World Cup 2010 Group D is on fire: Serbia made the surprise beating Germany by 1-0 in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium of Port Elizabeth, and now the two teams together with Ghana all have three points each. Germany is still leading Group D based on goal difference, but the African Black Stars have one game less and could easily take the first spot tomorrow.
Milan Jovanović scored the only goal of the game in 38′, and one minute earlier Miroslav Klose was sent out with a (harsh) second yellow card leaving Germany with 10 players for the rest of the match. Despite the disadvantage Germany had a huge opportunity to take the draw, but Vladimir Stojković successfully blocked a penalty shot from Lukas Podolski in the 60th minute of the game.
Coach Joachim Löw had the same starting 11 as Germany’s impressive 4-0 victory against Australia, and everyone thought that Serbia would be disappointed by their loss against Ghana on Sunday. But excluding a shot from Podolski 7 minutes in the game, Germany did not really threaten Serbia that very well set-up on the field and looking their opponents eye to eye.
The rough game between the two teams made the Spanish referee show a lot of cards, and in the 37th minute of the match José Luis Camargo sent Klose off with a second yellow. And if that wasn’t enough a minute later Germany was behind on the scoreboard also, with Jovanović scoring a goal for Serbia after a header pass from Nikola Žigić. Despite playing with ten, Germany had camped in Serbia’s side of the field and lost many great chances for an equaliser.
The second half started the same way with Germany pushing hard from every angle possible: Bastian Schweinsteiger in 54′ and Podolski 3 minutes later lost fantastic chances to tie the game. And in the 60th minute Nemanja Vidić decided to mimic his team mate Zdravko Kuzmanović that did the exact same thing against Ghana, and give away a simply stupid penalty to Germany. Podolski stepped up to the ball, but goalkeeper Vladimir Stojković fell on the right side blocking the shot and leaving Germany to zero.
The German players were definitely discouraged and obviously tired from playing with a man down. Serbia took control of the last minutes of the game and could have scored a second one in a few occasions. Now the both Germany and Serbia have three points each, same as Ghana that is expected to have an easy afternoon tomorrow though against Australia.
