Germany’s mauling of Argentina would hardly be news by the time this article is out. But not a soul who watched the quarter finals will ever be able to forget the pristine display of football served up by the perennial villains of the game, Germany.
To say that the Germans were not expected to reach the Semis in such eye catching fashion would be an understatement. Before the start of the World Cup they were pretty much written off by most of the pundits who named Spain and Brazil as the front runners and Argentina and England (yes, England!) as the second tier occupants to lift the cup. Germany’s campaign was supposed to be a step ladder for the future. After winning the Under-21 World Cup, this new young German side was thought to be short of enough experience to trouble any big teams. And to add to that their inspirational captain Ballack was out. However in doing so all of them ignored the classic and time tested saying, “Never count the Germans out.”
Whole of Argentina and combined half of Bengal and Kerala (The Goans follow Portugal) will be heartbroken at this point. Their beloved Albiceleste were knocked out of the World Cup with one of the most one sided score lines in World Cup Quarter finals history. 4-0. 4-0!!! Are we talking about the same Argentina that that put 4 past South Korea and 3 past Mexico in the pre-quarters? The one who boasts of having the best player in the world? The one whose strike force is so formidable that the guy who scored twice in the Champions League finals can’t even get a start? What went wrong?
Simply put, it was Argentina’s shambolic defending. Argentina’s defence has never been their best feature but with Walter Samuel forming the heart of the central defence, at least they have looked steady. Unfortunately Samuel was out due to an injury and the job to command the defence fell to Demichelis. I have never found Demichelis to be a fool proof defender. He has habit of shooting himself in the foot on big occasions. And that’s exactly what happened. A seemingly harmless free kick was defended very poorly and produced the first goal for Muller.
Argentina decided to take control of the game with more forays forward. And in hindsight it’s a testament to their ambition that they only conceded 1 goal in the first half.
Maradona’s tactical naivety showed throughout the game. He played the 4-3-3/4-4-2 formation with Rodriguez, Mascherano and Di Maria across the midfield with Messi, Tevez and Higuain at the front. This was a big mistake as the Germans lined up as 4-2-3-1 with 5 men in the midfield. Due to this the Argentines never dominated possession in the midfield and when they did, it was so far off Germany’s goal that it hardly troubled them.
Secondly, when things were not going their way he introduced Pastore and Aguero. More forwards aren’t going to help your cause when there is no supply from the midfield. A better introduction would have been Veron who could have found that killer pass for all the forwards in front of him.
And where did Messi go? Where was he when those darting runs and defence splitting balls were needed? Well don’t start blaming him just yet. Messi had an okay game compared to everyone around him. Due to the overwhelming midfield of the Germans, Messi’s creativity was stifled. Schweinsteiger and Khedira did a great job of marking him out of the game and nobody around Messi was clever enough to do something to take the pressure off him. Tevez dropped more and more deep in order to find any sort creative outlet and ended up in the midfield with Messi and the rest. And with Mascherano unwilling to come out of his defensive midfield position, Messi and Tevez were left to pick out the gaps, thus sacrificing the two most potent threats to the German goal in the process.
Credit should go to Mascherano for doing a good job of marking Ozil. He didn’t look like the threat he did as against England. But unlike Schweinsteiger/Khedira with Messi, this failed to work as unlike the Argentines with Messi the Germans have never relied on just one player. When Ozil was subdued, Muller came to the party. And once Otamendi was replaced with Pastore, Lahm became more of a threat and Mascherano couldn’t just afford to mark Ozil alone and the youngster made most of that and set up the last goal.
The last 3 goals scored in the second half were incredibly similar in their buildup and execution. They stuffed the right back zone, shifted a centre back out of position (which wasn’t too difficult with Samuel not there to staff his troops) and squared it for another guy running into the six yard box to score a tap in. Just recollect the goals in your mind and you’ll realize what I’m talking about. All 3 goals were so easily constructed, they were not worthy of being scored in a world cup quarter final.
Lastly, hats off to the Germans. They have traditionally been efficient and defensively compact, which they were in this game as well. But their young blood has added enormous creativity to their team without losing any of their innate qualities. And it’s not the Joga Bonito style. It’s simple, non flashy, pass and move, intelligent football but equally attractive.
This German team is looking ominously strong and could very well go all the way. The only obstacle in their way would be the famed Spanish midfield and with Muller out, they could face a stern test finally. It will be a tactical battle to gain control of the midfield. And the victor of that contest will most likely reach the final as well.
Here’s hoping for a great tactical semi-final and hoping Klose doesn’t break Ronaldo’s record.
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