England vs. Germany FIFA World Cup 2010 Round of 16 Review

A youthful Germany put an end to England's World Cup hopes but did benefit from a bit of luck before half time.

The Match

A ball from Manuel Neuer was tucked in by Miroslav Klose past David James for the first goal. The second goal came from none other than Lukas Podolski following a Thomas Mueller pass. Mathew Upson scored with a header to bring England back into the game.

A nervous-looking Germany conceded a second when Frank Lampard's shot beat Neuer, but the goal was disallowed by the linesman. Germany then ran riot on the counter and Mueller scored two quick goals.

The Positives

Germany's defence looked much better today. Per Mertesacker looked much better than he has looked in recent matches.

Arne Friedrich was very impressive and put in some important tackles. He did concede a yellow card for his efforts, though. Jerome Boateng put in an average shift and denied James Milner with a good tackle.

Philipp Lahm was very cool under pressure; he cleared a goal-bound shot for the second match in a row.

Manuel Neuer was quite good. Neuer's distribution was very good, especially his assist to Klose. His save to deny Steven Gerrard a goal was one of the best of the match.

Bastian Schweinsteiger was once again a gem in midfield alongside Sami Khedira. His passing was very good and he did well on the counter.

Mesut Oezil and Lukas Podolski both started poorly. Podolski, though got going as the match went on and altogether put in a good shift. He scored a wonderful goal. Oezil put in a good shift altogether as well.

Mueller put in a fantastic shift. He not only scored but produced Podolski's goal. Germany's counter-attacks were doubly impressive due to Muller. Miro Klose put in a good shift and managed to score his 12th World Cup goal.

The Negatives

There were a few problems today. Lahm had two nervy moments. He missed one ball completely, but Neuer was on hand to save. Also a missed Lahm pass led to an England attack via Ashley Cole.

Germany looked very nervy towards the end of the first half. They need to be slightly stronger mentally in these situations.

Germany again missed good chances. Klose and Oezil were both guilty of missing one-on-one chances.

Friedrich needs to be a bit more careful; he played well but made another challenge after getting the first yellow card which could have easily seen him going for an early shower.

Neuer and the German defence failed to deal with Steven Gerrard's cross, which led to Upson's goal.

I felt sorry to see Mario Gomez today. He couldn't even hold onto the ball today and really needs a huge injection of confidence to get himself going.

In Conclusion

Germany gave a very good account of themselves. They played very well and there were very few mistakes. Their counter-attacks were fantastic.

These German youngsters are showing what they can do with the ball but need to keep their feet firmly on the ground. Germany must also remember that they rode their luck due to Lampard's disallowed goal.

I would love to see Joachim Loew get a new contract from the DFB.

This is what Loew had to say after the match and he summed up the display perfectly:

“I said to my team at the half-time break, we need to try and score the third goal.”

“We knew we could hit England on the counter-attack because they were open. Our players carried it off brilliantly.”