The United States rounded off a European double as Jurgen Klinsmann’s side left it late once again to beat the reigning World Cup holders, Germany, 2-1 in Cologne. Bobby Wood scored a brilliant 87th minute winner to seal a memorable win over Germany.
The World champions started the game brightly as the German front four caused the U.S. defence problems straight from the kick-off. Mesut Ozil had the first clear-cut chance of the game six minutes in, when Andre Schurrle was picked out by a good long ball from Patrick Herrmann, Schurrle, who had acres of space around him, played the ball to a dashing Ozil, but the attacking midfielder’s first time shot was well caught by Brad Guzan. The U.S. responded well when a good passage of play orchestrated from Aron Johannsson resulted in Mix Diskerud firing the ball just wide over the bar.
But the United States' optimism was short lived as Mario Gotze put the Germans in front moments after Diskerud’s chance. Herrmann ploughed his way through the U.S. defence with ease down the right wing, before laying the ball of to Gotze inside the penalty box, and the World Cup hero coolly slotted the ball past Guzan to give Germany the lead in the 12th minute.
The half didn’t get any easier for Jurgen Klinsmann’s men as the German’s possessed the ball well and the four time World Cup winners were using their wide players and the United States' narrow shape to their advantage, with Herrmann and Schurrle being able to burst down the wings and cause the U.S. some damage whilst on the attack. This tactic seemed to be playing on the U.S. players’ mind, as Daniel Williams picked up a yellow card in the 21st minute for a rash challenge on Illkay Gundogan.
There was another scare for the Americans as Gotze again found his way through on goal after the U.S. defence were caught sleeping, Ozil allowed Gotze to beat the offside trap, but the Bayern Munich playmaker’s shot was well saved by Guzan. Gotze could have redeemed himself moments later when the midfielder was again through one-on-one with the Aston Villa keeper, but the outcome was the same as Guzan again pulled off another big save to keep the score at 1-0.
However the game complete changed on its head when Mix Diskerud equalized for the U.S. five minutes from half time. Michael Bradley spotted the NYCFC number 10 with space inside the box, and the Toronto FC playmaker played a great long ball over to Diskerud, who controlled the ball well and Diskerud dinked the ball over Ron-Robert Zieler, to make it 1-1. Gyasi Zardes almost made it 2-1 to the U.S. moments later when the LA Galaxy star dashed through the German defence, but his delayed show flew over the bar.
The second half started brightly for the U.S. as Diskerud played a wonderful pass into the path of Zardes, but the 23-year-old striker tripped before he could get the shot off, and Zieler cleared the danger. The addition of DeAndre Yedlin gave the Americans a new option on how to attack the German defence; with the Spurs right back being able to use his rapid pace as a new alternative to take on the German back three.
The U.S. continued to dominate and take control of the second half with brilliant attacking pressure that put Germany in the corner for most of the second half. Johannsson came close to giving the U.S. the lead when a Timothy Chandler cross that was begging to be hit flew past the head of the AZ striker in the 66th minute and the striker missed his chance. Another great chance was wasted by the U.S. as substitute Jordan Morris’, with his first few touches of the ball since coming on, tried an audacious outside of the boot finish from the edge of the penalty box, but his effort flew inches wide of the post.
Bradley was next to test Zieler when the former Roma midfielder and Yedlin combined brilliantly as the two linked well, Yedlin played a good low ball across the box to find his teammate Bradley, but his shot was saved by the feet of Zieler with seven minutes to go. With three minutes to go, the U.S. finally took the lead from Bobby Wood. For the second match running, the U.S. snatched the game at the death. A superb turn allowed Wood to shake off Shkodran Mustafi and the 1860 Munich striker drove a powerful strike into the corner of the net, to give the US a dramatic late winner.
However Germany came close to ruining the United States' party when Sami Khedira’s looping header in the dying seconds of the match smacked off the bar, and as Guzan took the goal kick, the final whistle blew for a famous win in Cologne.