UPDATE: As it turns out, the “marquee matchup” between Germany and Portugal never materialized. The Germans scored four unanswered goals – including a hat trick from Thomas Muller – in a surprising rout of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates, the worst defeat by a Portuguese World Cup team at the World Cup.
Original post:
World Cup matches don’t get much more competitive than this one – especially in group play. Today at 12 pm ET (4 PM UTC), Group G – the dreaded “Group of Death” – kicks off between football powerhouses Germany and Portugal. Based on the FIFA world rankings, Germany (ranked 2nd best team in the world) is the slight favorite (Portugal is ranked 4th), but Portugal has the football power (and star power) of Cristiano Ronaldo on their side. No wonder many experts consider this to be the marquee matchup in this year’s group play.
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