It was not the weekend game that either team was hoping to play in but both sides put on a great show in Port Elizabeth despite Germany being without five regular starters thanks to the flu.
Coming off losses to Spain and Holland respectively, Germany and Uruguay traded chances throughout with Germany coming out on top 3-2 in to claim third place.
German defender Arne Friedrich had the first great chance of the match off a corner kick in the 10th minute but his glancing header struck the crossbar.
The Germans would not be denied a opening goal a few minutes later,however,as midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger fired a shot from 20 yards away that was mishandled by Uruguayan keeper Nestor Muslera and fell right onto the path of returning midfielder Thomas Mueller who slotted it home and put Germany ahead 18 minutes in.
Mueller’s goal gave him five for the tournament putting him level with Spain’s David Villa.
Uruguay would equalize nine minutes later as a marvellous tackle by Diego Perez on Schweinsteiger allowed for a clean dispossessing of the ball and a quick pass of the ball to forward Luis Suarez who led a three on two Uruguayan attack along with Edison Cavani and Diego Forlan.
A through ball from Suarez allowed Cavani to break in behind the German defenders and shoot it past helpless German keeper Hans-Jorg Butt to tie the game at one after 28 minutes.
Suarez, himself, would be given a glorious opportunity to put Uruguay ahead in the 42nd minute but fired the shot wide after he broke in on the right and only had Butt to beat.
The second half opened at a frantic pace with both teams charging toward goal.
A crossed ball in the 52nd minute piece allowed for a absolute piece of brilliance from Forlan who would Uruguay ahead as he one touched the crossed ball and hammered the shot past Butt.
Not surprisingly, much like Uruguay in the first half, Germany quickly struck back as a Dennis Aogo cross into the Uruguayan penalty area was met by the head of Marcell Jensen who put it past a charging Muslera and tied the game in the 57th minute.
Both teams would trade chances but it was not until the 82nd minute until the deadlock was broken. A German corner kick was not handled well by the Uruguay defence allowing German midfielder Sami Khedira to latch onto a loose ball and head the ball in.
The final opportunity would fall to the feet of Forlan in the dying seconds of stoppage time in the manner of a free-kick just outside the German penalty area. The Athletico Madrid forward struck the ball with vigorously but unfortunately hit the crossbar and the referee blew the whistle to end the game