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On Saturday evening, the winners of the World Championship third place were revealed - Germany's national team, who defeated Portugal 3-1 in the match for the bronze medals. The victory was mainly contributed by Bastian Schweinsteiger, who scored two goals in this match.
Germany 3 - 1 Portugal 56' [1 - 0] Bastian Schweinsteiger 61' [2 - 0] Petit (own goal) 78' [3 - 0] Bastian Schweinsteiger 88' [3 - 1] Nuno Gomes
Germany: Kahn, Jansen, Nowotny, Metzelder, Lahm, Schneider, Kehl, Frings, Schweinsteiger (79' Hitzlsperger), Klose (64' Neuville), Podolski (71' Hanke).
Portugal: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Costa, Meira, Nuno Valente (69' Gomes), Costinha (46' Petit), Maniche, Deco, Ronaldo, Pauleta (77' Figo), Simao.
The hosts, Germans, started the match more actively, having a counterattack after about four minutes, but it was unsuccessful as one of the national team players slipped and the ball did not reach him.
After a minute, the first danger came near Portugal's goal - Miroslav Klose was brought down near the penalty area, and the penalty kick was taken by Bernd Schneider. The raised ball in the penalty area was unsuccessfully attempted to be shot by one of Germany's players, but it bounced to Sebastian Kehl, whose powerful shot narrowly missed the goalpost.
Shortly after, a dangerous long-range shot was attempted by M. Klose, and a few minutes later, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo was tested by Torsten Frings with a long shot.
Later, the Portuguese also had a chance to score, but Pedro Pauleta, left unguarded near the edge of the penalty area, unsuccessfully tried to aim the ball into the far corner of the goal, and his shot ended up in Oliver Kahn's hands.
After about twenty minutes of play, the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo was called into action again - after S. Kehl's long shot, the goalkeeper managed to direct the ball over the crossbar. Five minutes later, Ricardo saved the team after Lucas Podolski's penalty kick.
At the end of the first half, the Portuguese had another chance - after a corner kick, Deco sent the ball into the goalkeeper's penalty area, but left unmarked, Simao failed to head the ball into the goal.
The second half started with attacks from the Portuguese - Simao's shot from the edge of the penalty area flew above the crossbar, and a little later P. Pauleta dangerously shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Despite this, the Germans scored first: breaking through from the left side to the center of the field, Bastian Schweinsteiger sent the ball into the Portuguese goal with a strong shot. Five minutes later, the hosts doubled their advantage - taking a penalty kick, B. Schweinsteiger sent the ball into the penalty area, where the former Petit unsuccessfully tried to clear the ball and directed it into his own goal.
With about ten minutes left to play, B. Schweinsteiger completely dominated the opponents by scoring another goal with a similar long-range shot.
At the end of the match, the Portuguese managed to reduce the score - after a pass into the penalty area, the team's veteran Nuno Gomes scored a goal with his head.
