The Germany national team have clinched qualification for France 2016 after beating Georgia 2-1 in Leipzig, also topping Group D. Thomas Müller put Germany into the lead from the spot in the 48th minute, but just four minutes later, Kankava gave Georgia the equaliser. Max Kruse came on in the late stages of the game and scored the winner in the Red Bull Arena in the 79th minute.
The whole game, Joachim Löw’s team worked hard. Right from kick off, Germany pressed Georgia, playing fast passes and carving out chance after chance. Revishvili’s first save came after three minutes, when Müller got on the end of a ball from Ginter, but his near post shot was saved. Kroos then saw his volley go wide, before putting Müller through a few minutes later after a sneaky free kick, but the Bayern man couldn’t get his foot to it. Between the 11th and 15th minutes, the keeper made three stops against Gündogan, and Reus twice. At this stage, Germany had already had 10 shots.
Revishvili proves somewhat unbeatable
Germany were not scared of the Georgia goalkeeper, especially Reus, who tried his best to force a goal. A shot from him from 15 yards out was again saved by the away side’s goalie. On the other side, a rare break for Georgia proved dangerous, but Neuer came to rescue pulling off a brilliant low save from Kazaishvili’s shot. After that, the play was all towards the Georgia goal. The ball once again fell perfectly to Reus, but this time he guided his shot from a tight angle wide. Another Reus volley was saved and Müller rebound shot was scrambled away. With some fantastic goalkeeping and a bit of luck, The scores were 0-0 going into the break.
It all went very quickly in the second half. A few minutes after the game was restarted, Özil went down in the area after turn the defender. Müller stepped up cool as a cucumber as sent the keeper the wrong way to make the score 1-0. Revishvili was finally beaten. The lead didn’t last long, however, as the ball was cleared from a corner, but fell to Kankava outside the box, who left Neuer no chance with his volley. Neuer made another vital save in the 60th minute in a spell of Georgia pressure.
Germany tried their best to take lead following the equaliser, but once again found Revishvili in the way. Schürrle was in on goal after a one-two with Özil but the keeper saved, and another chance came his way in the 72nd but couldn’t connect with ball. Then, Löw proved his genius by making a substitution. Andre Schürrle made way for Max Kruse and a few minutes later, after being played in by Özil, coolly placed the ball in the corner of the net. Özil had one final chance in the game, but yet again, Revishvili had the situation under control.
All in all, the victory was deserved for Die Mannschaft, and Germany can have no complaints at finishing top of the group and progressing to the European Championship finals in France 2016.