BORDEAUX, France -- After just about doing enough to decide Germany's latest penalty shootout victory, man of the match Manuel Neuer also said enough to describe it all.
"It was a war for my nerves," the goalkeeper stated. "I've never seen such a thing before."
It was that epic, that testing. Germany won 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Bordeaux, ensuring they still haven't lost a shootout since their first against Czechoslovakia at Euro '76. Neuer was right; we've never seen them win a shootout like this, one in which there were nine rounds.
Germany remarkably missed three penalties, more than they have squandered in all other international tournaments combined -- in both normal play and shootouts -- over that 40-year span.