere near the
cross from Steven Gerrard that the West Ham defender nodded in. Lampard
himself came agonisingly close to an equaliser seven minutes after the
restart, hammering a free-kick from nearly 40 yards against the bar with
Neuer struggling to cover.
The resulting free-kick was blocked by the German wall and Germany
immediately swept upfield to claim their third goal.
Bastian Schweinsteiger did most of the leg work through the inside
left channel before switching the ball to Mueller who beat James at his
near post with a fiercely struck drive from 12 yards.
The fourth was virtually a carbon copy, although this time it was
Mesut Ozil who wreaked havoc after latching on to a punted clearance
towards the left touchline.
The Werder Bremen star powered away from Gareth Barry with ease
before cutting in to the box to present Mueller with the simplest of a
tap-ins.
AFP |