To dominate or to be dominated. That seemed to the theme for the match between Germany and France as they battled it out at Estádio Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro vying for a seat at the semis. France wants to win the game as the last time they were able to win the trophy was in 1998 and it was also the last time they managed to get into the semis. On the other hand, he has been consistent with their dream of the World Cup. They have been to the semis numerous times and the most recent one was back in 2010 where they played against Uruguay for the third place.
This is the reason why the match between both competitive teams was something to look out for. Statistics shows that both the team had equal possession percentage but France had higher number of total shots and shots on goal compared to Germany. But Germany on the other hand had more saves compared to the French.
As the game started and it kicks off, the match had an early goal at the 13th minute made by German defender Mats Hummels. Hummels shrugged off Raphael Varane to save the kick coming from Bastian Schweinsteiger and headed the ball to the goal. The first half ended with the score 1-0.
The second quarter commenced and the team showed aggressiveness on the court. But it seemed like the score is stuck to 1-0 in favor of Germany. France didn't have any opportunity to equate the score in order to proceed to penalty shots. The French dream of moving ahead to the semis is all lost and they would have to wait another 4 years in order to be given the chance once more.
France coach Didier Deschamps talked to the reporters and said ""Although our adventure in Brazil ends here and we're sad, disappointed and frustrated, we'll move on. I hope this group of players can play together for a long time. I have a lot of work to do with them, but things are definitely promising."
He continued "Today, there wasn't much between the two sides. I thought we were a little bit timid at first and they scored early. After that, we showed promise. We created chances and could have been more clinical, but Manuel Neuer had a good game."
On the other hand, a satisfied Joachim Low said "We played well, we played with a compact defence. They had some long balls against us but we did a classy job taking care of those. Our midfield did a very good job disrupting their attack. We didn't have any organisation problems." He added "It was an incredibly exciting match but you can't expect anything else at the World Cup. Both teams were equals. Our team had fought hard to the end."
