Germany saw off the United States 1-0 in World Cup Group G action at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife on Thursday afternoon.
Thomas Muller netted the only goal of the game early in the second half with a well hit first time effort.
The game started off at a fast tempo, Germany’s Jerome Boateng whipped in a great ball that Thomas Muller acrobatically missed, allowing the ball to fall to Lukas Podolski who blazed over.
Die Mannschaft continued their probing football with left back Benedikt Howedes drilling a low cross into the feet of Muller only to be smothered by Yanks’ keeper Tim Howard.
The States began to see more of the ball but weren’t getting anywhere with their possession as another low cross by Boateng after some good initial build-up from Philipp Lahm was well cleared.
The opening quarter of the match had flown by despite neither team forcing either Howard or Manuel Neuer into a meaningful save. A quick counter attack from the United States saw Graham Zusi hit a fierce strike over the top of the German’s goal.
The game continued to fail to produce any meaningful chances with Toni Kroos stinging the gloves of Howard from the edge of the box on the half hour mark.
Mesut Ozil had a chance soon after but scuffed his effort directly towards Howard in the USA goal allowing him to spoon away from danger.
The ‘action’ of the match had been few and far between as the half petered out with both sides going into the break level with a result that would take them both through.
The second half started as the first did with Boateng yet again whipping a delicious ball that Omar Gonzales defended superbly to deny Ozil the opener just a minute in.
Soon after a floated cross nearly found its way to the substitute Miroslav Klose who was a whisker away from gaining the all time goal scoring record at the World Cup and giving Germany the lead.
The goal soon came for the Germans and it was Thomas Muller, again, who thumped home a great strike after Howard made the initial save from a corner. The goal was Muller’s fourth of the tournament in three matches.
The second half began to open up yet fell into the same pattern as the first with few real chances of note for either nation as the Germans continued to see the majority of the ball.
As the game entered the final fifteen with United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann opting to make no changes to push for a result, Joachim Low opted to take off Bastian Schweinsteiger and replace him with his Bayern compatriot Mario Gotze to secure all three points.
The match still failed to produce anything during the rest of the clash except a German fan wrapped in a Bayern flag running onto the pitch.
It proved to be the most interesting part of an otherwise dull affair with Clint Dempsey heading over in the dying moments and Philipp Lahm making a last minute block from an Alejandro Bedoya effort.
The result saw both sides safety through into the knockout stages.
