Die Mannschaft looked to do something unprecedented by beating old rivals France, and advancing to their fourth straight semifinal. 

A thirteenth minute Mats Hummels headed goal was all Die Mannschaft needed to complete the task as Germany defeated France 1-0 at the Estádio do Maracanã. For France, this match brought back the ghosts of their 1982 and 1986, World Cup tournaments in which they could not seem to get past (West) Germany. 

After the Germans set the early tempo, France was forced to concede a costless kick outside the 18. Toni Kroos delivered the ball into the box and found the unmarked Mats Hummels to open the scoring for the Germans.

Germany continued to have most of the pressure on the France goal and controlled the tempo for most of the first half. Then for the last several minutes, Les Bleus got their chance to control the match, but despite the vision of Blaise Matuidi, Matthieu Valbuena, and others, they could not turn their pressure into clear goal-scoring chances. 

The second half continued in much the same way in France trying to pressure Manuel Neuer's goal, while Germany looked to break on the counter. Although Pogba and Cabaye were clicking, France would not get its best chance until second half stoppage time when Karim Benzema forces Manuel Neuer into a save off of a shot from inside the 18. 

It would be the save that would book the Germans to their fourth straight World Cup semifinal awaiting the winner of the Brazil-Colombia match, and force France to start their UEFA Euro 2016 preparations earlier than expected, 

That semifinal will take place at the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday at 8:00 PM. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Steve Graff
Maryland-based engineer by training, and sport writer. International football writer on VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. Formerly covered futbol Mexicano for soccerly. Currently cover Mexican soccer for FutMexSource.