Match day 5 of the ongoing World Cup proved very eventful as we saw Germany thrash Ronaldoai??i??s Portugal, Pepe got sent off for his madness while the first draw of the tournament was played between Nigeria and Iran.
USA boss Jurgen Klinsman had dropped experienced Landon Donovan and he received huge criticism for his decision. However, the former German managerai??i??s move proved successful, at least in their first game as his side took sweet revenge over their habitual eliminators, Ghana. Here are the five things we learnt on 16th June.
Germany are genuine contenders for the World Cup
Brazil and Argentina are the most widely expected nations to win the World Cup. The key factor which is going against Germany, or rather all European teams, is that of the hot and humid weather. The game between Germany and Portugal started early in the afternoon and Joachim Lowai??i??s men looked pretty comfortable playing under such testing conditions.
Meanwhile, the overall performance of Germany was also very convincing as they dominated the game against a team ranked no. 4 in the world. Like Guardiola at Bayern, Low decided to play Philipp Lahm in the heart of a 4-1-4-1 system and this decision paid off handsomely as the captain did a great job of stopping the dangerous looking counter attacks of Ronaldo and co. Germanyai??i??s defence also looked extremely solid.
German fans must be very optimistic about the chances of winning the trophy for the first time in 24 years now that their team seems to have everything it takes to triumph at such grander stage.
Thomas Muller is a legend in making
Thomas Muller is just 24 years of age and already has 8 World Cup goals to his name. When coach Joachim Low selected his squad for Brazil, he chose to select only Miroslav Klose as a true no. 9. The coach was highly criticized for his decision but the detractors failed to notice that Low already has Thomas Muller at his disposal. Such was the performance of Muller yesterday that the coach did not even feel the need to bring on Klose.
The young Bayern Munich attacker has played 50 games for his national side Germany till date and has scored 19 goals in the process. True successor of Lothar Matthaus?
USA takes sweet revenge over Ghana
First it was Holland and now, it is USA. This World Cup is increasingly becoming a venue for teams to settle old scores. Holland took the revenge of their World Cup final defeat by thrashing La Roja 5-1; and now USA have beaten Ghana, who had eliminated them in the past two editions.
Jurgen Klinsmannai??i??s men took the lead in the 31st second of the game but looked to have suffered another cruel blow at the hands of their tormentors, giving up an 82nd-minute equalizer. However, John Brooks, playing in his first official match for his country, came to the rescue of the USA to score through an intelligent header.
This win is of tremendous significance for USA. They still have to play Portugal and Germany and given the result of their match (and quality shown by Portugal), USA has a realistic chance of progressing through this tough group. The mission of Ghana has become almost impossible though.
Pepe is the most unreliable footballer of our generation
Real Madrid fans call him as ai???beastai??? and he proved yesterday that he is fully worthy of such adjective. The referee had noticed the overacting of Muller and he had already decided not to award a free kick to the Germans. Despite this, Pepe head butted the German attacker to get a red card in their most important clash of the group stages.
Portugal had to play with 10 men for almost 60 minutes of the game and as a result, the task for Germany became even easier. Pepe is the Portugal’s number one defender but continuous displays of such anger do not compliment his talent.
Nigeria misses the golden opportunity to make progress
Argentina are the favorites to top this group and the fight is on for second place between Nigeria and Bosnia & Herzwgovina. However, the Africans missed a golden chance to stake their claim on second spot as they played out a goalless draw against Iran.
Knowing that Argentina has already beaten the Eastern European, Nigeria had to try to score against their Asian rivals but they failed to do so and now, they will have to win against Eden Dzekoai??i??s side to have any realistic chance of progression.
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