Stuttgart, Germany (My Sportsbook) - Bastian Schweinsteiger scored his first two World Cup goals to lift Germany over Portugal, 3-1, in the third- place match at Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion.
The host team ended the tournament on a winning note, after falling to Italy in the semifinal round on Tuesday.
Nuno Gomes scored the sole goal for Portugal, which goes home with back-to- back defeats after losing to France in the other semifinal match on Wednesday.
The match was scoreless until Schweinsteiger put the Germans on the scoreboard with his fancy footwork in the 56th minute. Schweinsteiger dribbled around a pair of defenders before firing a shot just below the crossbar from 23 yards out.
Then just five minutes later, Germany increased its edge to 2-0 courtesy of an own goal fueled by Schweinsteiger. Schweinsteiger took a free kick, which went into the penalty area and off the foot of Portugal defender Petit.
Schweinsteiger made it a 3-0 affair in the 78th minute with a shot into the far corner from outside of the box.
It was too little, too late, but Gomes put Portugal on the board in the 88th minute via a diving header in the goal area.
Germany captain Michael Ballack, who has battled through various injuries during the entire tournament, missed the match due to a knee injury.
German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann agreed to step aside to allow veteran goalkeeper Oliver Kahn to take his place. Kahn, who now has 86 international caps, was probably making his final World Cup appearance, and finished with seven saves on the day.
Missing for Portugal was defender Ricardo Carvalho, who was suspended. Before this outing, Carvalho was one of three Portugal players to have played every minute in the tournament.
This was Germany's fourth third-place match, with the previous finishing in a 1-0 win over Uruguay in 1970.
Saturday marked the 15th meeting between the two countries, with Germany holding the advantage with seven wins and three losses.
The tournament concludes on Sunday with the final between France and Italy in Berlin.
