A first-half penalty miss could have reopened every wound of the past decade. Instead Kai Havertz curled in the game's opening goal, set up Nick Woltemade for the second, and sent Germany to a first World Cup semi-final since 2014.
FOXBOROUGH — When Havertz's 33rd-minute penalty clipped the outside of the post, Gillette Stadium held the collective memory of Paraguay: another big night, another spot-kick gone. This team keeps insisting it is different, and eleven minutes after the break it proved it — Havertz collecting Wirtz's disguised pass and bending a right-footed finish into the far corner, his fifth of the tournament.
Morocco, who eliminated the Netherlands on penalties and had conceded once in five matches, pushed until the 78th minute, when the game closed: Havertz again, this time as provider, slipping Woltemade through one-on-one. The 24-year-old finished low. 2-0, and the German end — a wall of white shirts behind Neuer's goal — sang for twenty minutes after the whistle.
It caps a knockout run that began at this same stadium eleven days ago, when Neuer's two shootout saves against Paraguay rewrote a story every German fan knows by heart, and continued through Philadelphia, where the comeback against France buried Mbappe's penalty under goals from Havertz and Woltemade.
Next: Arlington, Tuesday, against Spain or Belgium, who meet Friday at SoFi Stadium. Julian Nagelsmann was asked whether this run now had a 2014 feel. 'In 2014 we had played a semi-final in Brazil,' he said. 'Ask me Tuesday night.'
Gill saved from Havertz and Woltemade and Foxborough braced for a historic upset — Germany had never even been taken to a fifth kick before losing one. Then Neuer, 40, stopped Enciso and Canale in succession, and Jonathan Tah — whose extra-time header had been ruled out by VAR — walked the length of the pitch to end it.
Mbappe's 69th-minute penalty — his seventh of the tournament, awarded after a VAR review — looked like the end. Nine minutes later Havertz equalised, and in the second minute of stoppage time Woltemade turned Upamecano and finished, eliminating the 2022 finalists on America's Independence Day weekend.
Spain arrive off a statement win over Portugal and have not trailed in the knockout rounds; Belgium have scored seven in two knockout games and demolished the co-hosts 4-1. Friday's quarter-final at SoFi decides who meets Germany at AT&T Stadium.
Two down with 15 minutes left, the champions scored three times in 13 minutes — the winner deep in stoppage time — to reach the last eight.
Spain edged Portugal 1-0 in Arlington. Cristiano Ronaldo leaves the stage after a fifth World Cup without the trophy.
The USMNT's home World Cup ended in a lopsided round-of-16 defeat.
La Roja, fresh from ending Portugal's run, meet a Belgium side that has scored seven goals in two knockout games. Kickoff 3pm ET, Inglewood.
The holders face a Swiss side that eliminated Colombia on penalties, with Vargas converting the decisive kick. Saturday, 9pm ET, Kansas City.
Norway won 2-1 at MetLife after Nyland saved Bruno Guimaraes' penalty. Neymar's stoppage-time spot-kick was a consolation, and he confirmed his international retirement after the final whistle.
The Egyptian FA has asked FIFA to review decisions from the defeat to Argentina in Miami Gardens.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Ecuador | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Curacao | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 1 |
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