Klinsmann ‘we’ll see’ as Bastian lights up Germany

Germany 3 Portugal 1

The host nation may have been craving for the final, but they proved they were still hungry in the ‘mini-final.’ Schweinsteiger, who was left out of Germany’s semi-final after a perceived dip in form, showed he was back to his best with two excellent strikes in the 56th and 78th minutes.

In between, his free-kick also tempted Petit to put through his own goal and the standing ovation when Schweinsteiger left the field to be replaced by Thomas Hitzlsperger was more than merited.

Nuno Gomes headed in a late consolation, but Portugal ultimately had no answer to neither Schweinsteiger, nor his Bayern Munich team mate Oliver Kahn, who was phenomenal in the Germany goal.

Afterwards Jurgen Klinsmann admitted he was honoured after being told to stay on as Germany coach by one of his country’s football legends. But the 51-year-old will take several days to consider his position and come to terms with what has happened after finishing third.

“What I have experienced this evening has topped all of that which has happened over the last few weeks and I thought it could not be topped,” Klinsmann said.

“We are all very proud and will now celebrate but I still need a few days to try and understand it all.”

Klinsmann revealed that 1990 World Cup-winning coach Franz Beckenbauer had told him to stay on as he handed him his bronze medal. But he told ‘The Kaiser’: “We’ll see.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter himself also appealed for Klinsmann to stay.

“I would advise him to stay on, but the decision lies with him,” Blatter said.

“Today, in the second half, I witnessed the best game of this tournament. The football being played was so good, the players were explosive.”

Pictures of Klinsmann embracing German chancellor Angela Merkel earned a huge cheer from the 52,000 crowd in Stuttgart. And Klinsmann claimed that her support throughout the tournament had been a key factor in the team’s success.

“She was one of few that said leave him alone and let him work after we lost to Italy in Florence,” he said.

Klinsmann admitted that the game had been difficult after missing out on a final place. “Third place is not what any team wants to play for,” he added. “In the semi-finals, you want to be in the final and then we had to lift ourselves again, and we did, and so did Portugal.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was disappointed after the defeat and claimed the game took some of the gloss off his team’s achievement of reaching the semi-finals.

He said: “The game just made things worse for those who lost and gave very little for the winners. If you lose a game like this, you go back to your country with the image of defeat when it should be that we are one of the four best nations in the world.

“It’s difficult to explain, it’s a game which, in my opinion, should not take place, it won’t satisfy the dreams of a country and plays against the team that loses.”

Scolari thanked Germany for staging a ‘fantastic’ World Cup.

“The crowds here have been fantastic and knew how to respect Portugal,” he said.

“They acted in the spirit of the World Cup — to make friends.”

Scolari has many friends in the game, none more so than those he remembers from the final of the 2002 World Cup. Then Scolari was in charge of Brazil while Oliver Kahn was the Germany goalkeeper who gifted Ronaldo the opening goal with a fumble at the Brazilian striker’s feet.

It was Kahn’s turn to come out on top on Saturday night and Scolari paid tribute to the Bayern Munich shot-stopper.

“We spent a whole World Cup (2002) getting to know each other and you gain respect,” he said.

“He told me ‘if only this happened four years ago’, but to be honest, I’m not sad that it didn’t. It is the friendships like these that makes the magic in football.”

GERMANY: Kahn, Jansen, Nowotny, Metzelder, Lahm, Schneider, Kehl, Frings, Schweinsteiger (Hitzlsperger 79), Klose (Neuville 64), Podolski (Hanke 71).

PORTUGAL: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Costa, Meira, Nuno Valente (Nuno Gomes 69), Costinha (Petit 45), Maniche, Deco, Ronaldo, Pauleta (Figo 77), Simao.

Referee: T Kamikawa (Japan).