FIFA World Cup: Germans advance crushing Portugal 4-0

SALVADOR: Thomas Mueller claimed a hat-trick as Germany opened their World Cup on Monday with a 4-0 rout of 10-man Portugal as Cristiano Ronaldo endured an afternoon to forget. A decisive first-half saw Germany race into 3-0 lead as Mueller converted a penalty, then fired home their third on the stroke of half-time after a Mats Hummels header had also hit the target. “It’s glorious to score three goals in a game like that,” said Mueller. “When you are 1-0 up, you get a tail-wind and when we made it 2-0, that was a huge advantage. With the numerical advantage, the game was as good as won.” Portugal played almost an hour with a man down after defender Pepe was red-carded for aiming a head-butt at Mueller after an altercation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2014.