Germany vs Saudi Arabia - 2002 World Cup Group Match

Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: 1st Round: Match Report

Saturday June 1st, 2002

Germany vs Saudi Arabia in Sapporo (8:0)

Klose To Perfect

With Ireland and Cameroon already drawing their match (1:1), Germany knew that a win against Saudi Arabia would put them top.

But they didn't take anything for granted.

The German's played the ball around giving everyone a feel of the ball early..... and then the floodgates opened.

Carsten Jancker proved himself a menace to the Saudis in the first ten minutes, before Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack made their presence felt.

1:0
Michael Ballack floated a ball into the area from the left, Jancker tried an overhead kick, missed and Miroslav Klose headed in the loose ball - 20 mins.

2:0
Almost a carbon copy of the first goal, Michael Ballack crossed from the left for Miroslav Klose to head in his second - 25 mins.

Sami al-Jaber tried to remind the Germans that he was still around, although he posed no real threat to Ollie Kahn.

3:0
The third German goal is headed in as well.... this time it's Michael Ballack though. The height and strength of the Germans is way too much for Saudi Arabia - 40 mins.

4:0
At last, Carsten Jancker gets on the scoresheet and rips his shirt off in celebration - 45 mins.

Half-time: Germany 4 - Saudi Arabia 0

At the start of the second-half, the question on everybody's lips was would Germany go for the jugular or hold back and save themselves for more competitive games ahead.

It seemed a little like the later until they got bored.

5:0
Miroslav Klose became the tournament's leading scorer by heading for the third time, this time a cross from Bernd Schneider on the right - 69 mins.

6:0
Defender Thomas Linke made it six for Germany, with yet another headed goal, and neutrals around the world started to feel embarrassed for Saudi Arabia; apart from American fans who felt that here was a good candidate for their 32nd place in the tournament - 73 mins.

Klose might have felt disappointed not to get his fourth goal, a couple of minutes later, before making way for Oliver Neuville.

7:0
Michael Ballack slipped the ball through to Oliver Bierhoff (on for Carsten Jancker) who made Saudi Arabia look like a bunch of schoolboys with his lethal finish - 84 mins.

8:0
And to add insult to injury, Bernd Schneider fired his direct free-kick over the wall and into the roof of Mohammed al-Deayea's goal.

Final Score:
Germany 8 - Saudi Arabia 0

Man of the Match:
Miroslav Klose - who towered above the Saudi defense to score three goals with his head.

Yellow Cards:
Christian Ziege (43 mins)
Dietmar Hamann (83 mins)
Mohammed Noor (90 mins)

The Teams

Germany:
1 Oliver Kahn; 2 Thomas Linke, 5 Carsten Ramelow (16 Jens Jeremies - 46mins), 6 Christian Ziege, 8 Dietmar Hamann, 9 Carsten Jancker (20 Oliver Bierhoff - 67 mins), 11 Miroslav Klose (7 Oliver Neuville - 76 mins), 13 Michael Ballack, 19 Bernd Schneider, 21 Christoph Metzelder, 22 Torsten Frings.

Saudi Arabia:
1 Mohammed al-Deayea; 3 Redha Tukar, 4 Sulaiman Zubromawi, 8 Mohammed Noor, 9 Sami al-Jaber, 12 Ahmed Dukhi al-Dossarry, 13 Hussein Sulimani, 16 Khamis Alowairan (7 Ibrahim Al Shahrani - 46 mins), 17 Abdullah Alwaked al-Shahrani, 18 Nawaf al-Temyat (14 Aziz al-Khathran - 46 mins), 20 Al Hassan al-Yami (15 Abdullah Jumaan - 76 mins).

Referee: Ubaldo Aquino