Friday, 18th June 2010
Germany Can Miss Penalties
 
Germany vs Serbia
in Port Elizabeth.
A win for Germany could book their passage to the next round,
while a defeat for Serbia and a draw in the Ghana vs Australia game would mean Serbia
would become the first team eliminated.
Serbia did so well in qualifying but came unstuck against Ghana; when Aleksandar Lukovic earned a second yellow
card with fifteen minutes to go and then conceded a silly penalty.
In just seven minutes, Serbia came close to conceding a goal in Port
Elizabeth; as Lukas Podolski sliced the ball wide of the post.
After a seemingly positive start by both teams, the referee started to
make more use of his whistle and notebook; booking two Serbian players in two minutes,
only six minutes after Miroslav Klose earned the first yellow card of the game.
Sami Khedira was next to have his name taken - making that two players
from each team, with just 22 minutes played.
Serbia nodded off on the half-hour mark, but Miroslav Klose was
flagged for offside before the ball hit the back of the net. Players have been booked for
that before, and Klose is already on a yellow card.
The story of this game is really about the Spanish referee as Miroslav
Klose was given his second yellow card for a soft foul while chasing back.
With Germany down to ten men, Serbia were quick to take advantage;
scoring in the next minute as Milos Krasic crossed from the right, for Nikola Zigic to
head down into the middle and Milan Jovanovic to make the most of the gifted opportunity.
Then just before the half ended, Germany's Sami Khedira saw his shot
crash off the bar.
Half-time: 0:1
What a shame FIFA can't substitute referees at half-time.
Germany tried to get back on level terms, as the referee kept his
cards close to his chest for the first ten minutes of the re-start; although Philipp
Lahm's heart might have skipped a beat when the whistle went against him. Joachim L�w
rose from the bench in frustration; probably fearing a second yellow card for his captain.
Then two cards in three minutes, for Serbia; the second to Nemanja
Vidic, for sticking out his hand in the penalty area - the second time Serbia have gifted
a penalty at the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Lukas Podolski shot from the spot; low, to Vladimir Stojkovic's left.
The Wigan Athletic goalkeeper was equal to it and Germany failed to level the score.
Can Ghana top the group later today,
or will Australia get the result to put everyone on three points?
So much can change in the World Cup groups. Just when you thought you
knew where the teams were going, in steps a referee to make it all interesting. Nothing to
do with Spain losing to Switzerland in their opening
game, of course. And England, so desperate to win Group C
and avoid Germany, may still find themselves on course for a Second Round penalty shoot-out.
So Germany can be beaten and they can miss penalties!
The ironic thing is, England will win their group, Germany will be
runners-up in theirs; the two teams will meet in the next round and Germany won't have to
score more than three penalties because England will miss more.
The ball might be round, but this one is rounder than round.
Final Score:
Germany 0 Serbia 1
 Goalscorers:
0:1 Milan Jovanovic (38 mins)
Man of The Match:
Vladimir Stojkovic - Saved Podolski's penalty and kept out everything else Germany could
fire at him.
Teams
 Germany:
1 Manuel Neuer; 14 Holger Badstuber, 3 Arne Friedrich, 17 Per Mertesacker, 16 Philipp
Lahm; 10 Lukas Podolski, 6 Sami Khedira, 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger, 13 Thomas M�ller; 11
Miroslav Klose, 8 Mesut �zil.
 Serbia:
1 Vladimir Stojkovic; 3 Aleksandar Kolarov, 20 Neven Subotic, 5 Nemanja Vidic, 6 Branislav
Ivanovic; 18 Milos Ninkovic, 22 Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 10 Dejan Stankovic, 17 Milos Krasic;
15 Nikola Zigic, 14 Milan Jovanovic.
Referee:
Alberto Undiano (Spain)
 Substitutions:
69 Mins (Serbia) - 4 Gojko Kacar on for 18 Milos Ninkovic
70 Mins (Germany) - 19 Cacau on for 8 Mesut �zil
70 Mins (Germany) - 21 Marko Marin on for 13 Thomas M�ller
75 Mins (Serbia) - 19 Radosav Petrovic on for 22 Zdravko Kuzmanovic
77 Mins (Germany) - 23 Mario Gomez on for 14 Holger Badstuber
79 Mins (Serbia) - 8 Danko Lazovic on for 14 Milan Jovanovic
 9 Yellow
Cards:
12 Mins - Miroslav Klose (Germany)
18 Mins - Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia)
19 Mins - Aleksandar Kolarov (Serbia)
22 Mins - Sami Khedira (Germany)
32 Mins - Philipp Lahm (Germany)
37 Mins - Miroslav Klose (Germany)
57 Mins - Neven Subotic (Serbia)
60 Mins - Nemanja Vidic (Serbia)
73 Mins - Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
 1 Red Card:
37 Mins - Miroslav Klose (Germany)
Previous Encounters:
Germany and Yugoslavia have met six times in previous World Cup Finals - (2:2) in Lens at France 1998; (4:1) in Milan at Italy 1990; (2:0) in D�sseldorf at West Germany 1974; (0:1) in Santiago at Chile 1962; (1:0) in Malm� at Sweden 1958; and (2:0) in Geneva at Switzerland 1954.
More recently, Germany beat Serbia (2:1) in a 2008, Gelsenkirchen
friendly.
2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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