Germany booked their place in the last four of the World Cup with a 1-0 win over France on Friday night, in which Mats Hummels headed in the only goal of the game.

France had a few chances at the other end, but were wasteful in front of goal with Manuel Neuer also saving well from Mathieu Valbuena.

Didier Deschamps threw on two more striker in the last 10 minutes, but Germany held firm to reach their fourth semi-final in a row.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the action to analyse the result.

Match statistics

FRANCE
Shots: 13
On target: 9
Possession: 49%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 15

GERMANY
Shots: 8
On target: 6
Possession: 51%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 18

Was the result fair?

In the end, just about. France probably had more efforts on goal, but the better of the chances went the way of the Germans. France were too wasteful in front of goal and apart from one occasion in the first half Neuer was not really tested enough. Germany did not control possession, per se, but were more comfortable and effective with it. There was a definite sense that when Germany went ahead France were in real trouble.

France's performance

Unfortunately for them, France's performances at this World Cup have gone from excellent to worse. They started out firing, but their attack was found out to an extent by Nigeria and now fully by Germany. There was never the sense that France would get back into this contest once they went behind. Karim Benzema was disappointing and there was no real cohesion with their attack.

Germany's performance

They have still not got back to the level that they showed in the opener against Portugal, but this was a much more rounded performance than recently. Joachim Low might just have struck the right combination with his defence, as Jerome Boateng was excellent and Hummels even better, while Toni Kroos was probably the most dangerous attacking player. The midfield battle was just shaded by Bastian Schweinsteiger and Germany, which was just about enough in the end.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Mats Hummels: Not only did Hummels get up the other end to score the early winner, but he would not have been beaten in another 90 minutes on this form. Back in the side after illness, he commanded Boateng, who also played better alongside him, and produced some very important headers and blocks to protect his goalkeeper Neuer.

Biggest gaffe

Andre Schurrle's overly casual effort from Mesut Ozil's cut-back late in the game might well have come back to haunt him, but fortunately France did not punish him. Schurrle was some 10 yards out with all the goal to aim at, but rolled a shot tamely against the legs of Hugo Lloris.

Referee performance

Nestor Pitana had a very good game today. He rightly refused two penalties on Miroslav Klose and Thomas Muller respectively when both went to ground a little too easily. He did not produce many yellow cards in a game with a few niggly fouls, but those he did give he was right to. He did not have any massive calls to make, but the small ones were mostly correct.

What next?

France: The French go home disappointed that they could not capitalise on what was a chance to reach the semi-finals.

Germany: They move into the final four for the fourth straight World Cup, and will take on the winner of the next clash between Brazil and Colombia.

Written by
Matt Domm