The German national team brushed aside their opponents from the USA in their friendly on Wednesday night 4:1 (0:0) thanks to an inspired second half performance. 'Man of the Match' was Werder striker Miroslav Klose who played a roll in all four goals, scoring the third himself. The goal was Klose's first for the national team since scoring in a friendly in Japan back in December 2004. Aside from Klose, both Tim Borowski and Patrick Owomoyela were introdunced in the second half.
The German national team produced the perfect answer to their embarrasing 4:1 defeat by Italy at the beginning of March. On Wednesday evening the 2002 World Cup runners-up beat the USA in Dortmund 4:1 thanks to goals from Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Oliver Neuville, Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack. The Americans pulled back a late consolation through Steven Cherundolo.
The opening exchanges were a terse affair, with neither side really able to gain a foothold on the game.
Although Germany looked to get forward, their ambitions were thwarted all too often as play tended to get bogged down in midfield.
The USA, meanwhile, tried to play football but the Germans quickly closed them down, denying them space at every turn.
Criticism for Klinsmann
Jurgen Klinsmann has been a target for heavy criticism in recent months, and the Dortmund fans voiced their disapproval of his management regime by roundly booing their side off the pitch at the half-time break.
The Germany boss tried to inject a little life into the game by bringing on Bastian Schweinsteiger at half-time, and the switch paid dividends with immediate effect.
Within seconds of the restart, he bent in a free-kick from an advanced position on the right wing which looked to evade Miroslav Klose before beating Kasey Keller in the USA goal.
The strike failed to lift the game, however, as it continued to struggle for any kind of rhythm. As USA went in search of an equaliser, Oliver Kahn did well to deny a close-range header from Eddie Johnson.
At the other end Michael Ballack tested Keller from long range but the Borussia Mönchengladbach keeper was equal to the task.
In the 72nd minute, the game was finally lit up by a piece of sheer brilliance from another substitute, this time Oliver Neuville. After latching onto a Klose knockdown, he showed great composure, volleying an unstoppable volley into the USA net.
Klose then added a third himself with another great finish on 75 minutes, although Keller will feel that he could have done more to prevent the goal after he seemed to go down rather early.
Suddenly the stadium was alight as the home side began to swamp their visitors. After 79 minutes Klose burst down the right before picking out Michael Ballack inside the area. The Chelsea target rose perfectly to
head a fourth for Germany.
The US keeper Kasey Keller pulled off a magnificant save to deny the German captain when he let fly from all of 20 meters. At the other end, in the 86th minute, the visitors scored a bizarre consolation when keeper Oliver Kahn raced out of his box to head the ball clear but totally misjudged the flight allowing the ball to roll into an empty goal. Whether that incident could have an influence on the keeper question remains to be seen.