ARGENTINA / GERMANY

[Sarah Star]

4-0

Why can't we be more German

[sandman]

Argentina are officially worse than England.

[SLAMMED]

We could have been, if it wasn't for us being good at war.

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

I really like this German side -no outstanding stars but excellent technique pratically to a man.

Now 3-0

No outstanding stars Bastian Schweinsteiger has been sensational in the past two matches.
This German side didn't get anywhere enough credit for the way they dispatched England. Now they have hammered England playing attacking football. Great credit to them. Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Podoloski have been brilliant today. They are the team to beat now.

What I meant was no-one like Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka - basically all the under-archievers at this world cup. Now 4-0

[Kitsondinho]

Holland v Germany final? What a game that would be!

[Archie's penalty]

Superlative 4th. Ozil, Muller, Podolski, Klose, Schweinsteiger, Lahm. I salute you!

[Flyingkiwi]

Well....

That was a dicking!

Actually, it makes you feel a bit better about England's lame effort (embarrasment that it was).

[frimmers3]

"No outstanding stars Bastian Schweinsteiger has been sensational in the past two matches.
This German side didn't get anywhere enough credit for the way they dispatched England. Now they have hammered England playing attacking football. Great credit to them. Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Podoloski have been brilliant today. They are the team to beat now."


how come germany are allowed to play the same team twice?

[SLAMMED]

Actually, it makes you feel a bit better about England's lame effort (embarrasment that it was).

Not really.

[PEARCEY]

"No outstanding stars Bastian Schweinsteiger has been sensational in the past two matches.
This German side didn't get anywhere enough credit for the way they dispatched England. Now they have hammered England playing attacking football. Great credit to them. Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Podoloski have been brilliant today. They are the team to beat now."


how come germany are allowed to play the same team twice?

You know I meant Argentina frimmers...really you did.

[Starfish]

Wow. This is going to be one long night.

[Row Z Royal]

But I think Argentina are more likely to win.

Got that wrong then!

[frimmers3]

"No outstanding stars Bastian Schweinsteiger has been sensational in the past two matches.
This German side didn't get anywhere enough credit for the way they dispatched England. Now they have hammered England playing attacking football. Great credit to them. Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Podoloski have been brilliant today. They are the team to beat now."


how come germany are allowed to play the same team twice?

You know I meant Argentina frimmers...really you did.

you forget how easily confused us old sociaslists get in snooty's paradise.

[PEARCEY]

^ You have a valid point there frimmers.

[sandman]

The only problem I can see with Germany is that their game is based so much on counter attack that if they play Spain they might struggle to get the ball to counter attack.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Why can't we be more German

Like us, y'mean?

Absolutely delighted with the outcome --the only downer is that Spain are on their side of the bracket; I don't think that this whole adequate-will-suffice thing from the Dutch is going to carry them all the way to a world championship, and Spain are playing their way into it now

Germany served notice against the Aussies, got beat by a card-happy numptyoxf*rd of a referee against Serbia (and the fact that Podolski couldn't've pissed and hit an ad hoarding from a yard and a half), and played Ghana the way you have to in order to win

Back to the drawing board for Argentina, whose failures I never tire of witnessing

[Sarah Star]

LOL! So that's why you had players like Feilhaber and Bornstein in the team.

[sam1]

Very poor from Argentina and from the BBC commentator who thought that Oscar winning actress Charlize Theron was a wag.

I laughed when they said, don't know who she is, must be a WAG.

Anyway, least Argentina got trounced without even scoring a goal and they played better than England did against Germany.

[Baines]

Typically excellent review from zonalmarking

Easy goals

The first goal came early on from a Schweinsteiger free-kick that wasn’t defended properly, and Mueller headed in from close range. Germany dominated the rest of the half, and there was little sign of any tactical changes from Maradona and Bilardo. The one thing they did was to switch di Maria and Rodriguez, but that just gives a chance to use the phrase ‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic’ more appropriately than ever. Argentina’s shape was awful, just lacking any cohesion whatsoever, and offered no variation in build-up play.

There’s little point in describing the three second-half goals in detail, because they were all exactly the same. Overload Argentina in their right-back zone, shift a centre-back out of position to open up space in the defence, cross for a player on the edge of the six-yard box to score. Podolski for Klose, Schweinsteiger for Freidrich, Ozil for Klose. It didn’t matter who the German players were, they all had the determination to get into attacking zones, they all had the intelligence to look up and play a simple square ball, they all had the technical quality to play the crosses and finishes to perfection.

Simplicity the key

And in a sense, it was the most beautifully simple display of football you’ll ever see, both in terms of the tactical plan and the performance on the pitch. There was no bold strategic shock from Joachim Loew, there were no 30-yard thunderbolts to remember for years. It was just pass and move, fluidity and good teamwork, and the basic plan to get the ball into wide areas, then play the ball across the box. The similarity of the three second half goals is so strong it borders on the ridiculous – the only surprise is that they all came from the side of the pitch that Lahm wasn’t on.

The final twenty minutes saw Argentina try and fit Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Pastore and Aguero into the same team. There was so little element of ‘tactics’ to it that it barely deserves talking about, it was just ‘throw on your best attackers’. Juan Veron would have been appropriate to play some key passes and let Messi work further up the pitch, but it wouldn’t have altered Germany’s cruise to victory.

[sandman]

The only problem I can see with Germany is that their game is based so much on counter attack that if they play Spain they might struggle to get the ball to counter attack.

Scrap that the way Spain are playing the Germans will be able to counter attack all night long.