4 years after their golden goal victory against Sweden in 2003, the German female national team has conquered yet another Women’s World Cup by beating Brazil 2-0 in the Shanghai final, and denying the Sambagirls the hopes of a first ever trophy.

The European team managed by Silvia Neid put out a very solid display on the field today, which kept the technical and offensive verve of the Brazilians in check. As expected, the match turned rapidly into a duel between the stars of the two teams, Birgit Prinz and Marta. While the former managed to put her team in the lead an the 52′ minute mark, the latter had a golden chance to tie the game 8 minutes later, but saw her penalty shot denied by the German keeper Nadine Angerer. Germany doubled their lead in the final minutes through Simone Laudehr, for a final score of 2-0.

The German coach declared after the match: “After the saved penalty shot I knew we could make it. We’ve worked very hard, and it was a great performance from the entire team. We knew it was essential to neutralize Marta out of the game, and I’m glad that we succeeded”. Germany’s record in the 2007 Women’s World Cup is quite impressive: they have played the entire tournament without conceding a goal!

In the consolation final, USA beat Norway 4-1 and grabbed 3^rd spot in the competition. Also, despite missing the penalty in the final, Marta’s outstanding efforts in the tournament were rewarded with the adidas Golden Ball and adidas Golden Shoe awards for best player and top goalscorer. If there’s a female player worth keeping an eye on in the future, it’s certainly the 21-year old Brazilian. In case you missed her goal vs. USA in the semis, here it is.

Posted in World News |

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pm and is filed under World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.