Klose & Co. Return As World Nunmber 3

First Team
Sunday, 09.07.2006 / 11:23

Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose, Tim Borowski and Torsten Frings won the so-called "Mini-Final" at the 2006 World Cup and finish the tournament in third place.

Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose, Tim Borowski and Torsten Frings won the so-called "Mini-Final" at the 2006 World Cup and finish the tournament in third place. Miroslav Klose and Torsten Frings were both in the starting line-up for the match in Stuttgart in front of a euphoric 52,000 crowd. Jürgen Klinsmann's men beat Portugal 3:1 (0:0) with Bastian Schweinsteiger being hailed the hero of the night. The Bayern Munich winger scored two himself (56'/78') and took the free kick which was deflected into his own goal by Petit (61'). Substitute Nuno Gomes got a late consolation for the Portugese (88') but the night belonged to Germany.

 

Jürgen Klinsmann made five changes to the side which began against Italy in the semi-final. For the injured Tim Borowski and Per Mertesacker (both with tendon inflamation) Torsten Frings and Bastian Schweinsteiger returned to the starting line-up. Gladbach's Marcell Jansen got his first start for the knock carrying Arne Friedrich (ligament strain). Another to start for the first time in this tournament was Jens Nowotny who had to fill in at last notice for Robert Huth who hurt an ankle in warm up. As had been expected, Oliver Kahn replaced Jens Lhmann between the posts for what was to be his last international appearance.

 

It took a mere five minutes for the German side to create their first opening of the game at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadium. The ball fell to Sebatian Kehl from a Bernd Schneider. The Dortmunders driven effort was blocked away by Nuno Valente . The next chance fell to top scorer Miroslav Klose who could only hit the side netting having been put through by Schweinsteiger (8'). The South European side, who left their start Figo on the bench, came to their first chance in the 11th minute but Simao could only blast wide of Kahn's goal after some clever work by Cristiano Ronaldo. The German keeper, making his 86th international appearance, made a fine save from Pauleta four minutes later, blocking from point blank range.

 

The German side were constantly driving forward through the impressive Sebastian Kehl who tested Portugals Ricaro with a lobbed effort in the 20th minute. The Portugese keeper had to be on his toes again five minutes later when Lukas Podolski lashed a free-kick goalwards which the Sporting Lisabon man could only parry. Despite the number of shoths on goal, the half finished in a 0:0 stalemate.

 

After the break it was the Portugese who made the brighter start and had chances through Deco (48') and Pauleta (52') but in the 56th minute it was the host nation that took the lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger collected the ball out on the left, danced past two defenders and let fly from 20 meters to leave Ricardo looking very exposed.

 

The celebrating crowd didn't have to wait for long for their next opportunity to explode in joy. In the 61st minute, again Schweinsteiger was the source. The young winger drove a free-kick goalwards with pace and in his attempt to clear, Petit deflected the ball unstopably past Ricardo. A stunning save by Kahn from Deco a minute later maintained the two goal deficit.

 

Germany continued to press and were again rewarded for their efforts - and once again it was Bastian Schweinsteiger doing the most celebrating. The third German goal fell as the winger again let rasping drive go from outside the box and buried past the stranded Portugal keeper (78'). Two minutes before the end, Nuno Gomes got his head to a Figo cross for a Portugese consolation but their was no-one going to spoil the hosts party as all over Germany the national teams heroics were honoured.

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