German steel sufficient as French fold

WORLD CUP QUARTER-FINAL:

The French had come into the game in the unaccustomed role as favourites in the eyes of many, their focus and flair supposedly at odds with the perception of a laboured German side suffering from open wounds at the back, not to mention a bad dose of the galloping chills.

But it was France who were caught cold by a set-piece early in the first half which, with Karim Benzema choosing a bad day to leave his shooting boots at home, ultimately proved the difference in a game which fell well short of the superpower classic the tournament craved.