Germany 4-0 Portugal: The German show

Ronaldo was expected to shine, but last night, the Arena Fonte Nova was the Germans' own stage. With an easy 4-0 victory thanks to a hat-trick by Thomas Mueller, the Rhine Eagles had a dream start in Brazil...

Mueller scored a hat-trick to help Germany defeat Portugal

GOAL

Germany: Mueller (12' (pen), 45'+1, 78'), Hummels (32'),

RED CARD

Portugal: Pepe (37')

VIDEO: Germany 4-0 Portugal

In the 8th minute of the match, Philipp Lahm lost the ball dangerously in the middle of the field. The ball was passed to the left wing to Cristiano Ronaldo and the superstar made the German goal wobble with a confident shot from a narrow angle, forcing Manuel Neuer to show his talent in saving the goal. Although that situation did not result in a goal for Portugal, it was something that the fans of this team were waiting for.

However, after those dreamy first eight minutes, Portugal quickly returned to reality with some very puzzling mistakes. Portugal's open play put their back line under pressure as Joachim Loew set up a 4-1-4-1 formation with the midfield always ready to press and compete for the ball in the opponent's half. Immediately after Ronaldo's chance, Portugal narrowly escaped defeat when Sami Khedira's shot missed the empty net after a poor goal kick by goalkeeper Patricio. In the 12th minute, it was defender Pereira's turn to make a mistake when he pulled down Mario Goetze in the box. Penalty and Thomas Mueller did not miss the chance to open the scoring.

The loss made Portugal lose the same spirit as when they first entered the match. And with Germany's experience in big tournaments, they knew how to take advantage of this to turn the game in their favor. In the 32nd minute, Mats Hummels headed the ball powerfully from Toni Kroos' corner to make it 2-0. Just 5 minutes later, disaster continued to strike Portugal when Pepe received a direct red card for a foul on Mueller, causing their chance of getting a point in the opening match to disappear.

The much-anticipated match in the 2014 World Cup group stage was therefore one-sided as the Portuguese players could only... run after the ball against the German players. In the first half's injury time, Kroos passed the ball to Mueller to finish from 11 meters away, raising the score to 3-0.

What happened in the first 45 minutes made the second half boring. Portugal tried hard to find an honorary goal, and should have been awarded a penalty. However, they should feel lucky that they only conceded one more goal with Mueller scoring after many chances in front of Patricio's goal. Winning 4-0 in the opening match without much effort, Germany had a dream start. Meanwhile, Portugal will have to try very hard in the remaining 2 matches if they do not want to leave the game early.

LINEUP

Germany: Neuer; Boateng, Mertesacker, Hummels (Mustafi 73'), Höwedes; Lahm; Khedira, Kroos; Oezil (Schuerrle 62'), Gotze; Mueller (Podolski 82').

Portugal: Patricio; Alves, Pepe, Pereira, Coentrao (Almeida 65'); Veloso (Ricardo Costa 46'); Meireles, Moutinho; Ronaldo, Nani; Almeida (Eder 27').

Source: FOOTBALL +