Ruthless Germans Put England To The Sword

Monday, 28th June 2010 at 09:47am

A stunning performance from Joachim Loew's young German side tore Fabio Capello's England to pieces in Bloemfontein last night as the three-time world champions inflicted the Three Lions' heaviest World Cup finals defeat.

Despite an arduous campaign to date, England took to the field as many people's favourites to win the match but it was Loew's team that settled the quickest and was soon causing the English defence problems.

Before the game, German legend Franz Beckenbauer had criticised England for their 'kick and rush' style of football but Germany's first goal was as route one as you can imagine.

A long clearance from German 'keeper Neuer was inexplicably missed by John Terry and found its way to Miroslav Klose who finished coolly with his right foot after overpowering Matthew Upson.

12 minutes later the Germans were two goals to the good as Lukas Podolski drove in a shot from a narrow angle after a sweeping move had found him in the penalty area.

England finally got a toehold in the game and reduced the German lead when Upson rose highest to head the ball into an empty net.

England should then have been back on level terms when Frank Lampard, arguably England's best player on the night, lobbed Neuer. The ball hit the bar and bounced down over the line but as England celebrated, the referee waved play on.

As England pushed for an equaliser in the second half, Capello's men were hit twice by lightning fast German counter attacks, both of which were finished in style by 20-year-old Thomas Mueller.

In the second match of the day, Diego Maradona's Argentina side also benefitted from a poor refereeing decision as a Carlos Tevez goal was allowed to stand despite the Manchester City striker clearly being off side when the ball was played forward to him.

Javier Aguirre's Mexico had arguably been the better side until that point but the controversial decision allowed the South Americans to take control and they doubled their lead on 33 minutes when Gonzalo Higuain scored his fourth goal of the tournament.

A stunning second goal from Tevez put Argentina three goals clear and an equally spectacular strike from Javier Hernandez was little more than a consolation for Mexico.

Argentina will now play Germany for a place in the last four.

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