Rio De Janeiro : Germany become the first team in World Cup history to reach four consecutive semi-finals after defender Mats Hummels’ thunderous header secured the Philipp Lahm-led team to a narrow 1-0 win over France in the first quarterfinals played at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
In a cagey affair, the Germany put on a dominant performance while France appeared passive.
German defender Mats Hummels gave his country ahead in the 13th minute when he headed the ball from a free-kick to set off thunderous roar from the German fans.
This was Hummels second goal in this ongoing World Cup. The first came against Portugal. France appeared to be at the receiving end right from the word go, with the Germans holding the possession of the ball for most of the play time. France striker Karim Benzema had a chance to equalise in the seventh minute of the game, but was brilliantly blocked by the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who made some stunning saves during the first-half of the game. In the 24th minute, France escaped a penalty decision, after a German striker Miroslav Klose was brought down by French defender Mathieu Debuchy.
France almost equalised in the first-half when in the 43rd minute when Benzema had back-to-back attempts at German goalposts.
In the first attempt the ball struck the sidebar and then Neuer pulled off a brilliant effort to thwart the attack. German midfielder Sami Khedira did most of the leg-work for the Germans in the mid-field, with some clear passes and tactfully evading French tackles. For the French, Benzema was the shining star in action.
The second-half got under way with France showing more urgency compared to the first forty-five minutes. France looked to thaw the German defence with more fluency, tempo and imagination with attacking in numbers.
Their persistent effort paid dividend when Mathieu Valbuena curled a free-kick in from the left and Patrice Evra tried to connect with his head near the penalty spot only to fluff it. The replay showed the Frenchman was at least a yard offside.
France continued to push forward only for the German defence make timely saves to thwart any chance of an equaliser.
The Germans kept on making sweeping counter-attacks. With an effort to diversify the France attack, Deschamps brought in Laurent Koscielny for Sakho. France upped the tempo and in the 76 minute, Ralph Varane dinked a lovely ball into the channels for Remy to chase, who picked out Benzema in the middle only to see his shot get blocked.
Germany squandered another chance in the 88 minute to secure the win when Muller ambled past Evra and crossed the ball for Schurrle only for his shot to be blocked. Benzema had a glorious chance to take the match into extra time when in the injury time only to find Neuer.
