Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
The drama started straight away, with German youngster Aogo lunging over the ball in a potentially leg-breaking tackle on Perez. Surprisingly Perez walked away unscathed and Aogo escaped with just a yellow card when a red would easily have been justified.
After this passionate start, the Germans settled down and dominated possession with free-flowing passing and quick movement. Uruguay won a couple of early free-kicks but couldn’t capitalise and Germany’s good play eventually paid off. First, Friedrich headed against the crossbar from a corner before Muslera spilled Schweinsteiger’s serving shot and Mueller put away the rebound to open the scoring. This gave Germany the lead after only 18 minutes and took Müller to five goals in the competition, making him joint top scorer with Villa and Sneijder.
Germany then turned to their counter-attacking play, which so bamboozled the English and Argentinean defences, but this allowed Uruguay to get back into the game. The Uruguayans enjoyed a spell of possession and soon levelled the score-line thanks to an error from Schweinsteiger. Perez robbed the midfielder of possession and some slick passing ensued, with the ball eventually being fed through to Cavani, who slotted home easily past German keeper Butt.
Just before the break, Uruguay had the opportunity to take the lead but Suarez, completely unmarked, dragged his shot wide across the goal. Perhaps the heavy rain had a part to play as the ball and the players slipped and slid all over the place. The teams went in level at 1-1 after a great first half.
The Germans started the second half more brightly as they tried to repeat their good play of the opening 20 minutes. Both sides created chances and forced good saves from the keepers but it was Uruguay who broke through after 51 minutes. A cross came in from the right and Forlan, who has been outstanding through the whole tournament, volleyed his shot past the helpless Butt to give Uruguay a 2-1 lead. This goal took Forlan to five for the competition, putting his level with Villa, Sneijder and Mueller.
Falling 2-1 behind after being 1-0 up spurred the Germans into action and with 40 minutes left, there was plenty of time for a comeback. A missed punch from Uruguay’s keeper Muslera as the ball flew across his box allowed Jansen to head home and level the score at 2-2, only five minutes after Uruguay had taken the lead.
Germany piled on the pressure with quick, open play and created numerous chances to take the lead for the second time. Özil found himself through on goal but failed to score as he took one touch too many, allowing the defenders to get back and block the attempt. Uruguay created chances too and Suarez, back from suspension, forced an excellent save from Butt.
The winning goal came in the 82nd minute when the Uruguayan defence failed to clear a corner and the ball bounced across the goal mouth off knees and defenders before being headed home by Khedra to put Germany back in front at 3-2. With less than 10 minutes to play that seemed to be the winner, but Uruguay didn’t give up and pressed until the final whistle. They came agonisingly close to taking the tie into extra time when Forlan’s free-kick hit the crossbar in the 92nd minute, but it wasn’t to be and the game ended 3-2 to Germany. Both teams have had fantastic campaigns and can be proud of reaching the third place play-off and providing such a thrilling game of football. Once again psychic octopus Paul was correct – we’ll see tonight if his prediction for Spain to be champions is right too.
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