Wednesday August 15, 2012 Friendlies Finished Commerzbank-Arena
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Dominant Spain beat Puerto Rico
World and European champions Spain missed a glut of scoring chances but still completed a 2-1 victory over lowly Puerto Rico. More
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Live Commentary
Time:90'- Germany
- Argentina
- 21:46 Thanks for logging on for LIVE commentary. Keep your eyes on the Live box on the home page for details of other LIVE matches you can see right here on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk. Good night.
- 21:43 One thing's for sure though, and that's that Argentina will go into their next two World Cup qualifiers, against Paraguay and Peru, full of confidence.
- 21:40 Quite what we've learned from this game is up for debate, with Germany's 10-man status for the final hour handing Argentina an advantage that they did not relinquish.
90+3' FULL-TIME: GERMANY 1-3 ARGENTINA.- 90+1' A throroughly entertaining match, as far as international friendlies go, this one. We certainly didn't expect to get 90 minutes from Messi. A rare treat.
- 90' Three minutes of time to be added-on.
- 89' And we have an idiot on the pitch. He makes a bee-line for Messi, pats him on the back, and runs off. Ah, security have got him. He looks happy enough though.
88' Schuerrle, who really has been brilliant for Germany since coming on, tries a low, curling shot from the edge of the box, sensing that a defender or two might have unsighted Romeo. It's saved.- 86' It's starting to peter out here.
84' Messi totally skins Badstuber and sets-up Higuain... HIGUAIN SHOOTS AT THE NEAR POST... but ter Stegen gets his angles right and stops the shot.- 81' Schuerrle and Goetze combine well on the right side of the box, releasing the Dortmund man towards the byline. His cross is headed home by Hoewedes, who nets for the first time in international football.
81' GOAL: GERMANY 1-3 ARGENTINA.
79' ARGENTINA SUB: Rodrigo Brana replaces Mascherano.- 78' Good cross from Hoewedes on the right side. A nice cross that's nodded towards goal by Gundogan. I say towards goal, it was always heading to the side of it.
77' Messi wriggles his way past two men AND SMASHES THE BALL AGAINST THE POST. It looked like ter Stegen actually got the smallest of touches to that shot with his arm, and pushed it against the post.- 75' GERMANY SUB: Mario Goetze replaces Reus.
- 74' Brilliant. That was di Maria's last touch of the game. And what a last touch.
- 74' ARGENTINA SUB: Pablo Guinazu replaces di Maria.
- 73' Di Maria absolutely leathers the ball home from 30 yards out. That was a first time hit that seemed to bend one one and then the other. The goalkeeper had no chance. That was di Maria's seventh internartional goal. What a left foot!
- 73' GOAL: GERMANY 0-3 ARGENTINA
- 71' Reus slots the ball to Schuerrle on the left, but he's closed down by Fernandez.
- 70' Wonderful one-two between Schuerrle and Kroos, but the former is flagged offside - correctly, of course - and Romero will take the free-kick.
- 69' GERMANY SUN: Ilkay Gundogan replaces Oezil.
- 68' GERMANY SUB: Toni Kroos replaces Khedira.
- 67' Schuerrle gets a shot in this time, and Romero puts it out for a corner, which comes to nothing.
- 66' Schuerrle does brilliantly in the middle of the park, spotting Schmelzer's run. Schmelzer wins a corner thanks to Campagnaro's tackle.
- 65' ARGENTINA SUB: Hugo Campagnaro replaces Zabaleta.
- 64' Higuain on the ball, Boateng loses his footing and Messi latches onto Higuain's back-heeled pass. MESSI MUST SCORE.... NO! His chipped shot is beyond ter Stegen and beyond the far post. What a pass from Higuain.
- 63' A risky back-pass from Zabaleta gives Germany a corner. It comes to nothing, though.
- 62' A good chance to see how Leverkusen player Schuerrle, who has been repeatedly linked with Chelsea during the summer, gets on.
- 61' GERMANY SUB: Andreas Schuerrle replaces Klose.
- 60' It's all Argentina right now. Germany can't find a way back into the game.
- 59' Gago feeds the ball to di Maria. DI MARIA WITH A POWERFUL SHOT... It's beaten away by Romero.
- 56' Some wonderful work from Messi as he shakes off the attention of three defenders on the right side of the area. He chips a cross over... Higuain arrives behind his marker... but can't make the decisive contact.
- 54' Long ball from di Maria finds Higuain on the edge of the box. HE SHOOTS FOR GOAL, but the ball flies over the bar. He didn't have to shoot first time, but was under immense pressure from Badstuber.
- 52' Klose is flagged offside as he tried to receive Boateng's through-ball. That's the correct decision too. The match officials really have been on top form tonight. They haven't got a decision wrong between them.
- 51' Messi gets his 27th international goal, slotting home a low drive from just inside the box. It was Aguero who began the move with a probing through-ball to Higuain, and the Real Madrid striker then pulled the ball back to the edge of the box, from where Messi struck.
- 51' GOAL: GERMANY 0-2 ARGENTINA
- 49' A sensational shot from Reus from 25 yards cannoned off the left post and back to the feet of Khedira, who was inside the area. He slotted the ball to Oezil, who blasted the ball into the roof of the net. It was Khedira who was flagged, and rightly so.
48' No. It's been disallowed for offside.- 48' GOAL: GERMANY 1-1 ARGENTINA.
- 47' Germany win a corner as Mascherano takes the ball away from Schmelzer. Reus's corner comes to nothing, however.
- 47' Argentina win a free-kick for a foul on Aguero by Hoewedes.
46' We're off.- 20:51 And that means we're ready for the second half. Disappointingly, no schnitzel during the break. A nice bratwurst though.
- 20:51 ARGENTINA SUB: Sergio Aguero replaces Sosa.
- 20:34 Rejoin us for the second half in 15 minutes time. I'm off to sample the Schnitzel.
- 45+4' HALF-TIME: GERMANY 0-1 ARGENTINA.
- 45+3' Messi surges into the area. Germany would not want to concede a second here. Di Maria picks up the ball, but Hoewedes gets a foot in and ter Stegen will clear.
- 45+2' It's an own-goal. Di Maria's corner is aimed at the near post towards Sosa, and the unfortunate Sami Khedira gets his knee in the way, directing the ball into his own net in the process.
- 45+2' GOAL!!! Germany 0-1 Argentina.
- 45+1' Argentina win a corner. Di Maria whips it in.
- 45' Four minutes of additional time will be played.
- 44' Gago breaks up another Germany attack and Mascherano will move things on.
- 42' Sosa's cross from th left wing is intercepted by Boateng and Germany break with Oezil, and now Reus. He feeds Schmelzer on the left side of the box. He crosses low... KLOSE MUST SCORE... NO!!! The veteran can't quite get his toe to the ball. He was six yards from goal and the keeper was beaten. A glorious chance goes begging for a man with 64 international goals against his name.
- 40' Back to the Argentina box and Mascherano takes the ball off Khedira's toes. The corner comes to nothing for the home side.
- 39' Messi takes another Argentina corner, but this one is straight into the grateful hands of ter Stegen.
- 38' It's end-to-end stuff here. Messi saunters into the German box. He has no space, yet somehow marches through three defenders all looking about twice his size. It's Bender who just prevents him getting a shot away.
- 37' Germany counter quickly... Reus is 35 yards out... Brilliant through-ball is going to be pounced upon by Oezil... nope. It was a touch too heavy and Romero claims that one.
- 35' The man advantage is starting to benefit Argentina now. Ter Stegen has had more touches since he came on than Zieler did in half an hour.
- 34' From a free-kick, Messi and di Maria play a neat one-two, but ter Stegen takes command and comes to collect the ball, rather than leaving it to Badstuber.
- 32' IT'S SAVED!!!! Ter Stegen guessed right and fell to his left side to smother the ball easily. That was a very poor penalty from the World Player of the Year.
- 32' Messi will take a short run-up... Here it comes...
- 31' His first duty will be to face a Messi penalty. Poor boy.
- 30' GERMANY SUB: Marc-Andre ter Stegen replaces Mueller.
- 29' So Marc-Andre ter Stegen of Borussia Moenchengladbach will come on. He's just 20 and has only been capped once.
29' And Zieler is sent off. He was the last man, after all.
29' PENALTY TO ARGENTINA. Sosa went clear and Zieler brought him down.- 28' Nice interplay from Khedira and Muller... Hoewedes is overlapping on the right, but instead Muller pulls it back to Reus. REUS HITS IT HARD... but the shot is blocked by Mascherano just inside the box.
26' Zabaleta protests his innocence, but he's booked. And replays confirm that the referee got it 100 per cent right.- 26' Germany look to counter-attack from the goal kick... Khedira is hacked down by Pablo Zabaleta.
- 25' Di Maria plays the ball up to the left side of the Germany Box... Rojo nods it back to his right... Garay's header is over the bar.
- 24' GERMANY SUB: Benedikt Hoewedes replaces Hummels, who clearly is injured.
- 24' Di Maria twists and turns and gets by Schmelze, but Reus gets back to put the ball out for a corner.
- 23' Messi's been marginalised so far with Germany dominating posession, but he's just starting to get himself on the ball a bit more now. Germany being temporarily down to 10 men will help.
- 23' Hummels doesn't look too good. The Dortmund defender has gone off for a bit of treatment.
- 22' Di Maria brings the ball to the edge of the box for Argentina. He tries a low pass towards Messi... Hummels gets a toe to it... THAT WAS SO NEARLY AN OWN-GOAL. The ball trickles past the post for a corner. Messi takes it, but Garay's header is over the bar.
- 20' Germany win another corner via the good work of Reus, who has been switching roles with Klose every couple of minutes. It comes to nothing.
- 18' Klose does well on the left, he pulls the ball back to Mueller on the edge of the box. VICIOUS SHOT FROM MUELLER... ooh. He's hit that right into Oezil's face. That's got to hurt.
- 17' Lars Bender wins a corner. He's looked lively so far and Mascherano had to get involved there to get rid of the danger. Corner comes to nothing.
- 16' Higuain looks like he'll try and carry on, but he's now got a bandaged head to add to his strapped knee!
15' Higuain clashes heads with Mads Hummels and both are on the ground. Badstuber was involved too, but he escaped unscathed. Higuain, incidentally, had a bit of strapping put on his knee about 10 minutes ago, so it's looking unlikely he'll go the distance tonight.- 13' Garay and Fernandez were totally undone by that low Klose pass, and definitely have their goalkeeper to thank for keeping them on level terms.
- 12' Great probing pass from Reus to Klose. The veteran striker runs right up to the byline and crosses low to the near post... OEZIL ARRIVES.... BUT ROMERO SAVE SUPERBLY DOWN LOW AT THE NEAR POST.
- 10' Rojo, incidentally, has just joined Sporting Lisbon after spending the last 18 months with Spartak Moscow in Russia. He'll be a bit warmer this season then...
8' The flag was up against Higuain anyway, but the Real Madrid striker looked like he was being played on by Boateng in the right-back slot. He was, he definitely was.- 7' Marcos Rojo evades Jerome Boateng on the left side. Dangerous cross from Rojo... HIGUAIN ARRIVES AT THE FAR POST... but he blasts it over. Bad miss. That should have been 1-0.
- 5' Javier Mascherano's throw starts a move off for Argentina... Nope, actually it doesn't. Sami Khedira, so brilliant when these sides last met, stops that one.
- 4' Foul by Jose Sosa on Muller on the far right. Mesut Oezil takes the free-kick, whipping it into the area, but Holger Badstuber can't direct his header towards goal.
- 3' Germany have the first decen effort as Marco Reus wiggles his way past his marker. His low cross towards Thomas Mueller, however, is interrupted as Ezequiel Garay gets his foot in and blasts the ball clear.
- 2' Ron-Robert Zieler, making only his second Germany appearance, gets his first touch. He was on Manchester United's books once upon a time and made a handful of appearances for Northampton Town in League 2, would you believe.
1' Germany get us underway.- 19:45 Miroslav Klose, making his 122nd appearance for Germaby, exchanges pleasantries with Lionel Messi (winning cap number 71 himself at just 25 years old) and we're ready for the off.
- 19:44 The hands are shaken and we're getting ready for kick-off.
19:43 And a nice little presentation is taking place on the pitch as Marco Reus receives his German Player of the Year award from the 2011/12 season. He was fabulous last season for Borussia Moenchengladbach, which earned him a spot in Germany's Euro 2012 squad and a £13.7million move to Bayern Munich, which went through last month after being signed in January.- 19:42 ARGENTINA TEAM: Romero; Zabaleta; Garay; Fernandez; Rojo; Mascherano; Gago; Jose Sosa; di Maria; Messi; Higuain. SUBS: Andujar; Coloccini; Rodriguez; Campagnaro; Guinazu; Perez; Salvio; Brana; Aguero; Lavezzi.
- 19:40 GERMANY TEAM: Zieler; Boateng; Hummels; Badstuber; Schmelzer; Oezil; Khedira; Bender; Klose; Mueller; Reus. SUBS: ter Stegen; Hoewedes; Gundogan; Schuerrle; Draxler; Kroos; Goetze.
- 19:35 MANAGER QUOTES: Alejandro Sabella (Argentina) on tactics for the match: "It depends on the overall context of the team and not just two or three players. We can play with two or three strikers, but at Barcelona they use just one man up front, while at Spain there was a debate whether (Fernando) Torres or (Cesc) Fabregas should play. In the end they played without an outright striker and finished champions of Europe."
- 19:30 MANAGER QUOTES: Joachim Loew (Germany) on the future of Miroslav Klose: "I don't see any age limit for him. If Miro is in good physical shape, he is one of the world’s best strikers, I will plan with him over the next two years.”
- 19:25 The Argentina squad looks a little heavier on experience, with star men Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Angel di Maria all looking set to start for Alejandro Sabella's team.
- 19:20 Joachim Loew has named an experimental squad for this game, with no Manuel Neuer, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Gomez or Lukas Podolski, and instead includes the inexperienced Ron-Robert Zieler, Julian Draxler and Ilkay Gundogan. No starting line-up just yet though.
- 19:15 Hello and welcome to the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt for LIVE coverage of tonight's international friendly between Germany and Argentina, here on eurosport.yahoo.co.uk
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Summary
- 88' Schuerrle, who really has been brilliant for Germany since coming on, tries a low, curling shot from the edge of the box, sensing that a defender or two might have unsighted Romeo. It's saved.
- 81' Schuerrle and Goetze combine well on the right side of the box, releasing the Dortmund man towards the byline. His cross is headed home by Hoewedes, who nets for the first time in international football.
- 81' GOAL: GERMANY 1-3 ARGENTINA.
- 77' Messi wriggles his way past two men AND SMASHES THE BALL AGAINST THE POST. It looked like ter Stegen actually got the smallest of touches to that shot with his arm, and pushed it against the post.
- 73' Di Maria absolutely leathers the ball home from 30 yards out. That was a first time hit that seemed to bend one one and then the other. The goalkeeper had no chance. That was di Maria's seventh internartional goal. What a left foot!
- 73' GOAL: GERMANY 0-3 ARGENTINA
- 64' Higuain on the ball, Boateng loses his footing and Messi latches onto Higuain's back-heeled pass. MESSI MUST SCORE.... NO! His chipped shot is beyond ter Stegen and beyond the far post. What a pass from Higuain.
- 51' GOAL: GERMANY 0-2 ARGENTINA
- 48' No. It's been disallowed for offside.
- 48' GOAL: GERMANY 1-1 ARGENTINA.
- 45+2' GOAL!!! Germany 0-1 Argentina.
- 42' Sosa's cross from th left wing is intercepted by Boateng and Germany break with Oezil, and now Reus. He feeds Schmelzer on the left side of the box. He crosses low... KLOSE MUST SCORE... NO!!! The veteran can't quite get his toe to the ball. He was six yards from goal and the keeper was beaten. A glorious chance goes begging for a man with 64 international goals against his name.
- 29' And Zieler is sent off. He was the last man, after all.
- 29' PENALTY TO ARGENTINA. Sosa went clear and Zieler brought him down.
- 22' Di Maria brings the ball to the edge of the box for Argentina. He tries a low pass towards Messi... Hummels gets a toe to it... THAT WAS SO NEARLY AN OWN-GOAL. The ball trickles past the post for a corner. Messi takes it, but Garay's header is over the bar.
- 18' Klose does well on the left, he pulls the ball back to Mueller on the edge of the box. VICIOUS SHOT FROM MUELLER... ooh. He's hit that right into Oezil's face. That's got to hurt.
- 7' Marcos Rojo evades Jerome Boateng on the left side. Dangerous cross from Rojo... HIGUAIN ARRIVES AT THE FAR POST... but he blasts it over. Bad miss. That should have been 1-0.
- 4' Foul by Jose Sosa on Muller on the far right. Mesut Oezil takes the free-kick, whipping it into the area, but Holger Badstuber can't direct his header towards goal.
- 19:43 And a nice little presentation is taking place on the pitch as Marco Reus receives his German Player of the Year award from the 2011/12 season. He was fabulous last season for Borussia Moenchengladbach, which earned him a spot in Germany's Euro 2012 squad and a £13.7million move to Bayern Munich, which went through last month after being signed in January.
Team Line-up & Ratings
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Line-up
Live Team Line-Up
Starting line-up
- R. Zieler
- J. Boateng
- M. Hummels
- H. Badstuber
- M. Schmelzer
- L. Bender
- S. Khedira
- T. Müller
- M. Özil
- M. Reus
- M. Klose
Subs
- B. Höwedes
25′ 
- T. Kroos 69′
- I. Gündogan 69′
- A. Schürrle 62′
- M. ter Stegen 32′
- M. Götze 74′
- J. Draxler
- R. Zieler
Starting line-up
- S. Romero
- P. Zabaleta
- F. Fernández
- E. Garay
- M. Rojo
- F. Gago
- J. Mascherano
- J. Sosa
- Á. Di María
- L. Messi
- G. Higuaín
Subs
- F. Coloccini
- M. Andújar
- S. Agüero 45′
- R. Braña 80′
- C. Rodríguez
- E. Salvio
- E. Pérez
- P. Guiñazú 73′
- H. Campagnaro 65′
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Rate Players
Only German Football !
Mixed Squad by Low showed that there is still a good reserved team for Germany. The red card has ruin the classic rivalry. ter Stegen played better compared to his previous match before EURO not long ago.
I find it insulting when people say Messi doesn't succeed at international level because the Argentine team isn't that good...They could actually make two very good starting 11s...
Messi dont need penalty, he will score anyways hahahaah :P
muah messi.....messi is rising.
Goal? What goal?
@commentator... how was the schnitzel??
a red card in a friendly? way to ruin the entire match.
messi missed a penalty hahahahahaha cr7 would score hahahahahaha
germany will win 4-0
Use the u21s who beat there compatriots 6-1 last night ! It will be interesting how the team cope without Neuer,Lahm and Schweinsteiger tonight.
My Best Player In The World Lionel Andres Messi, Xavi, Inesta, Victor Valdis, David Via and All Barcelona Team I love Them. I am 99 % sure this session will win FCBARCELONA the champion lage and Laliga match.
Argentina will win 4-2 Or, Argentina will win 2-1
classic rivals....
Germany will win 3-1
