Podolski and Klose – Architects of German victory
The opening match of the knock-out stage of the world cup was between Germany and Sweden. Germany gave major blows to Sweden within first 12 minutes. Germany played, espcially the 1st half, with speed and perfection. Both the gols came from Podolski. Although the 1st goal was a deflection from Lucic’s head, the second gol was superb. Klose took 3 defenders away across the goal area and passed the ball on to unmarked Podolski who didn’t miss the chance and scored a brilliant team goal for Germany. From there on especially after Lucic was despatched out of the game in 35 minutes, German fans would have expected a slightly stronger scoreline in their favour. However, 2nd half didn’t turn out to be as exciting as the 1st one and the final score remained 2-0.
In another match, Argentina defeated Mexico 2-1. Mexico played much better than the qualifying rounds and took an early lead in 5th minute. The early Mexican lead was neutralized by Argentina in the 10th minute. However, the match went into extra time and the winner came from Rodriguez Maxi in 112th minute.
The quarter final will now be played between Germany and Argentina. And Argentina will have to play 200% to move past Germany who seem to be peaking at the right time.
