Melanie Behringer was the hero as Germany reached the Rio 2016 semi-finals on Friday night. The midfielder fired home a 76th minute winner as Silvia Neid’s team beat China 1-0. They face Canada on Tuesday in the last four, with the final taking place on 19th August in the Maracana.
The players lined up in their traditional 4-2-3-1 formation throughout the match. This familiarity meant that the DFB-Team were dominant throughout the game, but initially struggled to break down a resilient Chinese defence. In fact, they only hit the front after Wang Shanshan picked up her second booking with 32 minutes left on the clock.
Numerical advantage
Chances were few and far between before the break but, despite this, Neid chose not to make any changes at the break and this decision paid dividends. Tabea Kemme had a glorious chance to open the scoring after 54 minutes but her powerful effort from Dzsenifer Marozsan’s corner was blocked on the line by Tan Ruyin moments before Wang Shanshan saw red for a second bookable offence.
The DFB-Team remained on top after the dismissal but were still unable to open the scoring. Svenja Huth came off the bench to add fresh legs to the attack, but it was Behringer’s effort from the edge of the box that eventually sealed progression for Germany.
Melanie Behringer was the hero as Germany reached the Rio 2016 semi-finals on Friday night. The midfielder fired home a 76th minute winner as Silvia Neid’s team beat China 1-0. They face Canada on Tuesday in the last four, with the final taking place on 19th August in the Maracana.
The players lined up in their traditional 4-2-3-1 formation throughout the match. This familiarity meant that the DFB-Team were dominant throughout the game, but initially struggled to break down a resilient Chinese defence. In fact, they only hit the front after Wang Shanshan picked up her second booking with 32 minutes left on the clock.
Numerical advantage
Chances were few and far between before the break but, despite this, Neid chose not to make any changes at the break and this decision paid dividends. Tabea Kemme had a glorious chance to open the scoring after 54 minutes but her powerful effort from Dzsenifer Marozsan’s corner was blocked on the line by Tan Ruyin moments before Wang Shanshan saw red for a second bookable offence.
The DFB-Team remained on top after the dismissal but were still unable to open the scoring. Svenja Huth came off the bench to add fresh legs to the attack, but it was Behringer’s effort from the edge of the box that eventually sealed progression for Germany.
