Germany 1 USA 0
The rainy season began in Recife about three days ago and this morning a relentless downpour flooded the city. On the gridlocked roads towards the Arena Pernambuco, amid the broken-down vehicles and the crowds of locals offering to help push stranded cars out of knee-deep water, it seemed unlikely that the match between Germany and the USA would go ahead.
Postponing the game would have given Fifa a headache, however, since the match had to be played at the same time as the other Group G match between Ghana and Portugal.
So Fifa declared there would be no delay, and the match kicked off in a half-empty stadium, with thousands of fans having been unable to get there in time.
In Germany these conditions are sometimes called Fritz Walter-Wetter, after the captain of the 1954 World Cup-winning side who loved to aquaplane into tackles.
There was precious little aquaplaning on show in the first half, considering the rain that just kept coming. There was scarcely even any slip-sliding around. Everyone knew a draw would qualify both sides. Were the players taking it a little easy out there?
Bastian Schweinsteiger, making his first start of the World Cup in place of Sami Khedira, was keen to show Germany's coach Joachim Löw what he was missing. With Lahm in the deeper controlling role, Schweinsteiger's job was to get in among the Americans, win the ball and try to create problems.
It’s a role better suited to a younger man - really he should be doing Lahm’s job - but Löw’s insistence on using Lahm in midfield means Schweinsteiger has to adapt if he wants to stay in the team.
The USA started slowly but 30 minutes in, by which time most of their fans had arrived, they were enjoying more possession. Graham Zusi sent a fierce shot just over, and in the 29th minute there was a moment of farce when Jermaine Jones’s run into the area was bodyslammed to a halt by referee Ramshan Irmatov. The Americans glared at the Uzbek official, who indicated that Jones had run into him.
The closest Germany came to a goal in that first half was Özil’s low drive that was bundled away by Howard. Otherwise their threat had been limited to crosses fizzed low into the six-yard box, mainly by right-back Jerome Boateng, who had woken up to the news that his half-brother Kevin had been kicked out of Ghana’s squad for insulting his coach.
Maybe Joachim Löw detected a lack of urgency from his players because at half-time he replaced Lukas Podolski with Miroslav Klose. The team got the message and within 10 minutes of the break their increased intensity had secured the breakthrough.
A short corner routine ended with a cross into the box that was headed goalwards by Per Mertesacker. Tim Howard dived to his right and pushed it away, but the ball ran straight to Thomas Müller, who was lurking just outside the box to the left of the D. He coolly sized up Howard’s position and curled the ball first-time into the opposite corner of the net. It was a strike of classy precision that moved Müller level with Messi and Neymar in the race for the Golden Boot. “He’s difficult for any opponent to figure out,” his coach would say after the game.
If Müller’s strike had ended the mutually agreeable detente, relations between the teams soured on 62 minutes, when a foul on Jones went unpunished by the referee. Kyle Beckerman turned vigilante and put in a nasty revenge tackle on Schweinsteiger. The American was lucky to escape with a yellow card. Jürgen Klinsmann’s rant at the fourth official showed that he was feeling the pressure.
Klinsmann knew by now that Ghana had equalised against Portugal and that the Africans could leapfrog his side into second place with one more goal. It was still within his players’ power to shape their own destiny: all they needed to do was equalise against Germany. But they lacked the technical ability to open their opponents up, and they knew it. Instead America hung on, and hoped Portugal could do the same.
Then, on 81 minutes, salvation. The news came from Brasilia that Cristiano Ronaldo had put Portugal 2-1 up. The Ghanaians needed two in nine minutes to overhaul the Americans, while the Portuguese needed three. The United States would go through to the second round to likely honourable defeat against Belgium.
The knowledge seemed to relax them and in the 93rd minute there was almost an unlikely equaliser, when Bedoya tried to apply the finish to a flowing move, only to be denied by Lahm, Germany’s captain aquaplaning at the last.
At the final whistle Klinsmann greeted each member of the German staff then walked on to the field to slap a few of their players on the back.
While the on-field handshakes were in progress the scoreboard displayed the result from Brasilia: 2-1 Portugal, to the delight of the American fans. They squelched out of the stadium singing “Viva Ronaldo.”
“It’s tremendous for our group,” Klinsmann said afterwards. “Nobody would have believed it, but we’re through. This was the most difficult group, but our players are so hungry to do well. Now we really get started. Whoever we face now, we’re gonna take it to them.”
When Löw was asked what he had said to Klinsmann at the end of the match, he replied: “First I asked him the result of the other match, because I didn’t know. And when he told me, I said I was happy they had qualified too.”
The sides had got a mutually satisfactory result after all, but this time nobody had to lose their dignity.
