YOU’VE GOT TO HAND IT TO NEUER
Stunning save puts Germans into semi-final
MANUEL NEUER’S incredible late save put Germany into the World Cup semi-finals for the fourth tournament in a row.
The Bayern Munich keeper, who was winning his 50th cap, stood tall in the final minute of injury time to beat away what looked a certain equaliser by France’s Karim Benzema.
Neuer had already made a similar stop to protect the lead that Mats Hummels had given his side when he headed home a Toni Kroos free-kick after just 12 minutes. ‘It was just instinct,’ said Neuer afterwards. ‘It comes naturally.’
His heroics made sure of a win that
makes Germany the first country ever to reach four consecutive semi-finals. It’s also the tenth time a German side have reached the last four in 13 tournaments going back to 1966. The result was a triumph for coach Joachim Low’s decision to shake up his team selection. The 54-year-old, who took over shortly after the 2006 World Cup, made the controversial call to start fit-again Hummels in place of Arsenal centre half Per Mertesacker. He also axed Mario Gotze to bring in 36-year-old Miroslav Klose and switched Philipp Lahm from midfield back to his traditional full-back role. The Germans had suffered a virus in their camp going into the game which laid seven players, but although they managed only three attempts on goal they were still well organised enough to make France look the more sluggish side. Lahm said: ‘We are in the semi-finals so who cares about anything else? ‘It wasn’t easy, but we worked as a team and the team always comes first.’ France had scored 10 goals in their first four matches, but until that last minute rarely looked a serious threat.