Kolkata: Germany came into the match against Guinea needing nothing less than a win and did just enough to bring up a convincing 3-1 win in their final Group C tie at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Kochi on Friday. Goals from Jan Fiete-Arp, Nicolas Kuhn and Sahverdi Cetin sealed the win for Die Mannschaft.
With five changes to the side after the 4-0 drubbing from Iran, Germany started the match on attack mode right from the word go and could have scored in the very first minute. Nonetheless, the opening blow came eight minutes into the game when Guinean defender Ismael Traore was pressurised to make a clearance and ended up putting the ball into the path of Jan Fiete-Arp, who made no mistake in giving his team the lead. However, their happiness didn’t last long as Guinea equalised in the 26th minute when Aguibou Camara danced his way through the German defence and fired a shot that deflected and fell to an unmarked Ibrahim Soumah who equalised to make it 1-1.
Arp who had a quiet game added one assist to his name in the 62nd minute as the Germans once again took the lead. Sahverdi Cetin later converted a penalty kick to make it 3-1 and help Germany sail through to the knock-out rounds. “The difference between today and the Iran game was that we got our tackles right,” said coach Christian Wuck applauding his defence for keeping the dangerous Fandje Toure at bay throughout the match.
With Costa Rica’s loss on the other side, Germany finished the group as runners-up and now will face Colombia in the round of 16 match at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi on October 16.
Iran vs Costa Rica
Dominant Iran put up year another clinical performance outclassing Costa Rica 3-0 to remain unbeaten and top Group C at the end of three matches. Costa Rica meanwhile playing a must-win game succumbed under pressure conceding tow penalties within five minutes in the first half, which sealed the fate of the match.
Mohammad Ghobishavi and Taha Shariati converted the two penalties, while Substitute Mohammad Sardari wrapped up the win with a goal in the 89th minute.
Prior to this match Iran had already qualified but showed their intent to maintain a 100 per cent win record when they fielded five defenders at the back. The move was enough to shut down any Costa Rica attack. “The next rounds are the most important where we will face tougher teams. Our defence has done a good job till now and we hope they will continue to do the same in the play-offs as well,” said Abbas Chamanian happy after his team secured qualification to the next round.
GROUP D
Spain vs Korea DPR
Spain continued their fine run in the tournament as they put aside Korea DPR with a 2-0 score despite missing several chances at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Kochi on Friday. The win also helped them qualify for the round of 16. Mohamed Moukhliss and Cesar Gelabert found the net for Spain.
It only took four minutes for the La Roja to get going when a clever pass by forward Cesar Gelabert found Moukhliss, who made no mistake in guiding the ball to the bottom right corner. Spain could have score few more goals but will rue their missed chances, with Ferran Torres’ fine flick hitting the post towards the end of the first half.
Korea on the other hand lacked any bite in attack and most of the time were left chasing the ball as Spain focused in small and slick passing. A red card in 84th minute to substitute Paek Kwang Min further jeopardised Korea’s chances of making any comeback into the match.
Brazil Vs Niger
As if the qualification was not enough, Brazil put up another dominant performance against debutants Niger in their final match of Group D at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Margao on Saturday, finishing off with a 2-0 win with goals from Lincoln and Brenner to maintain a clean record in the World Cup.
Like Spain it only took Brazil four minutes to open try scoring. Right-back Wesley’s pass to Paulinho was wonderfully laid I to the path of Lincoln who completed a tap-in to take the lead. A free-kick by Brenner in the 38th minute took a slight deflection off Yacine Wa Massamba and sailed into the goal. However despite the win Brazil failed to capitalise on several chances to score and at the same time their defence looked shaky everytime Niger attacked.
“We scored the goal in the opening minutes of the match, which we didn’t manage in the previous two matches. As a result we were more relaxed as the match progressed. They caused us some difficulty with man-to-man marking and hit on the counter,” said coach Carlos Amadeu.
Brief Results:
Margao: Iran 3 {M. Ghobishavi 25′ (p) T. Shariati 29′(p) M. Sardari 89′} beat Costa Rica 0
Brazil 2 (Lincoln 4′ Brenner 34′) beat Niger 0
Kochi: Germany 3 {J. Arp 8′ N. Kuhn 62′ S. Cetin 90+2 (p) } beat Guinea 1 (I. Soumah 26′)
Spain 2 (Moha 4′ Cesar 71′) beat Korea DPR 0