Young Germany takes home bronze

Port Elizabeth, Jul 11: Defeating Uruguay 3-2, the young German squad wrapped up their impressive run at the FIFA World Cup 2010 by grabbing the fourth bronze for the country here on Saturday, Jul 10.

The South American forward, Diego Forlan, who was likely to miss the match due to an injury walked into the field seemingly motivated to lift the Golden Boot by levelling off goals with the likes of Wesley Sneijder of Holland and David Villa of Spain.

However, for Germany, Miroslav Klose, who was just one goal away from matching the World Cup record of 15 goals held by Ronaldo of Brazil, was kept away from action due to a back injury.

Nevertheless, Germany put up a might great show, bolstered by the return of star striker Thomas Mueller.The German line up also saw the inclusion of Hans-Joerg Butt as the goal keeper.

Even though Uruguay seemed to dominate the game from the start, Germany as always got an early lead in 19th minute, courtesy Tomas Muller. Muller made use of the rebound from Bastian Schweinsteiger's long shot to convert a easy goal and to pocket his fifth goal.

This marked the starting point of the real battle. Uruguay, which was on the look out for the equaliser, found it when Perez robbed Schweinsteiger off the ball, which was drilled home in the 28th minute by Cavani.

And the second half ended 1-1.

Uruguay began the attack early in the second half and Forlan found a goal in the 51st minute taking the South Americans on the lead. However, the lead just lasted for five minutes as Jansen headed one into the net in 56th minute.

60 minutes into the game and the score stands at 2-2.

Germany dominated the last thirty minutes of the match but failed to convert several promising shots. Kiessling, who replaced Cacau in 73rd minute showed real potential.

Germans were on the prowl for another lead and they found it in the 83rd minute when Sami Khedira put Germany 'ahead' by converting a lose ball from a corner kick.

Following the third goal, the Germans were in no mood to even give Uruguay a chance. However, the South Americans put up a stiff fight until the very end, which was marked by a free kicked awarded to Forlan in the 2nd minute of stoppage time.

Forlan looked to claim an equaliser and take the game to the penalties as the rain poured down on the ground. But unfortunately, the ball hit the cross bar and the referee blew the whistle.

The main highlight of the game was the fact that both the team put up an enterprising show despite their losses at the semi finals. The power packed match kept the audiences on the edges of the seats from minute one to the last second of the stoppage time.

The battle of the bronze was a beautiful game indeed. Kudos to both Germany and Uruguay.

OneIndia News