By Eike Zwicker
Young German squad getting into trouble against Serbia
The three-time World Cup winner acted luckless and missed a penalty as well as further great chances to equalize the game.
Coach Joachim Löw trusted the same line-up as against Australia, although Schweinsteiger was weakened during the last week in connection with a cold and the outcome that he missed two training sessions. After their impressing victory over Australia the German squad was celebrated of the German press. The question now was if the German selection is able to confirm their performance against a better team including a great defensive line formed by Ivanovic, Vidic, Subotic and Kolarov.
Right from the start it was noticeable that the Serbian squad had the tactical instruction to disturb the German game early in the German half. Nevertheless Podolski had the first chance in the game with a volley (7th). The Serbian team played most of the time over their right wing, with Krasic, who convinced with a good performance against the overtaxed defender Badstuber. Both teams equalized themselves in the middle of the pitch during the first half, where the players had some tackles. Afterwards the Spanish referee Alberto Undiano overreacted by booking seven players with a yellow card and especially Klose with a second yellow card (37th). It was just Klose’s second foul of the game and in the middle of the pitch, but enough for the referee to book him with the second yellow card. From now on the Serbian selection accelerated the tempo of the game. Milan Jovanovic scored the first goal one minute after the dismissal of Klose (38th). As a result of the deficit the German squad tried to equalize the game still in the first half, but Khedira failed to score with a volley against the crossbar (45th).
The German squad stood unchanged after the half-time with the aim to reach a better result. Despite the fact that the team was outnumbered, they took the initiative, but Schweinsteigers 16-meter shot was too central (55th) and Podolski failed to score from a promising position (58th). Finally Germany had the chance to tie the score, after Vidic touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area, but Podolski missed the Penalty. This chance was at the same time the end of the pressure of the German team. Now both coaches decided to bring in some reserves. On the one hand Cacau, Marin and Gomez and on the other hand Kacar, Petrovic and Lazovic (70th – 80th). All in all, this time the German bench players could not improve the game and the referee blew the final whistle after 90 minutes with the result of 1:0 for Serbia.
Coming Wednesday Germany expected an endgame against Ghana to move into the round of the last sixteen in Soccer City.
Line-up:
Neuer – Lahm – Mertesacker – Friedrich – Badstuber – Khedira – Schweinsteiger – Müller – Podolski – Özil – Klose
Substitutes:
70th Cacau for Özil
70th Marin for Müller
77th Gomez for Badstuber
Bench:
Butt, Wiese, Aogo, Tasci, Boateng, Jansen, Trochowski, Kroos and Kießling
