Mario Goetze (L) of Germany attacks Brad Guzan of the U.S. (Photo : Reuters)
The United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT) stunned defending World Cup champions and FIFA world no. 1 Germany, 2-1, in an international friendly match held at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany on Wednesday.
Coming from an improbable 4-3 victory over FIFA world no. 6 the Netherlands at Amsterdam Arena on June 5, the Americans defeated another world seeded team for the second straight game.
Coached by German national Jürgen Klinsmann, the U.S. came from behind again as Germany punched in the first goal inside the first 15 minutes of the match, courtesy of a simple kick by 2014 World Cup hero Mario Gotze coming from a cross-court pass by the fleet-footed speedster Patrick Herrmann.
It was a perfect pass from Herrmann as it left Gotze wide open for a split second with only U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan between him and the goal.
Klinsmann's boys gathered their composure and after a gorgeous 35-pass sequence, midfielder Mix Diskerud controlled the ball off his chest and ax-kicked home an exquisite Michael Bradley diagonal to equalize the count, 1-all, four minutes left in the half via CBS Sports.
The rhythm of the second half seemed to favor the visitors as the Americans protected the ball and controlled the tempo of the match. Play after play, the U.S. showed cohesiveness as Aron Jóhannsson and Diskerud danced around midfield.
Finally, with three minutes remaining in the game, American substitute Bobby Wood again delivered the final blow, as he did in the Netherlands match, left-footing a straight away power kick that glided past German goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler to put the visitors on top, 2-1, according to Sporting News.
Teammate Brad Evans was able to push the ball into attacking distance and then passed the ball to Wood for the winner and a second consecutive drubbing of a seeded team.
