2010 FIFA World Cup Third place play-off

On 10 July 2010, at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, Germany defeated Uruguay by 3–2 to claim third place at the World Cup for the second successive time after also finishing third at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Bastian Schweinsteiger managed to take a shot towards the goal, which Muslera rebounded towards Thomas Mueller who scored. Uruguay forced their way back into the game after Luis Suárez's pass put Edinson Cavani through on the left and he slid low into the far corner to put them on level terms after 28 minutes. Diego Forlán then put them ahead in the second half with a beautiful backheel kick from the edge of the penalty box while goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt just stood there hopelessly after 51 minutes. Marcell Jansen then scored on 56 minutes after Muslera came for Jérôme Boateng's cross but missed it right in front of Jansen allowing him to head into an empty net. Mesut Ozil took a corner in the 82nd minute, which reached a German player, bounced off him and went up to Khedira's head, who headed it in. Uruguay almost forced extra time when Forlán curled a 92nd-minute free-kick onto the bar, but Germany held on to win the match. After the game, Uruguay coach Óscar Tabárez insisted that his side did not deserve to be on the losing side, "We achieved an equal game against a real power, we could have won because in the game [they] were not superior to us, "We're not that far away [from Germany's level], the route has been marked, we must learn from this".