SportsZone Show with Pascal Mathieu & Nelson Motta (EN)
Netherlands 0-1 Spain + Best 11
The Line-Ups:
Netherlands: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 2-Gregory van der Wiel, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 8-Nigel de Jong, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.
Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 18-Pedro, 7-David Villa.
Netherlands Review - SWOT:
Strength – Do you even remember when was the last time you have seen Netherlands losing a match? They have one of the best midfield and offensive lines if not the best at the moment. Defeat is not a word featured on Dutch dictionary – Last time they lost a match dates from September 2008. Since then they won 19 matches and drew 4, scored 49 goals and conceded 9. From the last 10 matches, 9 were against World Cup seeded teams, they have only recorded wins. There are no words to define this squad and other than reaching the final would have been regarded as failure, so they made it against the odds. They have won all World Cup matches in South Africa.
Weaknesses – The loss of Van der Sar and not having found yet a goalkeeper of such status alongside with a weak and slow defense regardless the few goals they have conceded. The way they quickly find a very positive result favoring them just to let it slip through their “hands”. Meaning they fall asleep too easily after scoring one or more goals allowing opposition to thrive if they capitalize from chances.
Opportunities – In case their triumvirate steps up the game as they have done in the last World Cup matches as well in the rest of the whole season, they could reach the crown in a fashionable way. Pressuring high Spain and try to score first in order to almost surely determine the outcome of the match, because the Spaniards are awkward when coming from behind. They have scored in the last 10 consecutive matches.
Threats – If Netherlands underperform like they always do in top competitions just as it happens in an equally proportion with Spain, England and France. Orange has a lot of pressure on them because of the world class quality of players they possess. They have conceded in the last 4 consecutive matches.
SPAIN - SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength – Being the European Champions. They play like kids in the streets in early stages, passing on and on dominating in a powerful way before bringing the poison into their objective attack being unbeatable once they get ahead in the match. Having the most stunning stars in your team will give you the edge to shine and place you in the favorite candidates to win the World Cup. In the last 54 matches they have played since 2007, they won 50, lost and drew 2; scored 120 goals and conceded 26 goals.
Weaknesses – If Netherlands win the ball ahead by pressuring high on the field so that you could launch a strong counter attack and get ahead in the match will bring hard times to Spain. They know how to win but know not how to lose. They get too nervous when they take longer to score an opening goal so much that they start to open spaces and making defensive forced errors that in this World Cup have not been capitalized by Portugal, Paraguay, Chile nor Germany . Due to the fact of they are not that strong in terms of body building they fear opponents that play more under a physical approach, but in Netherlands we can only see that through Van Bommel & De Jong.
Opportunities – Playing at a high-tempo as they do will destroy the chances of Netherlands to defeat them in any strategic move. Their high rate of possession also comes through short pass like if they were slowly building a puzzle and getting all the pieces before delivering the final masterpiece (goal).
Threats – They are their worst enemy. When they play anxiously they tend to lose focus, especially when coming from behind in terms of result.
From the last 4 matches they played against each-other Netherlands has been undefeated and won 3 times and drew once. Overall stats see Netherlands winning 4 matches while Spain has won 3 times and they drew once.
Paul the Octopus has unveiled Spain as the winners of this World Cup at South Africa. Will he be 100% precise after having all the other results right?
Vuvuzelas, Jabulani, Octopus, Shakira, Knaan, Referees, altitude, winter, rain, marketing schemes, security, empty seats…So many different things that will be made as souvenir of this World Cup, but surely not by the overall football played on the field.
The FIFA’s shortlist as to who can win the Golden Ball (Best Player) of this World Cup as the following players:
Forlan (Uruguay); Asamoah Gyan (Ghana); Xavi (Spain); Iniesta (Spain); Messi (Argentina); Ozil (Germany); Robben (Netherlands); Schweinsteiger (Germany); Sneijder (Netherlands) and Villa (Spain).
The fight is on for the Golden Boot (Top Scorer) between midfielder Sneijder from Netherlands that is hoping to move to Manchester United this upcoming season and Villa that has recently moved to Barcelona.
Who will make the most of it - Robben over Capdevilla or Iniesta over van Bronckhorst ? Surely the match is to be decided on slight differences coming from these challenges. Kuyt will be playing surely the game of his life because for once he will have to be tactically flawless to perform a box-to-box approach on his way of playing – He will have to stop Sergios Ramos from going forward and in the other end he will have to supply the Dutch attack. Xavi is the player that has most passes in a match, ratio 1 per minute, will try to define Spain’s tempo and whether if they will try to go on the centre or more wide even though Spain do lack width. If Spain took the right notes from Netherlands-Brazil then they will try to attack through the centre because that is where should rely the Achilles heel of the Dutch. Xabi Alonso will make restless efforts to cancel Sneijder’s long shot and his perfect breakthrough passes that could easily open the Spain’s defense.
The 60th minute mark is approaching and that’s when Spain has scored their goals. Navas, Torres and Fabregas have the chance to be brought in to change the outcome of the match to see Spain to open more wide and try to bring a second yellow card on van Bronckhorst.
Many, many chances in this match, but surely not like the one that Robben had Saint Iker to save brilliantly to say the least. As we stated on the SWOT report about both teams, if one cannot get the goal after being supplied by forced mistakes than they will be more likely to lose the match.
10 minutes later and Villa just did not want to score. He wasn’t selfish towards Robben, so they close the top 3 misses of the tournament alongside Yakubu. Just less than three yards away and the ball got deflected to corner. Now it is Kuyt going out to give way to Elia which is a very quick and tricky winger that might disturb Sergio Ramos from going forward because since Navas got it Spain forced their way more often through the right side.
And Robben misses it again as similar as he had missed a couple of minutes ago…
And moment of individual magic needs to happen right here, right now because the teams have entered the extra-time increasing their approach about not to lose rather much then try to win.
Heitinga is sent off by the 111th minute and everyone was expecting this to happen on one side or the other once the game has been much more physical and tactical rather more than entertaining. Perhaps this should have been swapped with the match for the 3rd place that was one of the best if not the best of the competition. Not the way that anyone would like this to happen, but still this has been the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
Five minutes to go and Fabregas make the killer pass to Iniesta that K.O. Netherlands. No chance for Stekelenburg. There are already tears crawling down the face of Casillas meanwhile the Royal Family is making the party in the VIP stands.
None nation had won the World Cup after losing their opening match and Spain has done it as well as other records were broken such as host team not going through the group stage or a European team winning outside European soil.
And the next big thing in the world of football is the betting sites and pundits that will go to try and buy a multi-million octopus that predicts 100% accurate…
After Germany and France, it is Spain that wins the European Championships and the World Cup in a row.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Iniesta
Thomas Muller has been awarded Best Young Player of the Tournament after Podolski have made it in 2006.
After this final - Who will be disagreeing that Forlan should be the one winning the Golden Ball (Best Player) Award?
The Golden Boot (Top Scorer) was awarded to Thomas Muller because of the more assists he had even though there were other three with 5 goals, Sneijder, Villa and best player of the World Cup Diego Forlan. The Golden Glove was undisputed taken by Iker Casillas.
The Best 11 of the World Cup 2010 held in South Africa were as designated by Nelson Motta:
Casillas;
Lahm, F. Coentrão, Boateng;
Iniesta, Ozil, Sneijder, Xavi, Robben;
Forlan & Villa.
Iniesta had in his shirt written – “Daniel Jarque siempre con nosotros” in a mention to the unforgettable Spanish player Daniel Jarque that died in training of a heart-attack at the age of 26. A memorable way to finish this World Cup for Spain…God Bless
Uruguay 2-3 Germany + Best 23
The Line-Ups:
Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 2-Diego Lugano, 3-Diego Godin, 4-Jorge Fucile, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 15-Diego Perez, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 22-Martin Caceres, 9-Luis Suarez, 10-Diego Forlan.
Germany: 22-Hans-Joerg Butt; 2-Marcell Jansen, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 13-Thomas Mueller, 4-Dennis Aogo, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 19-Cacau, 8-Mesut Ozil.
Germany started the strong the match willing to re-edit the high-margin victories they had in this World Cup. 10 minutes into the match and Friedrich heads it into the bar but still the game is levelled with no goals.
From one moment to another and again a shot from outside the box makes all the difference when Schweinsteiger strikes a powerful shot to see Muslera save it but on the rebound the candidate to the Best Young Player of the competition, Thomas Muller scores. (Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are also contenders) It is the 5th goal from Muller that now tops the Golden Boot award with Villa and Sneijder.
Germany has just taken a bit of their poison. Uruguay on the counter-attack level the match 1-1 after Perez makes a brilliant tackle giving the ball away to Suarez that assist with a diagonal pass to see Cavani striking into the net comfortable despite the pressure from a German defender.
And the Germany is showing more than just signs that they do not know how to play against teams that master the counter-attack strategy. Uruguay has been just deadly to say the least. It is Forlan once again on the spotlight. In the first goal after having made a superb run that strategically provided space for Cavani to receive the ball now he scored in a stunning way. Suarez on the move again drops the ball into Arevalo that crosses with precision like if it was golf and with the precious timing Forlan delivers a scissor kick finding the net. Now we have four players in the top of the Golden Boot award – Forlan, Muller, Villa and Sneijder.
This goal could easily get rated as the best of the World Cup alongside Van Bronckhorst and Tevez that ultimately shall be the top three best of the competition.
The game has been so intense that a goal from Germany came as no surprise with Boateng tipped among the best 23 chosen by Nelson Motta crossing to see Muslera making an error from that delivery and Jansen makes no mistake and introduces the ball right where it belongs, into the net of Uruguay.
It has happened another turn-around in the match and just with 9 minutes to go. Crowded Uruguay box saw a corner from Ozil to find Khedira to head it into the net. It has been anybody’s game and if the World Cup was made of a match like this then it would have been the most memorable tournament.
What a memorable way to finish a World Cup... Forlan shots straight to the bar after taking a free-kick in the last minute of the match.
After history stated that no European nation had conquered a World Cup in a non-European soil, this time in South Africa the podium is made of European teams. Germany got the bronze while Uruguay placed as the best 4th nation. Who will be the number 1 – Netherlands or Spain?
Germany go home with a little bit of pride despite not making into the final, but they were by far the best team of the tournament while Uruguay go home proud to re-edit the glorious times when they used to dominate the world of football and they finish as the most entertaining attack and having Suarez and Forlan with a combined 8 goals.
After this match, Forlan is heavily linked with the best player of the competition award, but still FIFA always finds a way to make things different. (They done it with the row between Pele and Maradona even though the world shouted Maradona was clearly the best ever player) Forlan was flawless, outstanding to say the least and Atletico Madrid will have a hard time to keep him for the next season after what he has done to Liverpool, Fulham, in La Liga and in this World Cup that increased his overall price by millions.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Diego Forlan
The Best XXIII of the World Cup 2010 held in South Africa as chosen by Nelson Motta are:
GK – Casillas; Kingson; Eduardo;
Defenders – Lahm, Maicon, Fabio Coentrão, Sergio Ramos, Boateng, Mensah, Lugano;
Midfielders – Podolski, Ozil, Asamoah Gyan, Alexis Sanchez, Iniesta, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Muller. Xavi, Sneijder
Forwards – Forlan, Villa, Klose.
Uruguay 2-3 Germany (Highlights)
Ricardo | MySpace Video
Copyright © 2010 Nelson Motta™ All Rights Reserved
Germany 0-1 Spain
The Line-Ups:
Germany: 1-Manuel Neuer; 16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 15-Piotr Trochowski, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 10-Lukas Podolski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 11-Miroslav Klose
Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 18-Pedro, 7-David Villa
SPAIN - SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength – Being the European Champions. They play like kids in the streets in early stages, passing on and on dominating in a powerful way before bringing the poison into their objective attack being unbeatable once they get ahead in the match. Having the most stunning stars in your team will give you the edge to shine and place you in the favorite candidates to win the World Cup.
Weaknesses – Winning the ball ahead by pressuring high on the field so that you could launch a strong counter attack and get ahead in the match will bring hard times to Spain. They know how to win but know not how to lose. They get too nervous when they take longer to score an opening goal so much that they start to open spaces and making defensive forced mistakes. Due to the fact of they are not that strong in terms of body building they fear opponents that play more under a physical approach like Germany.
Opportunities – Playing at a high-tempo as they do will destroy the chances of Germany to defeat them on the counter-attack. Their high rate of possession also comes through short pass like if they were slowly building a puzzle and getting all the pieces before delivering the final masterpiece (goal).
Threats – They are their worst enemy. When they play anxiously they tend to lose focus, especially when coming from behind in terms of result.
Germany - SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength –Germany is always tipped to win the World Cup as they already won it 3 times, but a European team never won outside European soil, but this time it will happen. Their well structured squad alongside their tough physical approach plays a key factor in Germany’s way of play. In this World Cup they managed to score 13 goals and conceded only 2 (3 if we take into account Lampard’s goal not credited). They have been able to play strong just in a counter-attack strategy and that seems to be the first time ever a team will manage to go that far in this major competition by playing in such style.
Weaknesses –The pressure has been on young Ozil to fulfill the Kaiser’s position of Ballack and that so far is almost certain that he will scope the Best Young Player of the Tournament following the 2006’s award to also a German player, Lucas Podolski. Playing on the counter-attack style is always a liability as it can backfire but if it does not happen against Spain, then will drive them very closely to the finish line as to be champions again.
Opportunities – Scoring an early goal against Spain will give them the edge to push for more goals because Spain hardly comes from behind as they lose focus and play under an emotional level rather more than strategy. Ozil might easily open spaces through his stunning breakthrough passes.
Threats – The German aggressiveness in defense will be taken into account by Del Bosque that will push for his creative players to get the referee decisions on his side. One of the two goals conceded gifted Germany with a loss against Serbia, meaning that they are not that thick even when managing to torn apart Ghana, England and Argentina.
After 70 minutes of dominance in almost every single department in this match, Puyol is able to head it into the net after a perfect corner kick taken by Xavi. Germany 0-1 Spain. It has been the most tactical match of this World Cup with Germany trying not to concede and with Spain trying to score.
Spain has been wonderful with their mastery passing game canceling almost all efforts from Germany to try and break from the counter. The staggering dominance from Spain is illustrated by their 13 shots against 4 shots Germany with the Spaniards being much more dangerous all the way throughout the match.
Through thick and thin La Roja have been very compact and deservedly have reached the final making the re-edition of their last win against Germany by 1-0 to make it come true the dream of the Spanish to get to that Final of this Major competition such as the World Cup after so long. Surely this time and after winning the European Championships they won’t be questioned how they made it, because they have been almost flawless in their approach. The Spanish media will have to apologize for sure in relation to their early remarks about Spain’s loss against Switzerland.
After Serbia we seen another team to cancel the German outfit and to make they look like ordinary. Argentina, France, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Uruguay are out and Germany joins them! Germany will still have the chance to fight from the 3rd and 4th place in an interesting clash against Uruguay, but will that be enough?
The final of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup as Nelson Motta predicted against all odds before the competition started is happening – Netherlands vs. Spain.
After all Nelson Motta’s talks regarding the Germany’s squad, finally a reality check came to those who were already crowing the Germans as champions.
The Sports Zone show with Pascal Mathieu and Nelson Motta were surely the only show worldwide stating what the final is as it will happen on Sunday. Back with the show on the 12th of July.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Pedro
Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands
The Line-Ups:
URUGUAY: 1-Fernando Muslera; 3-Diego Godin, 6-Mauricio Victorino, 5-Walter Gargano, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 22-Martin Caceres, 15-Diego Perez, 11-Alvaro Pereira, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 10-Diego Forlan.
NETHERLANDS: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 12-Khalid Boulahrouz, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 14-Demy de Zeeuw, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.
Into the 17th minutes and a stunning long range shot by van Bronckhorst and surely the best goal of the tournament. Neither tactic nor strategy would be able to stop this powerful left foot effort from the Oranje captain. Interesting start to the match where Uruguay was dominating all over the field but it was another shot from outside the box kind of 40 meters and it was enough to separate the sides to make Netherlands likely finalist for the third time in history while Uruguay already were winners twice.
What a drama!! 26 minutes and everyone thought the worst about the potential injury of the Dutch player de Zeeuw that got kicked in the face by a bicycle kick from Caceres, but God came down and made everything to work out without major concerns. Back to the game again.
After cameras focusing on Suarez that is out following his red card, when they showed Forlan it was enough for him to strike a curly left foot shot also from long range got into the back of the net and Stekelenburg had some responsibility or was it Jabulani making new friends again. We are 5 minutes away from the Half-time and Uruguay scored in a crucial moment of a football match and specially because they are capitalizing their dominance in the match as well. Individually, it was the 4th goal from Forlan in this World Cup.
Sneijder is continuously climbing up in the charts. Another shot, another left footed goal, another from outside the box and his 4th of the competition. Netherlands are ahead once again and they have been displaying a better football in the second half and they made the most of it by scoring the second goal. Uruguay 1-2 Netherlands.
The Dutch are on the final of the competition with a perfect header from Robben after a killer assist from Sneijder. There’s nothing else Uruguay can do to stop the attack rampage from the Oranje and still 15 minutes left for the end of the match.
Maxi Pereira strikes with a curly shot after receiving the ball from a well orchestrated set-piece situation. This came after the 90th minute but was not enough to ensure Uruguay at least a chance to play the extra-time.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Sneijder
Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands (Highlights)
Ricardo | MySpace Video
Copyright © 2010 Nelson Motta™ All Rights Reserved
Paraguay 0-1 Spain
The Line-Ups:
Paraguay: 1-Justo Villar; 2-Dario Veron, 14-Paulo Da Silva, 21-Antolin Alcaraz, 3-Claudio Morel, 8-Edgar Barreto, 11-Jonathan Santana, 15-Victor Caceres, 16-Cristian Riveros, 18-Nelson Valdez, 7-Oscar Cardozo
Spain: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila; 14-Xabi Alonso, 8-Xavi, 6-Andres Iniesta, 16-Sergio Busquets; 9-Fernando Torres, 7-David Villa.
Gerardo Martino adopts a conservative 4-4-2 as his style of play that can switch to an offensive 4-3-3 case Paraguay’s opponent are in a weaker position.
Paraguay - ANALYSIS
Strength – Remember Chilavert? The infamous goalkeeper was a key to Paraguay’s approach on a defensive perspective. They are a very strong side when it comes to defense, but they not neglect their offensive potential with the like of Santa Cruz, Barrios and Valdez or even Cardozo. They are very strong against European opposition.
Weaknesses – Playing a more direct football based often in counter-attack means that rolling the ball between the squad in terms of game-play is not what you are used to see in Paraguay. But this direct approach can be more effective, objective and less demanding than having ball possession all the time.
Opportunities – Paraguay has an undefeated record on this World Cup. Having won 1 match and had 3 draws. Additionally, they will face Spain with the opportunity to get on their nerves and then having the Spaniards on penalties like they crushed Japan.
Threats – If Gerardo Martino that embedded the methodology of Marcelo Bielsa’s approach doesn’t go beyond the game’s strategy, they could face tough issues regarding the ability of being motivated for the last matches that look much more decisive than the first one that probably will only manage to settle whose finishing top and second position of the group.
The match has seen Spain dominating in terms of ball possession but related to clear chances of goal it is all about Paraguay. This is what we can state about the first half alongside with a disallowed goal to Paraguay by the referee.
A fact just brought up by FIFA is that Spain only won one of their 11 World Cup matches with a 0-0 score at half-time and that has been the game against Portugal the latest one.
Paraguay needs to get Barrios on the field to increase their chances of getting something of this match while on the other side it would best for Spain to get Llorente, Fabregas or Navas in to improve their tempo that is not looking what Spain has got us used to.
56 minutes and it is a penalty!!! A clear one indeed... What was Pique thinking of when he was pushing hard Cardozo? Cardozo steps up and he misses it! Are we having another Uruguay-Ghana drama?
Guess so…because this time it is Villa that falls in the box and it has been only a minute from the missed penalty from Paraguay and now Spain can take the chance. Is it Alonso to make it happen? Sure he does, but wait…he needs to take it again and he misses it. What a drama!!!!
GOALLL and it is Spain and it is Villa once again! Iniesta with a wonderful move that opened the Paraguayan defense drops the ball to Pedro that strikes the post and then usual suspect Villa shots and the ball hits the right and left post before making the way into the net. 5th goal for Villa in this competition and he tops the Golden boot table.
Spain is on the semi-final to face Germany and La Roja has done it again by the low margin but still was enough and after they scored the goal that got them ahead in the result they just made the ball roll around the whole team like if they were playing Playstation.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Iniesta
Highlights Paraguay vs Spain
Perry | MySpace Video
Argentina 0-4 Germany
The Line-Ups:
Argentina: 22-Sergio Romero; 15-Nicolas Otamendi, 2-Martin Demichelis, 4-Nicolas Burdisso, 6-Gabriel Heinze, 14-Javier Mascherano, 20-Maxi Rodriguez, 7-Angel Di Maria, 10-Lionel Messi, 11-Carlos Tevez, 9-Gonzalo Higuain.
Germany: 1-Manuel Neuer; 16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng, 13-Thomas Mueller, 6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 10-Lukas Podolski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 11-Miroslav Klose.
Argentina Review – SWOT:
Maradona works around a 4-3-1-2 formation with a lot of opportunities from midfield ahead – Sergio Romero; Heinze, Samuel, Demichelis, Burdisso; Mascherano, Verón, Di Maria; Messi; Higuaín, Tevez/Aguero.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength – A squad made mostly of players that represent the best competitions in Europe should tell you all. If that is not enough, then try to add the best footballer in the world, the most ever controversial icon in football and the finest striking power just to mention some of the epic proportion of the likes of Argentinean football.
In terms of facts, they have never lost this year and indeed won all of the matches they played in 2010. Furthermore, they have scored 10 goals and conceded only twice and have flawless record in this World Cup winning all matches.
Weaknesses – The pressure of being the former 2 time World Champion. Maradona’s ever changing environment style that might confuse most of the players regardless their potential. At least in terms of group stages their less effective defensive back line wasn’t a problem because of their prolific offensive line, but might be costly in the latter stages. DeMichelis has been a liability of Argentina’s last third.
Opportunities – Re-edit the victory they had earlier in the year against Germany with a goal from Higuain that surely has the pedigree to go and score again to lead the top-scorer table on this tournament. They have never got a draw under Maradona’s spell as a coach so penalties could be off the horizon as that was what beat Argentina back in the 2006 World Cup against the same opponent.
Threats – Against all odds, Argentina getting caught napping on several defensive mistakes at the expense of dramatic offensive performances by their opponents.
The Argentinean most flourished garden getting all wilted due to high expectations.
Germany Review – SWOT:
Joachim Löw organizes his methodological squad through a 4-4-2 but recently has been trying to merge its primary formation with a 4-2-3-1. Manuel Neuer; Lahm, Mertesacker, Boateng, Westermann; Mezut Ozil, Schweinsteiger; Trochowski, Podolski, Klose & Marin/Khedira/Cacau/Muller.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength –Germany is always tipped to win the World Cup as they already won it 3 times, but a European team never won outside European soil. Their well structured squad alongside their tough physical approach plays a key factor in Germany’s way of play. In this World Cup they managed to score 9 goals and conceded only 2 (3 if we take into account Lampard’s goal not credited).
Weaknesses – Likewise England, they have failed to win matches against major nations, but the difference is that related to England has happened in friendly matches while Germany has happened in the last stages of European Championships and World Cup as well. The pressure is on young Ozil to fulfill the Kaiser’s position of Ballack.
Opportunities – The lack of high performance levels of Argentina’s last third. Ozil might easily open spaces through his stunning breakthrough passes.
Threats – They have only scored four goals regarding their last Quarter-final matches in previous six World Cups. The German aggressiveness in defense will be taken into account by Maradona that will push for his creative players to get the referee decisions on his side. One of the two goals conceded gifted Germany with a loss against Serbia, meaning that they are not that thick even when managing to torn apart Ghana and England.
Schweinsteiger’s free-kick from the left curling in and Muller with a slight touch with his head puts it in!! It is 1-0 for Germany and we are just 2 minutes into the game. Could Romero have done it better?
Platini, Mick Jagger, Leo Di Caprio, Angela Merkel and many more are among the spectators for today’s match.
Germany switched approach. Now they look much more the Germany that faced England, sitting on the back and taking advantage of their quick developed counter-attack.
Into the 36th minute and Higuain scores but was straight away disallowed by the linesman. Argentina had 4 players in an offside position. And the game starts to get passionate on the Argentina’s side.
It seems like the words of Maradona concerning the referees are backfiring to him. Germany is having a strong defensive performance and in the second half they have increased their capacity of having three different lines before Argentina are able to make anything of their own attack.
One more for Miroslav Klose as he gets closer and closer to Ronaldo World Cup record and surpassed Pele already. It was Podolski assisting in a perfect manner to see Klose to tap in one meter away from the goal line.
3-0 for Germany!! And Angela Merkel is dancing in the stands!! Schweinsteiger exposes big time Argentina’s defense dribbling all the way before assisting Friedrich that copy+paste the goal from Klose a few minutes before his first goal with the German shirt.
Taking into account the fantastic performances of Podolski we can see him featured later on in the best XI of this competition.
Klose scores another one. 4-0?!?!? Another counter-attack and another goal. Ballack is on a party mood off the field. The polish born striker is now one goal away of taking the World Record in terms of goals in this major competition.
Argentina goes home but surely they played the most entertaining football in their run until the quarter-finals before being outplayed by the German strategist Low. Haven’t we seen this coming in the last match against Mexico? (Things just changed after the “offside” goal of Tevez)
They enjoy the number 4. Will they do it again in the Semi-Final?
MAN OF THE MATCH: Podolski
Argentina 0-4 Germany - Highlights
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Mr.Paparazzi - D. Lyons
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NEWS
