Group Of Death WIDELY OPEN After Germany Thrash Portugal
20 June, 2021
Germany revived their likelihood of reaching the last 16 at EURO 2020 after hammering Portugal 4-2 in Group F on Saturday evening.
Joachim Low's charges thought these were ahead in the fifth minute after Robin Gosens smashed home a volley from Joshua Kimmich's cross at the trunk post but the goal was disallowed for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Selecao went on to find the opener from a counter-attack in the 15th minute after Jota went clear on goal and played a straightforward square pass that was tapped home by Ronaldo, who scored for the first time against Die Mannschaft and extended his record tally in the Euros to 12 goals.
Selecao were defending too deep and they were eventually punished 10 minutes prior to the break after Ruben Dias deflected Gosens' smashing cross into his own net, off his shin, in front of Havertz, who was simply waiting to pounce.
Die Mannschaft turned the overall game around six minutes prior to the break after Kimmich received a cross unmarked at the trunk post and forced Raphael Guerreiro to carefully turn the cut-back into his own net.
Fernando Santos reacted by making a tactical change at half-time, bringing on Renato Sanches in place of Bernardo Silva but that didn't stop Die Mannschaft, as Havertz eventually gave Germany a two-goal cushion six minutes from the break with a tap-in from close range after a cross by Gosens.
Low's troops kept on bursting forward and Gosens finally got on the scoresheet, which makes it 4-1 on the hour-mark with a free of charge header at the trunk post after a cross by Kimmich.
Portugal gave themselves a lifeline seven minutes later as Jota pulled an objective back with a volley on the goal-line after a volleyed cut-back by Ronaldo at the far post, but 4-2 was the way the clash ended as Germany bag their first win in Group F.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za