It seems to be that the biggest matches also give us the most one sided outcomes in this tournament so far, as Germany demolish Portugal 4-0 with Thomas Muller scoring the first hat trick of the World Cup and the Portuguese side finishing with only 10 men after Pepe was sent off for another stupid reaction from the centre back.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a frustrating day, probably wondering what would life be like with a set of better teammates, not that his ability helped his team overcome the problems. Germany, not for the first time over the last few major tournaments, are too deep and good for Portugal to compete against. Losing Hugo Almeida early on to an injury didn’t help much, although Almedia himself wasn’t so helpful.
Germany took the lead from the penalty spot as Joao Pereira took down Mario Gotze in the penalty box, and Thomas Muller stepped up to calmly take the penalty kick, giving Germany the lead after only 12 minutes. Portugal had to stop relying on counter attacks and initiate themselves which is a huge problem for them. Pepe and Bruno Alves couldn’t handle a counter attack which led to a corner, and from there Mats Hummels, later replaced with a knee injury, rose high above them to make it 2-0 Germany.
A few minutes later and Pepe lost his cool. He dropped Thomas Muller with an elbow to the face. No foul was called, but Pepe decided he’ll teach Muller a lesson and while the German player was assessing the damage to his face, Pepe headbutted him right in front of the Serbian referee Milorad Mazic, getting him sent off and maybe finishing his World Cup experience, depending on how FIFA handle his suspension.
Germany didn’t take it down a notch despite their lead and Muller, wide open in the penalty area, added a third goal right before half time to give Germany a lead they weren’t going to lose. In the second half Portugal had a penalty shout of their own as Eder was probably fouled by Benedikt Howedes but not whistle came. Cristiano Ronaldo did his best impression of Michael Ballack and nearly accosted the official, but no good came out of it for him.
Instead, Germany made the humiliation complete, scoring a fourth goal as Thomas Muller found himself in a position he simply couldn’t miss from, making it the first hat trick of the tournament and already eight World Cup goals for the young German forward who was joint top scorer of the 2010 World Cup. Germany didn’t need a striker to look great, while Portugal find themselves in need of two wins after a horrible start to their campaign in Group G.