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SHIZUOKA, Japan (Ticker) -- Miroslav Klose scored his tournament-leading fifth goal as Germany defeated Cameroon, 2-0, to win Group E. In a match tainted by referee Antonio Lopez Nieto of Spain, who issued the most bookings ever in a World Cup match. He handed out a combined 16 yellow and two red cards. Klose sealed the victory with 11 minutes to play, registering his fifth headed goal of the tournament. Michael Ballack again set up the Kaiserslautern forward with a perfect cross from the right side for his fourth assist in three matches. Substitute Marco Bode put Germany on the board five minutes into the second half. Against the run of play, Klose battled through several Cameroon defenders, kept his balance and split a pair of defenders with his pass to a sprinting Bode. "It was important for the team and also good for me," Bode said. "It was important for us to win and get through to the second phase. Now we shall see what happens." Nieto issued eight cautions to each team and sent off Germany's Carsten Ramelow and Cameroon substitute Patrick Suffo. In the first half, there were more bookings than shots on goal. Ramelow was issued a second yellow for pulling down Samuel Eto'o just two minutes after seeing his first, prompting his dismissal five minutes before halftime. "I think getting that card in the first half could have been the incentive to win the match," Ramelow said. "The team came together in the second half because of that." "I pointed out to my players that we had to play more over the wings. It had to be visible to everybody that we were one man up, but they didn't really heed that advice," said Cameroon coach Winnie Schaeffer, a native of Germany. "We were playing too much through the middle and lost possession too early and that was how the first goal of the Germans came about." Germany won the group with seven points and will meet the second place team from Group B, either South Africa or Paraguay, on Saturday. The Irish also advanced from the bracket with a win over Saudi Arabia, earning five points. In all probability, Ireland will play Spain. The Germans will be without three starters in the next match, including key players Christian Ziege and midfielder Dietmar Hamman, after picking up their respective second yellow cards. Ramelow is out due to his sending-off. Cameroon had the better of the play until conceding the goal. "They were the dominant side by far in the first half, they were just better than us," Germany coach Rudi Voller admitted. "They created many chances which made us nervous, but after we were leading 1-0, we were getting better. Then, we started dominating the match." Cameroon's Salomon Olembe had the first scoring chance for either side in the 12th minute. He beat the German offside trap, but not goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who blocked the first attempt and denied Olembe on the follow-up from an acute angle. "There was a major chance for us to score, but Salomon Olembe didn't and it's always very difficult to beat Oliver Kahn, that's the greatest problem," Schaefer said. Defender Pierre Wome drove a well-taken free kick from the right sideline after 26 minutes. Kahn then punched the ball into one of his defenders and, fortunately, it bounced out for a corner. Just two minutes later, fullback Rigobert Song was open for a header, but sent the shot wide of the target. In the second half while Cameroon still was trailing 1-0, Lauren hit the right post with a header for the Olympic and African champions. But Kahn again was in the right place to get the rebound. Klose's marker came six minutes later which took the wind out of Cameroon. Ballack came close to scoring a third goal for Germany in the closing minutes, but his header went straight to goalkeeper Alioum Boukar. Cameroon played in its fourth successive World Cup, but has not made it beyond group play in the last three. The African side is 4-6-7 all-time. |
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