Uruguay, Germany drawing 1-1 at interval

Uruguay and Germany were drawing 1-1 at half-time of an entertaining, rain-soaked World Cup third-place play-off match here on Saturday.

Thomas Mueller put Germany ahead to claim his fifth goal of the tournament, taking him level with Spain’s David Villa and Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder in the race for the Golden Boot, but Edinson Cavani drew Uruguay level.

Germany coach Joachim Loew made several changes to his line-up, with top scorer Miroslav Klose, captain Philipp Lahm and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer all dropping to the bench, while Luis Suarez returned from suspension for Uruguay.

A traditionally fair-spirited fixture began with a horrible foul on Diego Perez by German left-back Dennis Aogo, who was fortunate to escape with a yellow card.

Germany edged Uruguay 1-0 when the sides met in the third-place match at the 1970 World Cup and they came close to taking an early lead here when Arne Friedrich met Mesut Ozil’s deep corner with a header that bounced back off the crossbar.

Uruguay held out for just eight more minutes, with Mueller slotting in from close range in the 18th minute after Bastian Schweinsteiger’s swerving drive was pushed out by Fernando Muslera.

Mueller will finish as the tournament’s official top scorer if Villa and Sneijder both fail to score in Sunday’s final, because assists are taken to account in case of a tie and he has supplied three to his rivals’ one each.

Lightning counter-attacks have been Germany’s trademark at this tournament but they were dealt a taste of their own medicine in the 28th minute when Perez quickly fed Suarez, whose pass was stabbed home by Cavani to bring Uruguay level.

Suarez had a golden chance to put his side ahead four minutes before the break but, after racing onto Diego Forlan’s through-pass, he dragged his shot across goal and wide.