July 5 – In a nail-biting, close contest marked by 16 yellow cards, Spain eliminated Germany and Toni Kroos 2-1 from their home tournament after substitute Mikel Merino claimed a 119th-minute winner in extra time.
Germany bullied Spain off the ball and yet it was not enough. The Germans kicked Pedri off the park early following an unnecessarily physical challenge from Kroos. In the end the Germans can count themselves a little unlucky.
It was a match that morphed from a stodgy first half into a high drama.
The hosts’ physicality in the first half backfired when substitute Dani Olmo put Spain ahead in the 52nd minute. He also provided the assist for Merino’s winner in the 119th minute.
With so much weight attached to the match, the opening phase was cagey, bereft of Spain’s free-flowing passing and Germany’s combinations. Instead, the German midfielders took turns to check Pedri and Rodri in whatever way possible.
Kroos sent Pedri cartwheeling with a mistimed tackle, but English referee Anthony Taylor repeatedly waved away appeals for a booking.
Distraught, Spain’s number 20 was forced off in the 7th minute, making way for the impressive Olmo. Pedri had fired the first warning shot from the edge of the box, but his replacement, with his gossamer passing and vision, was no less of a ball artist.
Antonio Rudiger then clipped Spain’s number ten to the left of the D and the defender was the first player to end up in Taylor’s book. Germany roughening it up prevented Spain from generating tempo, but it was a questionable strategy. Spain began the process of readjusting with Pedri off, while in the 20th minute, Kai Havertz, who was to prove profligate in front of goal, wasted a close-range header from a Joshua Kimmich cross lacked power.
After poor marking from Robin Le Normand, who with a booking to his name was not enjoying his best afternoon at the heart of the Spanish defense, Havertz again got a sight of goal again, but his finish, a low diagonal, was straight at Unai Simon. The number seven then carelessly gave away possession, almost allowing Olmo to profit with a long-range drive that bounced awkwardly for Manuel Neuer.
At the other end, Nico Williams was dangerous from an offside position and Lamine Yamal let fly a harmless attempt.
This was not yet the classic everyone had hoped for – commitment and grit instead of superlative action – but it was warming up. The pre-match hype had perhaps jinxed the actual 90 minutes, and so at half-time, managers Julian Nagelsmann and Luis de la Fuente acted.
Nacho replaced Le Normand, always in danger of a sending-off, and the introduction of both Florian Wirtz and the purple-haired Robert Andrich gave Germany’s makeup the Nagelsmann blueprint again.
Yet, Spain took the lead. Germany switched off defensively when Jonathan Tah and David Raum failed to close down Lamine Yamal and the 16-year-old’s assist was perfect for Olmo to connect. No German defender had tracked his run with Andrich ball-watching.
The match finally ignited, with Germany chasing the game and at last finding a controlling rhythmn. They played with more urgency and Nagelsmann threw the dice by bringing on striker Niclas Fullkrug.
Germany were fighting for their tournament lives but in the final third, the men in white couldn’t quite muster the killer finish. Fullkrug headed well wide from a set piece. In the 70th minute, after excellent build-up play with Wirtz and Havertz, though with shades of offside, Fullkrug teed up Andrich, whose low shot had Simon at full stretch.
Cynism had not yet departed the game though. Kroos at long last got booked for a tug on Olmo to prevent the Spanish from countering. Substitute Ferran Torres went into the book for a rugby tackle on Mussiala. The Germans however had became more focused on playing football.
They laid siege to the Spanish goal. Wirtz squared for Fullkrug who stuck out a leg but rattled the woodwork. Havertz pounced on a sloppy goal-kick from Simon, booked moments earlier for time-wasting, but his chip – that seemed to take a lifetime to reach its destination – sailed just over.
Time was against Germans, but Spain struggled to contain the hosts. Fullkrug was a handful for the de la Fuente’s rearguard and veteran substitute Thomas Muller was reveling in the opportunity to cause carnage inside the opponent’s box.
Germany did not relent and Wirtz, excellent throughout the second half, found the equaliser from eight yards out after Kimmich’s glorious tee-up. He leaped up in the air to provide the perfect 89th-minute assist. The German substitutes went berserk. Their team was level. In many ways, Spain only had themselves to blame. De La Fuente had substituted his key attacking personnel – all of Alvaro Morata, Yamal and Williams – to see out the game.
The intensity dropped in the extra time. Oryazabal’s curler dipped narrowly wide and Wirtz had the best chance in the first 15 when Muller, from the left, picked him out in the box but swept his shot just wide. After the restart, the Germans claimed – no, screamed – for a penalty when Musiala’s shot hit the hand of Marc Cucurella, but Taylor was not moved. However, he pulled out more yellow cards during the extra time as the match almost ended the way it had begun: ill-tempered and with 16 yellow cards.
But ultimately, football prevailed. With three minutes remaining, Fullkrug threw himself yet again at a cross, but Simon clawed it away with his fingertips. Penalties looked inevitable, before Spain’s killer blow arrived, one minute before the end.
They stretched play from the right to the left. Olmo’s perfect cross found substitute Mikel Merino who stretched every sinew, his body almost suspended in mid-air like a ballet dancer, to head home and send his team into the last four.
Germany were stunned. Fullkrug had the final chance to pull his side back from the brink, but his header brushed the outside of the woodwork. German resilience was broken at last.
Carjaval applied a rugby tackle on Musiala to be booked for a second time. Simon collected the ensuing free kick from Kroos, his last-ever kick on a professional field. And that was it – Germany were out. It was cruel and heart-breaking.
There will be no party for the hosts in Berlin.
Spain’s win came at a high cost with Morata and the red-carded Carjaval suspended and Pedri presumably injured.
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