Germany vs Ghana, World Cup results: Germany held to a 2-2 draw

Germany came into the tournament as one of the favorites to win the 2014 World Cup. They landed in the toughest group with Portugal, the United States and Ghana, but in their tournament opening game they didn’t seem to be outmatched.

Germany beat Portugal in that opening game by a commanding 4-0 margin, and they took hold of first place in the group. In their second game against Ghana, arguably the weakest team in the group, they were expected to collect another three points and earn a round of 16 berth.

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Ghana, lost their opening game to the United States in dramatic fashion. They gave up an opening goal to USA forward Clint Dempsey in the first minute, but held the USA at bay for most of the game. In the 82nd minute, Ghana tied that game up only to have the USA take the lead a few minutes later.

Against Germany, Ghana appeared to overmatched on paper but their situation brought about a bit of a desperation. Ghana held the German’s at bay for the entire first half, bringing a 0-0 draw into the second half.

In the 51st minute, Mario Götze gave Germany the lead on a “header” off a Thomas Müller cross. The ball went off Götze’s head, and straight down where he accidentally and unintentionally kneed it forward and on goal.

It looked like the German floodgates had been open and they were about to score at will. Just three minutes later though, Andre Ayew buried his own header in the back of the net to tie the game. Ayew’s header came off a Harrison Afful cross.

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With the momentum in their favor, the Ghana team continued to press forward. Sulley Ali Muntari sent a beautiful through ball past the German defense and found a charging Asamoah Gyan. With the ball at his feet, Gyan came in on goal alone for the most part and sent a beautiful strike across the goal and in the back of the net near the back post.

That goal made Gyan the first African player to score in three World Cup final tournaments.

That gave Ghana the lead in the group of death just 12 minutes after Götze’s initial goal. At about the 70th minute, the Germans made some tactical changes bringing on Miroslav Klose for Mario Götze and Bastian Schweinsteiger for Sami Khedira. Klose became Germany’s all-time leading scorer in pre-World Cup friendlies and tied the game just a minute after being substituted into the game.

A corner kick found Klose at the back post and he tapped it in to tie the game up for Germany. It was a thrilling game, and both sides had some quality chances in the final 20 minutes of the game to take the lead, but neither could convert.

On the final play of the game, a free kick from Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and John Boye banged heads. Both laid on the turf after the final whistle and Müller was bleeding badly. Müller scored three goals in the win over Portugal and losing him going into the final game against the United States would be tough.