How a mistake by Pepe and a moment of magic from Ozil led to Germany's penalty vs. Portugal

Germany thrashed Portugal 4-0 earlier today in Group G action, using a hat-trick from Thomas Muller to record a resounding victory that will not soon be forgotten by the football world.

First, the goal in full.

Now, let's look at how the play developed, which will show how a lapse in judgement by Pepe (sounds about right) opened up space for the through ball that ultimately led to the foul on Mario Gotze. 

At this point in the play, the Portuguese defense is in solid position, the four players in line with one another and close enough together as to not allow any through ball to be played into the two German players.

When Fabio Coentrao steps up to try and recover a loose ball, Pepe is still in good position, tightly marking Mario Gotze. Boateng just beats the left-back to the ball, smashing it against Raul Meireles before it breaks to one of his teammates.

That's when Mesut Ozil makes a darting run through the middle, which sets the entire play in motion.

When Ozil receives the pass, Pepe leaves Gotze and comes across to cut off the midfielder, which is the key mistake in the sequence. 

As you will see below, Pepe already has support in the form of Miguel Veloso, who himself is in good enough position to cut off Ozil from getting into the box. By coming across unnecessarily, Pepe has now created a situation where two defenders are marking the same player (Ozil).

While not an ideal marking scheme, Portugal wouldn't be in terrible shape had Ozil collected the pass and tried to make a run down the line, towards the box.

Instead, his first touch is a deft flick to his midfield partner tucked behind him, which now leaves Pepe stranded on the left side of the field. The next touch is a simple through ball into the path of Gotze, threaded into the space where Pepe would have been had he not rushed towards Ozil.

Joao Pereira is forced to come across to try and put in a tackle on Gotze, but commits the foul when the German does a good job getting himself between the ball and the defender.

Look where Pepe is at the moment of the foul:

It wasn't the end of the match by any stretch of the imagination - that was Pepe once again, being brandished with a red card later in the half for a headbutt on Muller - but conceding so early put Portugal in a hole from which they could not dig themselves out.

Credit must be given to Ozil for his moment of magic that took advantage of Pepe's rash decision to vacate his position, but suffice it to say, the Portuguese defender will want to forget about this match as quickly as possible.