USA v Germany, 26 June 2014

Kick-off: 1.00pm local (5.00pm BST) Man of the Match: Thomas Müller (Germany) Assistant referees: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) Fourth official: Néant Alioum (Cameroon) Fifth official: Djibril Camara (Senegal) The two teams had met in nine previous matches, including twice in the FIFA World Cup, both won by Germany (1998, group stage: 2–0; 2002, quarter-finals: 1–0). The match featured two German coaches, Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw, facing each other. United States coach Klinsmann played in three World Cups for Germany (he scored the second goal in the 1998 match against the United States), and also managed them in 2006 with Löw as his assistant, who succeeded him after the World Cup. Both teams came into this match needing only one point to qualify for the knockout stage. The only goal of the match was scored by Thomas Müller in the 55th minute, who slotted in the rebound with his right foot from the edge of the penalty area after American goalkeeper Tim Howard parried out Per Mertesacker's header. With the win, Germany qualified as group winners, while the United States also qualified despite the loss as Portugal's 2–1 win over Ghana at the same time ensured that the Americans finished as group runners-up above the Portuguese on goal difference, meaning that they reached the knockout stage of consecutive World Cups for the first time. This was the first match of the tournament where Bastian Schweinsteiger was included in the starting lineup and the last match where Lukas Podolski saw any time on the pitch. With Costa Rica and Mexico also reaching the knockout stage earlier, this was the first time there were three CONCACAF teams in the knockout stage of a World Cup.