Muller bags hat-trick in Germany rout

Photo: Thomas Muller celebrates his first goal against Portugal, the striker scored the first hat-trick of the competition in the game.

Germany’s Thomas Muller bagged his first international hat-trick to lift Germany to a 4-0 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugalon another exciting day at the FIFA World Cup on Monday.. In a game full of excitement, it was the Die Mannschaft who came out on top with an impressive display and without their midfield maestro Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Germany started on the front foot and Muller gave an early warning  when he almost got onto Jerome Boateng’s cross but it was cleared by Joao Pereira with just 2 minutes on the clock. Ronaldo then broke down the left side on 5 minutes and passed to Hugo Almeida whose tame shot went straight into Neuer’s gloves.

Boateng then played a loose pass on 8 minutes which was intercepted by Raul Meireles who played in Ronaldo. The Portugal captain however shot straight at Neuer. Khedira had a chance about 30 seconds after but he shot wide after Patricio cleared the ball straight to the Madrid man. 

Muller made it 1-0 on 12 minutes scoring a penalty he dispatched a penalty after Mario Gotze was taken down in the area by Pereira. Ozil then get into the game putting a lot of passes together and running in behind the defense. Nani almost leveled on 25 minutes but his shot went just wide of the top right hand corner.

Gotze them missed a great chance after Ozil had played him in following a pass from Lahm who looked superb in central midfield. Mats Hummels made it 2-0 on 32 minutes when he out-jumped his marker to head pass Patricio in goal. The Germans were in cruise control and then it got worse for Portugal.

In the 37th minute Pepe was given his marching orders after he appeared to head-but Muller after a previous clash that left the Bayern man clutching his face. The Real Madrid defender had a moment of madness and with his team 2-0 down it made the game become even harder. Muller made it 3-0 on the stroke of half time when he capalized on a Bruno Alves mistake and scored with a left footed shot.

The second half saw Germany just passing the ball around controlling the game and dominating midfield. Ozil was played in by Kroos with a brilliant pass but the Arsenal man shout straight at Patricio. It got worse for Portugal after left back Fabio Coentrao seemed to over-extent himself and pulled up.

Portugal were pressing despite playing with 10 men but it was Germany and who looked dangerous on the break with Ozil, Gotze and Muller. Neuer made an excellent save on 76 minutes to keep out Nani but it rebounded to Eder who went down under a challenge from Benedikt Howedes. There were cries of appeal for a penalty but the referee waved them all away.

Muller sealed the victory on 79 minutes when substitute Andre Schurrle’s cross was spilled by Patricio and the striker was on hand to tap it in for 4-0 and register the first hat-trick of the tournament. 

It was a brilliant display by Germany who seemed a very united group despite their injury worries and they managed to make a big statement. Portugal will be sweating over their defensive options as Coentrao may be out of the World Cup and Pepe is suspended. It was a horrible night for Paulo Bento and he will be hoping for better days in the two remaining fixtures.