USA v Germany
Arena Pernambuco
Recife, Brazil
26 June 2014
Our TAM flight from Belo Horizonte (via Rio) to Recife was delayed which meant that we were not going to arrive until 2 in the morning. Not ideal for us with the USA v Germany game being played at 1300 hours local time and the journey to the stadium from our hotel in Boa Viagem being quite tricky.
Our KO phase tickets were purchased direct from the FIFA portal as TBH I didn't understand how conditional tickets worked if acquired through the FA. On the portal I opted for the Winner of Group D (hopefully England) against the RU of Group C (maybe Japan). In the end England didn't qualify and Greece took the Group C RU spot so I had Greece v Costa Rica and the earlier Group G game in Recife, USA v Germany
USA 0 Germany 1
Attendance: 41,876
The two teams had met on 9 previous occasions, including 2 previous WC Final encounters, both won by Germany. The complete head to head including this game reads:
Played 10: Germany 7 wins, USA 3 wins, 0 draws
FIFA WC
1998 FIFA WC, Group F, Germany 2 USA 0 (Paris)
2002 FIFA WC, QF, Germany 1 USA 0 (Ulsan)
2014 FIFA WC, Group G, Germany 1 USA 0 (Recife)
Friendlies
Jun 1993, US Cup, USA 3 Germany 4 (Chicago)
Dec 1993, Friendly, USA 0 Germany 3 (Palo Alto)
Feb 1999, Friendly, USA 3 Germany 0 (Jacksonville)
Jul 1999, Conf Cup, USA 2 Germany 0 (Guadalajara)
Mar 2002, Friendly, Germany 4 USA 2 (Rostock)
Mar 2006, Friendly, Germany 4 USA 1 (Dortmund)
Jun 2013, Friendly, USA 4 Germany 3 (Washington)
Arena Pernambuco, Recife. The stadium is located 18 Km to the west of Recife in a suburb called São Lourenço da Mata. It became home to Clube Nautico until 2019. In total it hosted 5 games at the FIFA WC 2014 in Brazil, I was lucky to see 2 of them and it has played host to the national team twice:
FIFA WC 2014
Group C, Ivory Coast v Japan (2-0)
Group D, Italy v Costa Rica (0-1)
Group A, Croatia v Mexico (1-3)
Group D, Costa Rica v England (0-0)
Group G, USA v Germany (0-1)
Rd of 16, Costa Rica v Greece (1-1) (5-3 pens)
Brazil Internationals
2018 WC Qualifiers, Brazil v Uruguay (2-2)
2022 WC Qualifiers, Brazil v Peru (2-0)
After a quick breakfast we went to catch a bus a few blocks from the hotel. It was the most incredible torrential rain and public transport was our only option because the taxis could not get to our hotel in Boa Viagem due to high water levels.
After a steamy bus journey to the metro station at Recife we hopped on the metro (orange line 1) to Cosme e Damião, when we arrived, we had to queue for a wrist band to get the damn bus to the stadium. Despite our best efforts we resembled a pair of drowned rats and late for the anthems.
Hot and wet
USA fans in their Super Hero costumes. Very strange
Our new American friends with possibly the worst repertoire of songs in football history, one of my favourites was
" We will win, we will win".
My new young friend from Recife, who is a Santa Cruz fan supporting Germany
We also meet the the Yid Army
Santa Cruz, Recife's 3rd best team after
Nauticus and Sporte Clube Recife
It's over and we are soaked to the skin
Time to make a dash for the bus stop
Wet Americans leaving the stadium
Arena Pernambuco
The queue for the buses to get to the Metro
(Germans love queuing more than Brits)
Back on Boa Viagem
A well earned glass of red while I wait for my lobster at
the restaurant opposite the Blue Church.
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