MTNFootball

Germany's Sami Khedira (left) is challenged by Uruguay's Diego Perez (right) for the ball

July 10, 2010

Sami Khedira was the hero on the night for Germany scoring the winning goal eight minutes from time in a five goal thriller against Uruguay at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday night.

It was always going to be an exciting game as these play-off matches for third place tend to be. They are normally filled with goals and this evening was no different as we saw Germany beat Uruguay 3-2 in the third/fourth place match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The action on the night was very cut and thrust as play moved between the two sides opposing goals at a rapid pace. It was real end to end stuff with neither team really asserting their dominance, but rather both seemed content on playing some free-flowing football.

The first effort on goal went the way Uruguay in the seventh minute when Diego Forlan struck a 22-yard free-kick just past the left hand post with the keeper well beaten.

Three minutes later and Germany came within inches of taking the lead when an Arne Friedrich header struck the woodwork. A corner was whipped in and Friedrich fought his way to the ball at the back post to make the header, but saw his effort ricochet off the crossbar.

The Germans, however, only had to wait another nine minutes before they did take the lead through Thomas Muller who took his personal goal tally to five for the World Cup. The goal, though, came because of Bastian Schweinsteiger who unleashed a powerful shot from 35-yards out.

Schweinsteiger’s shot dipped and swerved viciously which resulted in the keeper only being able to palm the ball away. He only succeeded though in palming the ball straight into the path of Muller following up, who side-footed the ball into an empty, 1-0.

Germany’s lead didn’t last long as Uruguay quickly hit back in the 28th minute through Edison Cavani.

A mistake in the German midfield by Sweinsteiger gifted Uruguay the ball and quickly set them on the counter-attack with Luis Suarez playing a delightful through ball for Cavani to run onto. With only the keeper to beat, he made no mistake sliding it past Hans-Jorg Butt and levelling the scores, 1-1.

Uruguay should have went into the half time break in front when Forlan played a sublime through ball for Suarez who drove forward and only had the keeper to beat in the 42nd minute. However, unlike his compatriot 14 minutes earlier Suarez did not find the back of the net as his shot went narrowly past the post from six yards out.

The second half was more of the same and seemed to open up a bit more as both sides went in search of more goals.

And we didn’t have to wait long as Forlan grabbed his side’s second goal on the night and his fifth of the tournament in the 51st minute with a sublime piece of magic.

A cross from the right was met by Forlan with a powerful volley on the edge of the 18-yard area with the ball first bouncing into the ground and then into the left hand corner of the net, 2-1.

Germany, much like their opposition in the first half hit back very quickly finding their equaliser five minutes after going behind.

Jerome Boateng drove down the right flank and whipped in a teasing cross which Fernando Muslera came to collect but missed it. Marcell Jansen, however, was positioned perfectly behind him and took full advantage of the goalkeeper’s mistake heading into an empty net, 2-2.

Although there was plenty of goal mouth action thereafter the game had to wait until eight minutes from time before it saw another goal and it was grabbed by the Germans.

A corner was whipped in and resulted in a goal mouth scramble in front of the Uruguayan goal before Sami Khedira was able to head his side in front for the second time on the evening, 3-2.

There was almost one of the most dramatic finishes in World Cup history as Forlan struck the crossbar with the final kick of the ball. But in the end the Germany for the second consecutive World Cup in a row grabbed the third place spot.