Germany defeated Ukraine 2-0, but got away with quite a few scares, including a Jerome Boateng goal-line clearance.
The World Cup holders were in poor form going into the Euros, losing
four of their last seven games, and opted to use Mario Götze as a False
Nine. However, Ukraine had never beaten the Germans, managing two draws
from four attempts.
Manuel Neuer needed an acrobatic flying save in the opening four
minutes to push Yevhen Konoplyanka’s scorcher out from under the bar.
At the other end, Jonas Hector horribly miskicked a great chance, but
ex-Sampdoria defender Shkodran Mustafi nodded in a Toni Kroos free kick
to break the deadlock.
Neuer was called into action again, punching Yevhen Khacheridi’s header
out from under the bar, but Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira trapped a
Kroos pass over the top and was denied one-on-one by Andriy Pyatov.
Boateng had a bizarre moment on 37 minutes, as at first he seemed to be
carrying the mis-kicked Konoplyanka shot into his own net, but with his
second touch acrobatically managed to clear it off the line.
Ukraine had the ball in the net moments later, but the offside flag was
up. After the restart, Julian Draxler, Khedira and Kroos had efforts
from distance, while Neuer beat a fierce Yaroslav Rakitskiy free kick
round the post.
With three minutes to go it was end to end stuff, as first Mesut Ozil
fired straight at the goalkeeper, then from a goal kick Mustafi and
Neuer got into a tizzy, risking an own goal or a penalty.
Just as Ukraine were pouring forward deep into stoppages, substitute
Bastian Schweinsteiger volleyed in an Ozil pass on the classic counter.
Germany 2-0 Ukraine
Mustafi 19 (G), Schweinsteiger 92 (G)
Germany: Neuer; Höwedes, Boateng, Mustafi, Hector; Khedira, Kroos; Müller, Özil, Draxler (Schürrle 78); Götze (Schweinsteiger 89)
Ukraine: Pyatov; Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Rakitskiy,
Shevchuk; Sydorchuk, Stepanenko; Yarmolenko, Kovalenko (Zinchenko 73),
Konoplyanka; Zozulya (Seleznyov 66)
Ref: Atkinson (ENG)
