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Group F - Germany-Iran , Germany takes group championship |
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A two-goal burst early in the second half by strikers Oliver Bierhoff and Juergen Klinsmann was enough for Germany to beat Iran 2-0 Thursday and set up a World Cup second-round meeting with Mexico.
The three-time champion Germans were well below their best, particularly in a pedestrian first half, but a hammer header by Bierhoff and a typical piece of opportunism by Klinsmann helped them top Group F with seven points, ahead of Yugoslavia on goal difference.
"It would have been nice to score one or two more goals but we're happy with the result," Bierhoff said. "We wanted to show we were better than the performance against Yugoslavia."
Iran, which beat the United States last week after losing 1-0 to Yugoslavia, was far from disgraced and can hold its head high on its return to Tehran. The Iranians rarely threatened the German goal but showed skill and speed on the break.
"We've had a wonderful experience in the World Cup and we did our best against one of the best teams in the world," Iran coach Jalal Talebi said. "We came to do our best and we'll gain a lot of experience from this."
The first half saw Germany dominate in terms of possession, but ponderous build-up play and poor passing saw most of its movements come to a premature end, just as they had in the early stages of the 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia.
Lothar Matthaeus, playing a record 23rd World Cup match, produced some nice touches from midfield but there was precious little for strikers Klinsmann and Bierhoff to feed off.
Coach Berti Vogts introduced Bayern Munich midfielder Dietmar Hamann for the second half, Olaf Thon making way and Matthaeus dropping back to sweeper.
The change and a roasting from Vogts -- "At halftime I had to speak to the team and calm them down," he said later -- paid off as two goals in a fierce 10-minute attacking spell ended the match as a contest.
Five minutes after the restart, Thomas Haessler produced the first good cross of the night and Bierhoff rose to head firmly past Ahmad Abedzadeh.
A minute later he headed just over the bar after Jorg Heinrich also finally found his range from the right.
In the 58th minute Bierhoff, who joins AC Milan after the tournament, struck a post with a 25-meter effort and Klinsmann reacted sharply to head the rebound into the empty net. Both players have now scored two goals in the finals in France.
Germany was operating with far greater urgency than in the opening period and Bierhoff was only inches away from making it 3-0 with another firm drive soon after.
But with the job done, the Germans lost the initiative. Ulf Kirsten and Christian Ziege came on to replace Haessler and the disappointing Michael Tarnat with 20 minutes remaining but were unable to to make much impact.
Iran began to make deep inroads into German territory as Mehdi Mahdavikia, who made a couple of good breaks in the first half, and the lively Khodadad Azizi kept the German defenders on their toes.
But ultimately there was too much defensive experience in the form of Matthaeus and Jurgen Kohler -- 228 caps between them -- for Iran to produce the miracle it needed.
Germany finished on the attack as Kirsten hit the net after Abedzadeh had parried from Hamann, only for the effort to be called off for for offside.
