Germany’s 3 earns 3rd

Germany have produced one of the most entertaining halves of football at the World Cup Finals as they ran riot in the second half of their playoff match against Portugal to finish 3-1 winners to claim third place in Stuttgart.

That's 3! Schweinsteiger lands his second

Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger’s name suggests he is the man that slept in the barn with the pigs, but tonight he was the man who scored the goals to bring the crowd to their feet.

The Bayern Munich midfielder scored two identical scorching goals and only the boot of Portugal’s Petit prevented him from getting a hat trick.

His first came on 56 minutes when he cut in to beat defender Paulo Ferreria and midfielder Petit to slam home a goal from 30 yards to open the scoring.

Five minutes later his free kick flew into the box and only found the boot of Petit as resistance, its destiny was assured though as the deflection merely changed the angle at which it would fly into the back of the net.

Portugal needed someone to score but unfortunately for Petit, the Benfica man did it at the wrong end.

With 12 minutes remaining Schweinsteiger had his second when a similar movement to his first saw a 30 yard thunderbolt ripple the back of the net and secure third place for Jurgen Klinsmann’s men.

Klinsmann gives his star the send off
Klinsmann gives his star the send off

Klinsmann gives his star the send
off

He certainly scored his first two World Cup goals with style.

Luiz Felipe Scolari gave retiring maestro Luis Figo a farewell bow with a 15 minute cameo and it was fitting that he was able to lay on an inch perfect cross for striker Nuno Gomes to score a consolation goal for his team on 87 minutes.

In the end though it was the hosts, who had looked to attack all tournament, that were able to thank their fans with such a dominant performance, while Portugal will again rue the lack of a dominant striker.

A real goal scoring machine up front must be high on their wish list for the South African tournament in four years time.

In the first half there was plenty of enterprise but little finishing as the match remained scoreless.

Both sides had their chances but as was the case in their respective semi-finals the finishing touches weren’t there.

Midfielder Sebastian Kehl looked sharp in the place of captain Michael Ballack and went close on a number of occasions, his first after just five minutes saw a fiercely hit shot go just wide.

Portugal’s movement in midfield looked very promising but their raids were snuffed out by German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn who’s every move was applauded by the largely German crowd in his last match for his country.

Source: Al Jazeera