Monday June 16th

Group G

Müller hat-trick humbles Ten-man Portugal

Germany 4 Portugal 0 (Salvador)
Thomas Müller claimed the first hat-trick of the World Cup as Germany put ten-man Portugal to the sword. Müller found the bottom left corner from the penalty spot in the 12th minute and Mats Hummel made it 2 with a thumping header from a corner kick in the 32nd minute, but Portugal's task got considerably harder 5 minutes later when Pepe was sent off for violent conduct, and on the stroke of half time a cross fell to Müller who knocked in the third. In the 78th minute Patricio got a hand to Schuerrle' low delivery across goal and Müller was on hand to complete his hat-trick with a tap in. Cristiano Ronaldo showed what could have been, with a scorcher of a free-kick in stoppage time, which Neuer did well to save.

Group F

Chanceless

Iran 0 Nigeria 0 (Curitiba)

Iran and Nigeria played out a goalless match in Curitiba with hardly any chances created by either team. Enyeama in the Nigeria goal kept out a close-range header from Ghoochannejad in the 33rd minute. The first draw of the tournament leaves both sides with very little realistic chance of progressing to the next round.

Group G

US kick off with victory

USA 2 Ghana 1 (Natal)

Ghana came back from an early setback only to see a late American winner. The Americans got off to a flying start when Clint Dempsey got into the box from the left, strolled past 2 defenders and scored in off the far post after only 31 seconds from the kick off. In the 21st minute Jozy Altidore was carried off clutching his hamstring and likely to miss the rest of the tournament. Ghana equalised in the 82nd minute when Andre Ayew receive the ball from a Gyan back heel and beat Howard at the near post with the outside of his left foot, but 4 minutes later John Brooks met a corner kick to head in the winner.