{"id":18208,"date":"2014-07-05T13:11:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T05:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=18208"},"modified":"2025-01-12T04:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T09:52:13","slug":"germany-beats-france-1-0-reaches-world-cup-semis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/07\/05\/germany-beats-france-1-0-reaches-world-cup-semis\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany beats France 1-0, reaches World Cup semis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Taken<\/a>
Taken during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Quarter Final match between France and Germany at Maracana on July 4, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RIO DE JANEIRO — It just wouldn’t be the World Cup without Germany in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Harnessing all their big-game experience, the Germans delivered a performance of maturity and efficiency to hold off France 1-0 on Friday and become the first team to reach four straight semifinals in the sport’s marquee tournament.<\/p>\n

Defender Mats Hummels scored the winning goal in the 13th minute, outmuscling his marker at a free kick to glance a header in off the underside of the crossbar.<\/p>\n

Criticized for poor defending in earlier matches, Germany selected a more robust lineup and restricted a flat France team to only a handful of clear-cut opportunities in muggy conditions.<\/p>\n

“There was not much in it,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. But, “we don’t have the international experience Germany has.”<\/p>\n

While France’s young players slumped to the ground and some shed tears after the final whistle, the Germans soberly saluted all corners of the Maracana Stadium.<\/p>\n

One job done, nothing more.<\/p>\n

And next up for Germany is a meeting with host nation Brazil, which beat Colombia 2-1 later Friday. It will be Germany’s 13th appearance in the semifinals in 20 editions of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

“I guess we’re playing the kind of football which will give us a chance to win,” said Hummels, who produced a couple of decisive blocks to snuff out two good chances for France striker Karim Benzema.<\/p>\n

“We defended well today . I think we deserve to carry on.”<\/p>\n

France struggled to impose the kind of attacking game that made the team one of the most exciting in Brazil during the group stage, although Benzema – the team’s chief attacking threat – squandered chances in both halves.<\/p>\n

Late in the first half, the Real Madrid striker seized on a rebound following Manuel Neuer’s save from Mathieu Valbuena’s shot but his close-range effort was deflected wide by Hummels. Then, in stoppage time, he created space for himself about eight yards out at an angle, but a fierce shot was swatted away by Neuer.<\/p>\n

“We played like a team again,” said Germany captain Philipp Lahm, who returned to right back in one of a string of tactically astute changes made by coach Joachim Loew.<\/p>\n

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“Overall it was a good performance from us.”<\/p>\n

In Loew’s eight-year tenure, Germany has reached the last four in every major tournament it has played – but remains without a title since winning the European Championships in 1996.<\/p>\n

While the German team seemed comfortable at this level, the occasion was perhaps too much for a young, revamped France team playing together at the World Cup for the first time.<\/p>\n

And it continued Germany’s recent dominance over France at World Cups.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The most notorious of those previous meetings was in the 1982 semifinals in Spain, when Germany won on penalties following a 3-3 draw in a match marked by a late and high tackle by Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher on France defender Patrick Battiston that escaped punishment.<\/p>\n

That went down as one of the most riveting matches in World Cup history, but the rematch – 32 years on – couldn’t have been more different.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

A turgid first half was illuminated by the goal from Hummels, who held off Raphael Varane and met a typically dead-eye delivery from Toni Kroos with a header that gave goalkeeper Hugo Lloris no chance.<\/p>\n

The warm and humid conditions played a part in the slow tempo of the game but France stepped up the pressure in the second half.<\/p>\n

Benzema’s late chance got French fans excited but Germany should have been 2-0 ahead by then, with Lloris saving a low shot by substitute Andre Schuerrle on a counter-attack.<\/p>\n

“We just weren’t efficient enough,” said Valbuena, who sat, dejected, on the field after the final whistle. “Our efforts just weren’t enough, it’s incredibly disappointing.”<\/p>\n

Lineups:<\/p>\n

France: Hugo Lloris; Mathieu Debuchy, Raphael Varane, Mamadou Sakho (Laurent Koscielny, 72), Patrice Evra; Paul Pogba, Yohan Cabaye (Loic Remy, 73), Blaise Matuidi; Mathieu Valbuena (Olivier Giroud, 85), Antoine Griezmann, Karim Benzema.<\/p>\n

Germany: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Benedikt Hoewedes; Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger; Mesut Ozil (Mario Goetze, 83), Toni Kroos (Christophe Kramer, 90), Thomas Mueller; Miroslav Klose (Andre Schuerrle, 69).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO — It just wouldn’t be the World Cup without Germany in the semifinals. Harnessing all their big-game …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,44],"tags":[701,2312,3303,5521,4280],"class_list":["post-18208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-sports","tag-fifa","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-semi-finals","tag-world-cup","mauthors-steve-douglas","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282735,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18208\/revisions\/282735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}