Goals: Germany—Muller 55’
Recap: Complete and utter domination saw Germany capture a 1-0 victory over the U.S. men’s national team on Thursday.
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Early on, the ball claimed residence in the defensive half of the United States. The first 15 minutes played like a light training session for Germany more than anything. The action would eventually pick up, but world-class goalkeeping from Tim Howard kept the match scoreless at the half. The dam would eventually break. A bending finish off a rebound allowed Thomas Muller to give his team a 1-0 lead. The United States had little, if anything to offer from there.
Ghana's loss, however, allowed both teams to advance to the Round of 16.
Key Moment: As a goalkeeper, you're taught to parry shots wide of the area. Howard failed to do that in the 55th minute. A superb save off a header from Per Mertesacker was parried directly to the right foot of Muller. The rest is history.
Man of the Match: Man of the Match. Man of the tournament. Thomas Muller is in proper form.
Lesson Learned: The United States came to Recife to draw, not play. Euphoria should be brief. The team was more than willing to bunker in and pray for 90 minutes. With a stiff Belgian test on the horizon, the team must now prepare to open a bit more, exposing the glaring flaws of the back line. Belgium’s attacking quality will be too much to contain.
Up Next: Germany travels to Porto Alegre to meet the runner-up of Group H on June 30, while the United States visits Salvador to face Belgium on July 1.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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