Some fantastic football was expected tonight as Germany played Spain in the second Semi Final of the World Cup, a match to decide who would play Holland in the Final.
Spain was the pre-tournament favorite but Germany has been one of the most impressive teams so far, putting 4 goals past 3 different teams. Despite these promising stats the game didn’t live up to expectations.
Spain had a couple of great chances early on with the best of those falling to Villa whose close range sliding shot was blocked by a defiant ‘keeper. Germany spent the majority of the game sitting back and hoping to hit Spain on the counter attack but their chances were few.
In the second half Spain dominated the play with some neat and close passing. They stuck to an on-the-floor, tight style of football which pegged Germany back, but when the Spanish finally scored it came from an unexpected source. Puyol, the aging Captain and defender, rose to meet a corner before smashing a header home with under twenty minutes to play, putting Spain 1-0 up.
Spain held onto the lead and even looked the more likely to score as a disappointing Germany slumped to defeat. Spain will now play Holland in the World Cup Final whilst Germany move into a third-place playoff match with Uruguay.
It was reported earlier that one fan had gambled a massive 500.000 Euro’s on a Germany win here, one of the highest single match bets in history and one which ended in a crushing defeat and a half million Euro loss. But plenty have been backing Spain so there will also be a few happy punters tonight:
