Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
LINEUPS:
Germany (451): Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Friedrich, Mertesacher, Schweinsteiger, Oezil (Kroos 71'), Khedira (Cacau 78'), Klose, Podolski, Mueller (Gomez 71')
Serbia (433): Stojkovic, Ivanovic, Kolarov, Vidic, Lukovic, Ninkovic, Stankovic (Obradovic 85'), Kuzmanovic, Zigic, Mrdja (Tosic 69'), Krasic (Kacar 61')
Miroslav Klose's third goal of the tournament denied Serbia a great result deep into stoppage time. It was Klose's fifth shot at goal, most of which came in the second half as Germany were chasing a result for most of the game.
Serbia had control through the first fifteen minutes with Vidic wasting two set piece opportunites either side of a Nikola Zigic shot that hit the roof of the net on a corner. The Germans had trouble with their opponents offside trap but Podolski clipped the top of the crossbar and Friedrich saw his effort deflect straight to the keeper. The final five minutes of the first half contianed two more goals. Serbia doubled their lead through Mrdja who followed up on Zigic's saved shot, but Germany would go into the break with momentum thanks to Phillip Lahm's good finish after Klose chipped the ball to him.
The second half was mostly dictated by one side with Serbia having limited chances to cement all three points, but Gojko Kacar climbed highest in the box and only a good low save from Neuer kept the score at 2-1 with ten minutes to play. Klose had the lions share of chances in this half. He was denied by Stojkovic after he jumped on a weak backpass, and prior to that missed a tough angle shot with the goalie out of position after stopping a Podolski effort.
Mueller hit the fram of the goal and Klose shot into the side netting, leaving everyone to believe it just wouldn't be their day. But during the third and final minute of stoppage time Schweinsteiger received Neuer's long throw and spotted the clever run of Klose who just thumped it high into the goal to break Serbian hearts.
Germany 2 - 2 Serbia
Goalscorers:
SRB Zigic 9'
SRB Mrdja 40'
GER Lahm 45'
GER Klose 90'
Discipline:
GER Schweinsteiger 34'
Man of the Match:
SRB Zdravko Kuzmanovic
| GROUP D | ||||||||
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 4 |
| Ghana | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
| Serbia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 0 |
No comments:
Post a Comment