It turned out Germany did have a No 9, after all. His name is Niclas F\u00fcllkrug, he plays for Werder Bremen, he is 29 years old, 11 days into his international career, and when it mattered most he was there for them: coming on to give his country hope of staying in the World Cup. With just seven minutes to go in just his third game, he thumped a rising shot beyond Unai Sim\u00f3n to level the score, and offer them a lifeline, immediately running to the touchline and into the arms of Hansi Flick, relief all round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If some of the jeopardy had been taken from this occasion six hours earlier, Costa Rica\u2019s surprise victory over Japan meaning that Germany took a slight, uneasy step back from the edge of the abyss, this was still a dramatic moment and one that changes everything. F\u00fcllkrug\u2019s goal gives the\u00a0Mannschaft<\/em>\u00a0a footing at this tournament. They will have to defeat Costa Rica and even then their fate remains in Japan\u2019s hands \u2013 and in Spain\u2019s \u2013 but there is hope now. It could have been so much worse. It is not yet done for Spain yet either, although Luis Enrique noted that they still lead the group of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When \u00c1lvaro Morata gave Spain the lead, Flick\u2019s side faced the probability of a second successive departure at the group stage, another defeat at the hands of the side they tried to emulate. Germany are the team most like us, Luis Enrique had insisted, but it\u2019s different when it\u2019s actually Spain in front of you and for about an hour it was hard to avoid the conclusion that they were just not as good as the real thing. By the end of an enjoyable night though, they had deserved the draw, or maybe even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might even have got it too when Leroy San\u00e9 sprinted clear and round Sim\u00f3n in the dying seconds only to be left without sufficient angle to find the finish. He, like F\u00fcllkrug, had changed this game and must surely start now. With him, a game between two teams that may yet prove to be contenders that went through various phases, had shifted again, Luis Enrique left lamenting a loss of control. There were opportunities made by Germany too and not just in those final moments. In fact they thought they had a first-half lead when Antonio R\u00fcdiger headed in. That said, Spain had come as close when Dani Olmo\u2019s superb shot was pushed on to the bar by Manuel Neuer and then Jordi Alba struck wide. At that early stage Spain were mostly able to play their way through the press \u2013 Pedri turning smoothly full circle the best demonstration of an ability perhaps only this team has \u2013 but it didn\u2019t last for ever. Germany took a determined step, Spain struggling to escape their attention and the balance tilting towards Sim\u00f3n, who found Germany\u2019s forwards in his face now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuer too would have his moments, a poor pass leading to a good chance in which Ferran Torres\u2019s decision to control rather than shoot denied him the space to score. At the other end, a clever pass from Jamal Musiala almost gave Ilkay G\u00fcndogan a clear shooting opportunity and Serge Gnabry bent past the post. That was followed by Germany\u2019s \u201cgoal\u201d, R\u00fcdiger heading in a free-kick. It had been so simple but so was the mistake in going too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pedri clenched his fists, relieved, and that feeling was revisited when Carvajal\u2019s mistake almost invited Germany in before R\u00fcdiger, the tallest man on the pitch, again found himself alone from a dead ball only to shoot at Sim\u00f3n. The press was working and early in the second half Rodri, Sim\u00f3n and then Pedri, all of them hurried, lost the ball inside their own area. Sim\u00f3n rescued the mistake with a superb save from Joshua Kimmich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was Spain who took the lead, though. The move was superb: Busquets to the hugely impressive Dani Olmo and on to Alba. His perfect pass found Morata, sent on eight minutes earlier, dashing towards the near post. The finish, with the outside of his boot, above Neuer, was fabulous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany were desperate now, a triple change made. San\u00e9 and F\u00fcllkrug would make a swift and lasting impact, quickly involved in two chances with Musiala before the three of them eventually combined for the equaliser. For the first, Musiala\u2019s ball just evaded the No 9, bombing into the six-yard box. For the second, San\u00e9\u2019s clever pass released Musiala. Sim\u00f3n thrust out an arm to save. From the corner, the Bremen striker headed over, but he was not finished. Germany pushed, Spain had lost control. A Kimmich free-kick into the wall followed, and then came the moment, the man, the F\u00fcllkrug.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It turned out Germany did have a No 9, after all. His name is Niclas F\u00fcllkrug, he plays for Werder Bremen, he is 29 years old, 11 days into his international career, and when it mattered most he was there for them: coming on to give his country hope of staying in the World Cup. 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If possession belonged more to the\u00a0seleccion<\/em>, their dominance was not overwhelming. Germany sought to make Spain a little less Spain, and the pressure applied told at times: enough to reduce the influence of Gavi and Pedri and make Spain look less comfortable than is their custom, nervous moments accumulating as the game progressed. Sergio Busquets and Dani Carvajal in particular felt opponents close, while there were also some of those Sim\u00f3n moments that provoke a collective coronary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n