Germany vs. Kazakhstan: Final score 4-1, Reus, fellow Dortmund stars lead Germany to victory
A splendid first half performance was all Germany needed to see off Kazakhstan as Dortmund’s three young stars led the way.
Germany were in total control from the opening whistle and completely dominated possession and the midfield. However when they ventured forward in the attacking third, they seemed to short circuit and forget how to execute the final pass. After 20 minutes things started to click though and the Germans took control.
A wild two minute spell began in the 21st minute when Mario Götze’s cross into the box was met by Ilkay Gündogan who put the ball off the post. Less than a minute later Götze put a shot off the opposite post after an awful bit of defending allowed a long ball by Mesut Özil to fall to him in the box.
Finally in the 23rd minute, Germany got on target and took a 1-0 lead thanks to Marco Reus. Reus took a short pass from Özil on the edge of the Kazakhstan box, dribbled centreally before firing a low shot between the post and the diving Andrey Sidelnikov.
The goal calmed Germany and four minutes later they added a second goal. Philipp Lahm picked up the ball in the midfield and dribbled straight through the Kazakhstan defense and into the box. Lahm avoided a late tackle attempt and sent the ball back in front of goal where it was touched past Sidelnikov by Götze from close range.
With the floodgates now open, Ilkay Gündogan made up for hitting the post earlier taking advantage of the increasingly poor Kazakhstan defending and re-directing an Özil cross for the German third goal of the first half.
Kazakhstan opened the second half with a completely underserved goal thanks to a really bad mistake by Manuel Neuer. The German keeper misplayed a fairly pedestrian backpass and left the ball sitting at the top of the box for Heinrich Schmidtgal to drive into the back of the net, making it 3-1.
Reus scored his second goal of the game three minutes from full time, receiving a short pass from Gündogan as he made a run into the Kazakhstan box before beating the keeper with a shit under the cross bar.
More in Soccer:
