What is up, people of the internet? So, you may know that the World Cup is just around the corner and we here at BFW are putting together a series of articles about Germany in the build-up to the tournament itself. Teddy is already working on the top 10 goals that Germany has scored in World Cup history, so I proposed an idea that we should relive the best wins that Die Mannschaft has experienced. Which is why I’m here to introduce my top 10 Germany wins at the World Cup.
For this, I’m going to include
matches that I know and watched in person (live, on the TV, haven’t got the facilities to watch Germany live in the stadium yet) and I will also rank each match based on how special the match is to me.
The unusually lengthy gap between this post and the last post was because I felt Germany’s latest World Cup disappointment had to simmer down. Now with Jürgen Klopp soon taking over, Germany will hopefully be back to their best on the international stage.
4. Germany 2-1 Algeria, 2014 World Cup Round of 16
Germany secured its ticket to the Round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup thanks to a slender 1-0 win over the United States courtesy of Thomas Müller. This set up a showdown with Algeria in the Round of 16, held in Porto Alegre. Germany last faced them at the World Cup in 1982 where they lost the match, and 32 years later found out that the Algerians were still not to be taken lightly. In the eighth minute, Per Mertesacker and Skhodran Mustafi were found missing at the back and a long ball from Fauzi Ghoulam found Islam Slimani through on goal. Manuel Neuer initially misread the situation when he rushed out of his box but managed to put a slide tackle in to stop the attack.
Shortly after Slimani’s scare for the Germans, Bastian Schweinsteiger fired a left-footed shot that Algerian goalkeeper Raïs M’Bolhi deflected upward with his right hand. Algeria responded with Sofiane Feghouli skipping past Benedikt Höwedes and Jérôme Boateng, but the then-Valencia winger went for goal instead of passing the ball to an open Hillal Soudani. Slimani would later score a header ahead of Boateng, but he was flagged offside. It’s still 0-0, and Germany were lucky to not be 3-0 down.
Ghoulam had his shot saved by Neuer on the 18th minute, while Müller failed to head the ball towards goal five minutes later due to Rafik Halliche challenging him for the ball. Just a minute later, Mesut Özil’s cross nearly went in but M’Bolhi tipped it over the bar. At the back, Per Mertesacker slid in to stop Slimani but the loose ball was too far for the other defenders to clear properly. In races Feghouli but he wasn’t fast enough to beat Neuer who managed to clear the ball away. Mario Götze gave up a freekick for pushing Soudani, but Feghouli shot the ball over the target.
On 34 minutes, Philipp Lahm crossed the ball for Müller who beat Aïssa Mandi to the cross. The header goes wide, however. Özil tried his luck from distance, but he couldn’t beat M’Bolhi either. Five minutes later, center-back Mehdi Mostafa swung at the ball which was deflected out by Boateng for a corner kick. Germany then had Toni Kroos and Götze take shots, and then another one later by Kroos; M’Bolhi was more than equal to first two and watched the third sail over the crossbar. The referee then blew for halftime, and amazingly it’s still 0-0.
André Schürrle immediately latched onto a through ball, taking advantage of slack Algerian defending, but M’Bolhi once again foils Germany. The 28-year-old goalkeeper was at it again when he made another save: Kroos’ cross made Mustafi jump. An Algerian corner was soon saved by Neuer who booted the ball high up the pitch for Schürrle, but Ghoulam got back just in time to clear the ball. A rare Lahm shot, teed up by Schweinsteiger, was pushed away by M’Bolhi. Both goalkeepers have had a strong outing in this match.
After 70 minutes of gameplay, Slimani got away from the German defence once again, and Neuer ran out of his area to clear the ball once again. The two nations traded blows, yet no one was unable to break the deadlock. Extra time loomed large if no one scored in the next 15 or so minutes. The best chance for Germany came on the 79th minute: Sami Khedira looped a cross towards Müller in the box, who headed powerfully at goal. It should have been a goal, but it wasn’t: M’Bolhi’s saved it. Neuer soon rushed for a ball before Slimani got to it before Schweinsteiger’s header was saved down the other end. The 90 minutes were done, so on to extra time.
A mere 90 seconds into the first period of extra time, Müller was on the edge of the box and tried to play the ball in for Schürrle who improvised with his shot and clipped it with his heel which completely caught out M’Bolhi for the game’s opening goal. Germany scored in the 92nd minute 92 seconds after the 90 minutes ended to open the scoring, but they didn’t care one bit because they needed that goal. Fortunately, Germany didn’t shut up shop and play defensively for the rest of extra time; unfortunately, Algeria wasn’t fazed at all by the goal and continued upping the ante. Germany managed to hold on until the end of first half extra time.
A minute from the end of the 120 minutes, Schürrle had his shot cleared off the line by Essaïd Belkalem before Özil roofed the ball. As the commentator said: “2-0 Germany! Quarterfinals, Germany!” Algeria was finally beaten in what was arguably Germany’s most stressful match at that tournament (at that point).
Whoops! Wait a minute, Abdelmoumene Djabou just scored in the 121st minute off a Feghouli cross. Insert the “oh no, anyway” GIF from Jeremy Clarkson, because Algeria ran out of time and were out of the World Cup. They can hold their heads up high because they just pushed a strong Germany side to extra time (much like Cabo Verde taking Lionel Messi’s 2022 World Cup winning Argentina to extra time, only losing by one goal too).
For his performance in that match, Neuer got a 9.7 rating on FotMob, the highest rating the platform has ever given. It would undoubtedly be a 10 if he kept a clean sheet, but progression to the Quarters is more than enough. Die Mannschaft beat France 1-0 in the Quarterfinals thanks to a goal from Mats Hummels, so it meant they were going to face Brazil in the Semifinals. I think we’ll get to that soon, but I want to include something else before that.
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