Germany's young team showed why they will be among the favourites to win the next World Cup when they came from behind to take the ‘bronze medal’ in South Africa.
On a rainy evening marked by continual jeers aimed towards the returning Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, Germany fought back from 2-1 down through the unlikely sources of Marcell Jansen and Sami Khedira.
Thomas Muller and Diego Forlan had earlier netted their fifth goals of the tournament to join David Villa and Wesley Sneijder as joint-leading scorers at the World Cup. Forlan was denied a sixth, and outright leadership of the Golden Boot race, by the crossbar with the last kick of the game.
But there was no dream 15th World Cup goal for German striker Miroslav Klose, who was frustratingly left on the bench with a back injury to stay one goal behind Ronaldo’s all-time record.
This World Cup in the Rainbow Nation has been marked by the warm and friendly atmosphere at all stadiums. But there was little love shown towards Suarez, whose last-minute handball against Ghana denied the Africans a dream semi-final spot and earned him a ban causing him to miss the semi-final defeat against Holland.
His treatment from the fans did not seem to bother the Ajax striker initially as he set up Edinson Cavani for Uruguay’s equaliser after 28 minutes — 10 minutes after Muller had given Germany the lead when Fernando Muslera could only parry a Bastian Schweinsteiger shot.
But as the match wore on and the boos got louder, Suarez was twice denied by Hans-Jorg Butt. Youngsters like Mesut Ozil, 21, and 20-year-old Muller have breathed new life into German football and even an horrific early tackle from Dennis Aogo on Diego Perez that should have brought a red card failed to sway the neutrals supporting Joachim Low’s adventurous team.
Even so, Uruguay took the lead for the first time after 51 minutes with a beauty. Arevalo Rios crossed from the right-hand side and Forlan swivelled to catch it on the volley, the ball bouncing into the ground and up past Butt.
Lesser teams than Germany would have accepted their fate in a relatively meaningless match.
Instead, they levelled after 56 minutes when Jerome Boateng’s high cross evaded Muslera and Jansen hardly needed to jump to head in at the far post between two defenders.
The comeback was completed after 82 minutes when Ozil’s corner caused chaos in the Uruguay box and bounced off skipper Diego Lugano to holding midfield player Khedira, who made no mistake with a looping header from six yards.
Forlan had one chance to salvage a draw in injury-time but watched in disbelief as his curling free-kick thudded against the crossbar with Butt beaten.
URUGUAY ( 4-4 -2 ): Muslera; Fucile, Lugano, Godin, Caceres; Perreira, Rios, Perez (Gargano 77min), Cavani; Suarez, Forlan. Subs (not used): Castillo, Silva, Victorino, Scotti, Eguren, Pereira, Lodeiro, Gonzalez, A Fernandez, Abreu, S Fernandez.
GERMANY ( 4- 3-3 ): Butt; Boateng, Friedrich, Metersacker, Aogo; Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Jansen (Kroos 81); Muller, Cacau (Kiessling 73), Oezil. Subs (not used): Neuer, Wiese, Tasci, Badstuber, Lahm, Trochowski, Marin, Podolski, Klose, Gomez.
Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico).
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