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WORLD CUP 2014

FRANCE

LIVE BLOG: Germany beat France 1-0

LIVE: Germany face France in the quarter-finals of the football World Cup in Brazil on Friday. Keep up to date with the latest action in The Local's live blog. Tweet us at @TheLocalGermany.

LIVE BLOG: Germany beat France 1-0
Mats Hummels and Sebastian Schweinsteiger celebrate Germany's 1-0 win over France. Photo: DPA

Germany 1-0 France. Refresh page for updates.

19:56: It has been an emotional, unbelievable ninety minutes. I can't remember a 1-0 which was so exciting. Germany go through thanks to a first half header from beautiful Mats Hummels. He gets man of the match, both from me, and officially. Germany are now in the semi final of a record fourth consecutive World Cup. It has been a pleasure recording it all for you, dear readers, and bantering with The Local France. Enjoy the celebrations, Germany fans!

19:53: Neuer saves a close shot from Benzema with 10 seconds to go. One handed, above his head. The man ranks among Willy Brandt and Goethe as a German hero… he takes a goal kick AND IT'S OVER. GERMANY HAVE WON.

19:50: Four minutes of added time have been announced by the fourth official. Four!? The Local France must be considerably richer than us. After Götze wastes a chance, Löw attempts to waste time by bringing flu-ridden Christoph Kramer on for Toni Kroos. Kroos has had a fantastic game and deserves a rest, but if France do equalise, I'm not sure how confident I am of Kramer filling his role in extra time. 

19:48: The swearing just went up a notch. Another counter attack, this time Müller squares to Schürrle, who blasts it straight into a French shirt for a second time. I hate Chelsea. It must be their fault. 1 minute of normal time left.

19:45: Poor old Ian Carruthers is a France fan and is suffering rather. It's the same on this side of the border. Yours truly is trying to work while also swearing viciously at the television. It's not pretty. 3 and a half minutes of normal time left.

19:40: Germany are beginning to struggle as France crank up the pressure. Hummels nearly scores an own goal in a goalmouth scramble. But what's this? A counter attack! Müller frees Özil, wo squares to Schürrle, it has to go in…but the Chelsea player hits it straight at Lloris. German commentator sounds close to tears as he screams "That has to go in!"

19:38: A dear acquaintance who works for Brazilian newspaper O Globo is in Rio this evening, and has tweeted the attendance figures at the Estadio Maracana. It's nothing on the 200,000 they fit in there for the World Cup Final in 1950.

19:34: Mats Hummels to the rescue again, blocking Benzema! France's first chance for a while, as Germany begin to regain a hold on he game, France coach Didier Deschamps has made some changes. 

19:31: Dan Hough has this to say about Franco-German relations and what The Local's various branches are doing to destroy them.

19:26: André Schürrle is coming on for Miroslav Klose. Klose is still waiting for a record setting 16th World Cup goal in his career, while Schürrle's only fault is that he plays for Chelsea. Otherwise a very gifted player who had a blinder as a sub against Algeria. Moments after his arrival on the pitch here, he receives the ball on the left and puts in a good cross which is just a little too far ahead of Müller. 

19:19: France are beginning to break through the German defences, but so far the Nationalelf is holding firm, and the game  is settling into a nice rhythm, which is football talk for nothing exciting is happening. In case you're not a football fan and are therefore getting bored, here's some football for you to watch. The last time Germany were in a World Cup quarter-final, they did this.

19:13: Sami Khedira receives a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Antoine Griezmann. In other news, Toni Kroos has exploded into this second half, running the French back line ragged. He just played a simply beautiful pass out wide which was wasted. And as I finish writing that gushing praise, Kroos proceeds to put a weak shot about 20 miles wide of the post. Thanks, Toni.

19:09: Germany are also dominating possession here, as is usually the case. Even French sports newspaper L'Équipe have noticed. Though they do mention that France have had more shots on goal. Two words: conversion rate.

19:06: A bit of early pressure from France in this second half. Main threat cleared up eventually by Beautiful Mats Hummels.

19:04: Da sind sie wieder! The players are back on the pitch, and this time France will be kicking off, as is warranted by the rules of football. 

18:56: More half time entertainment for you. Some undeterred England fans discuss the merits of supporting each team pre-match.

18:52: A bit of half time history for you. My colleagues/enemies over at The Local France mentioned the Schumacher Battiston scandal earlier. For those who aren't familiar with this, it was the second most shameful moment in Germany's World Cup history. Germany vs France. World Cup semi-final in 1982. Monsieur Battiston runs through on goal with a chance to score for France, and the German keeper Toni Schumacher does this…

18:48: Half time in Rio de Janeiro. Germany lead 1-0. The game is open, and without Mats Hummels, Germany what neither have scored, nor kept their goal empty so far. France look dangerous on the counter, but Germany certainly deserve their lead. 

18:45: Mats Hummels blocks Benzema from close range AGAIN! The flu he apparently had appears to have galvanised him, and he's winning this match for Germany. If he carries on like this, it'll be man of the match for him, and everybody will forget about that horrible display against Italy at Euro 2012. On that day, he was the Man Who Lost Germany The Cup after his basic errors against Italian striker Mario Balotelli.

18:41: Sami Khedira has just been taken behind the goal to have his beard inspected. He got a ball to the face, and looked a bit dazed. He's back on the field now though. Good news for Germany, who will need his counter attacking link-up wizardry later on.

18:37: Beautiful Mats Hummels just denied Benzema from about three yards out. He is playing gloriously. France waste both the ensuing corners.

18:35: The French are clearly masochists. My colleagues have just tweeted this.

18:33: Germany have another chance from a free-kick, with Höwedes not quite finishing. The corner is wasted an France counter. But Germany win the ball back. It pains me to say this, but Lahm at right back is kind of working so far.

18:29: My counterpart over at The Local France has already brought up the Battiston-Schumacher issue. May I here apologise on behalf of all Germans for Schumacher's behaviour on that day.

18:24: The French are already up to no good, reacting to the deficit with dirty play. Cabayé mercilessly floored Klose a second ago. That won't improve Franco-German relations. To find out what the Germans really think of of the French, my bosses made this at some point in the past.

18:20: Stephingo is excited. 

18:14: GOOOOAALL! Toni Kroos whips in a glorious free kick and Mats Hummels plants his beautiful head on the ball to guide it past a stranded Lloris. Hammerauftakt, as the Germans would say. 1-0 Germany.

18:08: Our colleages at The Local France seem to think their team is dominating early proceedings. They did just break the offside trap and they had a good chance from Benzema earlier on, but I fear they are watching the wrong game. Both teams playing well up front, with France the more solid in defence.

18:05: Germany applying pressure early on. That is all.

18:04: Also notable is the absence of Mertesacker. Could be tactical, could be a result of his much maligned rant after the Algeria game. If you haven't seen it yet, my colleague Benjamin Kühlhoff from 11Freunde has provided viewers with a remix version.

18:02: And we're off! Germany kick off from right to left, if you're watching a tv screen. Which you're not. Because you're reading this.

18:00: Just before kick-off, it's worth noting that Löw has reverted to 2010 type with Lahm at right back and Klose up front. The populists will be happy. I, personally, think Lahm should stay in midfield. We shall see.

17:55: The national anthems! It is sixty years to the day since West Germany won their first World Cup. On that day, the fans somewhat embarrassingly sang the first verse of the Deutschlandlied after the game. Still, it was a great day, and the French would be nothing but short of horrible to spoil the anniversary celebrations tonight. 

17:51: Here are the eleven chaps who today constitute the enemy. Antoine Griezmann starts, and Arsenal's Olivier Giroud is relegated to the bench. 

17:46: The big news there being that it looks like Phillipp Lahm will indeed play at right back today. Joachim Löw has been under immense pressure in recent weeks to take his captain out of midfield. He seems to have caved. French line up will be with you shortly…

17:43: With only fifteen minutes to go, we are able to offer you the starting line-ups. First, Germany…

17:32: For those who are yet to decide which European giant to support tonight, people who spend more time in the office than I do have usefully assembled 10 reasons why Germany is better than France. 

17:25: Hello and welcome to The Local Germany's live coverage of tonight's World Cup quarter-final between France and Germany. My name is Kit Holden, and I am your host for tonight's proceedings.

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