What a weird game. They tried to market it as “Brother against Brother,” because of the 1/2-sibling relationship between Kevin Prince (Ghana) and Jerome (Germany) Boateng.
But that wasn’t it at all. It was more like Ghana against themselves.
FIFA has instituted simultaneous starts to these last group matches, with the intention of preventing teams from playing for specific results and encouraging them to play to win. It’s a good idea, and I think it helps, but with high-tech inventions like the radio and cell phone, info about the other match in the group is certainly being passed around the stadium nevertheless, and leaking onto the pitch.
I imagine that’s why the end of this match was so listless, and simultaneously so terribly tense. With the Australia/Serbia score so far in their favor but time still on the clock, the Black Stars couldn’t decide if they should aim for the top of the table or just see out the game. Their opponents were happy with the scoreline (0-1 to Germany) and afraid to do anything. At the moment, both teams were going through to the last 16. Nobody wanted to press their luck, nobody wanted to jinx it. The players were still moving around the pitch, but the game had come to a standstill.
The match ended… and didn’t. It wasn’t till the Australia/Serbia result was known that winter passed, the ice melted and Özil’s goal could be appreciated for what it was — a lovey bit of skill.