The man was born to pass a football.
Germany sauntered to a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland, on Tuesday evening, to top their Euro 2016 group.
Joachim Low’s side should have scored more than one but Matt McGovern was in ‘Thou Shalt Not Pass’ mode. He let one slip by but kept another seven or eight out with a string of impressive saves.
Will Grigg is only man who can save this game from grinding to inevitable conclusion. Meanwhile McGovern is pretty damn flammable himself
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 21, 2016
Northern Ireland huffed and puffed somewhat but – much like Ireland against Belgium – could not get their foot on the ball and stroke it about with ease.
Such was Germany’s dominance that two of their midfielders finished with the sort of statistics the O’Neills [Martin and Michael] could only dream of.
Arsenal Mesut Ozil made 63 passes and had a pass accuracy of 99% during the game. One pass missed its intended recipient. It is the new tournament benchmark for players who made over 50 passes or more in a single game.
Toni Kross passed more than his teammate. A lot more.
Kross distributed a whopping 111 passes over the course of the game and his accuracy was 92%. Eerie.
As for the entire Northern Ireland team, they cobbled together 105 passes.
Their supporters won’t care a jot as they are confirmed for the knockout stages. They should find out their second round opponents later this evening.
