A look back on the 2011 German victory against Uruguay in Sinsheim

29 May 2011 was also a Sunday. At 20:00 CET, the German national team faced Uruguay, which would be seen as the second edition of the "little final" of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which national coach Joachim Löw won 3-2. Germany won the friendly match 2-1 (2-0) against the "Sky Blues".

Mario Gomez (20') and Andre Schürrle (35') scored the goals in front of a sold-out stadium filled with 25,655 spectators. Walter Gargano (48') scored for the opposing team with both sides putting on a fine spectacle. In the second half, the quality dropped significantly, partly due to the fact that the German team was slightly less organised after six substitutions were made. All in all, eleven players, three of which would become World Champions in Rio de Janeiro, were on the pitch that day. Benedikt Höwedes will probably remember Sinsheim fondly because it was where he played his international debut. Schürrle scored his first goal for the DFB team which was needed by Löw to consider him for the Euro qualifiers against Austria (2-1) and in Baku against Azerbaijan (3-1).

The match against the ex-Champions with world class strikers Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and Edison Cavani had another interesting side to it, as it was also a DFB charity game. Since 1993, these games have been held with the participation of the national team, with the revenue being used mostly for social purposes. The game in Sinsheim was the twelfth edition of a DFB charity match. Before the 2014 World Cup, the 13th game took place (in Mainz against Armenia) and since then, the DFB hasn't organised any more games of that kind.

 

Stats for the international friendly in Sinsheim on 29 May 2011:

Germany - Uruguay 2-1 (2-0)

Line-ups:

Germany: Neuer - Lahm (66' Höwedes), A. Friedrich (66' Badstuber), Hummels, Schmelzer - Rolfes, Kroos (79' Träsch) – T. Müller (79' Götze), Özil (46' Klose), Schürrle (58' Podolski) - Gomez    

Uruguay: Muslera - Maxi Pereira, Lugano, Godin, Caceres - Arevalo Rios (76' Eguren), Gargano (87' Abreu) - Cavani, Forlan, Pereira (55' Ramirez) - Suarez

Goals: 1-0 Gomez (20'), 2-0 Schürrle (35'), 2:1 Gargano (48')

Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal)   

Spectators: 25,655 (Sold-out)