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WC MOTD: Germany 2-2 Ghana

By on June 21, 2014

It was a match in which both sides really needed the win but it was fought so hard that it ended in a draw really suiting neither. Ghana are now all but out of the World Cup, and Germany are still competing with Portugal, and possibly the US for the top spot of Group G, after the draw.  But neither of the two nations took the initiative in the first half. Only until the second half did they push forward in search for the win and three points – it was also the tale of two halves.

And they could not be more contrasting halves.  The first half, to say the least, was hardly entertaining. It was marked with slow play, and no real clear cut chances. Germany began the half putting Ghana under high pressure and defaulting back into possession, but Ghana’s defense held firm.  Not even man of the match Thomas Muller could break through, much less break into the eighteen yard box enough to take a slight slip and win a penalty.  In fact, it would be Ghana who saw the first sight of goal when Christian Atsu cut in from the right and fired a fierce dipping effort towards the bottom corner. Manuel Neuer managed to get across to palm the ball wide, and was on top once again as Sulley Muntari blasted a ferocious thirty yard volley on goal a half hour in. Andre Ayew then failed to give Ghana the lead by mere inches, seeing his far post header fly just over the crossbar.

However, the match was given fresh breath in the second half. There was six minutes of more or less the same, at the start of the second period, but then everything changed as Mario Gotze headed home one goal that would be the spark for three more. Thomas Muller curled a brilliant cross over the top of the Ghana defense, and Gotze snuck behind his marker to flick a header into the back of the net.  And just four minutes later, Ghana had an equalizer.  It too came in the form of a header, with Ayew rising up to power Harrison Afful’s cross from the right into the bottom left corner.

Suddenly, the match burst with life. The game stretched out; end-to-end play ensued. Ghana, the fitter of the sides, massively benefitted from this, and actually sprung in front when Muntari dispossessed Germany down the right wing. The midfielder slipped the ball through to the run of Asamoah Gyan, who took three touches to take it into the box before blasting a shot past Neuer into the top left corner.  It was a sucker-punch to Germany, and Ghana were quickly back on the attack, breaking three against two, only for Jordan Ayew to curl a low effort right into the hands of Neuer.

But then Joachim Low’s introduced 36-year-old Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger to the match for Gotze and Sami Khedira. And however old Klose and Schweinsteiger may be, they were the vital touch Germany needed to get back in the match.  With just twenty minutes to go, Germany swung in a corner from the left, and Benedikt Höwedes rose up to meet it at the near post. The center-back got a flick on the ball, and Klose was there at the far post to convert. It was a perfect representation of the poachers eye that is what had got Klose to score that elusive fifteenth World Cup goal and bring him on par with Ronaldo as the tournament’s highest ever goalscorer. And it would be the final goal of the match – Schweinsteiger curled a long range free-kick over the crossbar soon after and Muntari made a vital tackle to stop Muller from finding a third for Germany, yet Ghana just held on. It was a match of two sides – one showing Ghana’s strength, and the other showing Germany’s weakness.
Man of the Match: Thomas Muller

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.