Argentina Win World Cup Final Rematch against Germany

Argentina Win World Cup Final Rematch against Germany

Wednesday, September 3, 2014 11:23 pm


Two goals in each half was enough for Argentina to gain some measure of vengeance from the 2014 World Cup on Germany in Gerardo Martino’s first match as Arge tina coach while England struggled past Norway in another friendly.

A rematch of the World Cup final was played between world champions Germany and Argentina, though many of the players that took part in the July match were unavailable tonight at the Esprit Arena.

Barcelona ace Lionel Messi was out injured for Argentina as were new captain Bastian Schweinsteiger and Jerome Boateng for Germany, while the recently retired German trio of Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker were presented to the crowd ahead of the match.

Germany had the first chance early on when Mario Gomez was put through on goal only for the Fiorentina striker to shoot straight at Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Gomez and Germany would be made to rue that chance midway through the first half when Sergio Agüero lashed home a cross by Manchester United midfielder Angel di Maria.

Di Maria was on hand to help double Argentina’s lead just before half-time, setting up in-form Tottenham Hotspur forward Erik Lamela who fired a first-time volley into the top corner.

Argentina were 3-0 up two minutes into the second half as Federico Fernandez slotted home a freekick by Di Maria, who capped a sterling display with a goal of his own two minutes later.

Andre Schürrle pulled one back for the world champions two minutes later and Marco Reus was denied by the woodwork as Germany slowly found a wayback into the match.

Substitute Mario Götze, whose extra-time goal had won Germany the World Cup, scored a late consolation for the Europeans as Argentina held on for a satisfying 4-2 victory.

Elsewhere, England edged Norway by a lone goal courtesy of a Wayne Rooney penalty midway through the second half in Wembley while USA also won by a lone goal in the friendly match against Czech Republic.

Other results from friendly matches on Wednesday night saw Turkey get a 2-1 win over Denmark, Russia crushed Azerbaijan 4-0 while Palestine fell 4-1 at Myanmar and 2015 African Nations Cup host Morocco drew goalless with 2022 World Cup host Qatar.


Join The Conversation

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.