Germany 0 - 1 Spain - 西班牙

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Spain reached the World Cup final for the first time after a
second-half header from Carles Puyol secured a narrow victory
over Germany after an intriguing match in Durban.

Vicente del Bosque's side won their fourth straight game 1-0
and will now play the Netherlands in Sunday's final at Soccer City.

Spain deserved their victory after controlling huge periods of
the match, but once again it was far from a vintage performance.

Del Bosque's team improved on their scrappy performance against
Paraguay in the previous round but still struggled to carve out
clear openings.

The winning goal came when Puyol showed great determination to
atone for a poor first-half miss by heading home Xavi's corner
with 17 minutes remaining.

The Euro 2008 champions, who defeated Germany 1-0 in the final
of that competition, should have scored a second after striking
with the sort of counter-attack that had been a trademark of their
opponents' play in this competition, but Pedro failed to pick out
a completely unmarked Fernando Torres.

Germany had invited pressure by adopting an increasingly deep
defensive line as the match wore on - and may regret not taking
the game to their opponents more while it remained goalless.

Joachim Loew's team scored four against both England and Argentina
in their previous games and had illuminated the competition with
their bold play.

But they had few opportunities to strike on the counter against
Spain and so Germany taste defeat at the semi-final stage for the
second successive World Cup.

Spain coach Del Bosque chose Wednesday's tie to drop the out-of-form
Torres, drafting in Barcelona's lively young forward Pedro and
deploying David Villa as a lone striker.

And while Del Bosque's team certainly looked comfortable as they
worked the ball around midfield, Germany showed excellent shape
and discipline, and were rarely dragged out of position.

Spain did occasionally pick holes in the German defensive structure,
with Pedro playing in Villa only for keeper Manuel Neuer to deny him
after only five minutes.

Puyol headed over from a firm Andres Iniesta cross, wasting an
excellent chance, while a raking cross-field pass from Xabi Alonso
found Sergio Ramos in space, only for the Real Madrid full-back to
drill his ambitious shot wide.

Germany did not have the opportunity to launch a counter attack
until the 22nd minute, but that broke down after a miscommunication
between Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.

Loew's team looked increasingly threatening as the half wore on and
had what initially appeared to be a strong penalty appeal in
injury-time, after Ozil went down under a clumsy challenge from Ramos.

Ozil was certainly in a very threatening position after collecting
a pass from Miroslav Klose and looked to be fouled, but replays
suggested the initial contact had been made outside the area.

The start of the second half was a repeat of the first in that
Spain passed and probed - but this time they started to seriously
threaten Neuer's goal.

Alonso twice shot wide from distance, as did Villa with a low effort
he tried to curl across goal, but the impressive Pedro did force a
sharp save from Neuer.

Germany were dropping ever deeper and would have fallen behind but
for two near misses. The first saw Villa come within inches of
converting a low Iniesta cross, while Ramos was likewise agonisingly
close to converting from Alonso's angled pass.

Loew brought on Marcell Jansen and Toni Kroos for Jerome Boateng and
Trochowski as he tried to change the game in his team's favour.

And Kroos forced a save after a deep cross from Podolski, but shortly
afterwards Puyol struck and Spain were able to close out the match to
seal their place in the final and ensure that the World Cup will have
a first-time winner in 2010.


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