Happy National Soccer Fan Poserfest Day...

MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
I am hoping the Dutch pull a fast one on Brazil tomorrow morning. Can't wait to watch this game! Same goes for Germany vs Argentina.
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
Yeah I voted them to go all the way before the tournament started.....I hadn't even seen them play at all I just saw the roster....
I'm decked out in a replica bright orange KNVB shirt celebrating. :D My teams were the Dutch and Germans going in(as said much earlier in this thread). Hopefully my predictions come to fruition, it is very exciting. Go Germany! :)
 
annunaki

annunaki

Moderator
A more exciting sport to watch than baseball and golf. ;) I love the fact there are no commercials. Refreshing to say the least. What I don't like is all the complaining and diving by some of the players.
Totally agree with you here. I would take a soccer match over golf or baseball any day.

You can see a big talent level difference between World Cup and MLS though that is for sure!
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
Joachim Loews tactics were spot on once again. This coach has really impressed me at the world cup- actually the whole German team is just playing phenomenal. Total domination. Germany struck quickly and early (5 mins) and I thought to myself how perfect! They exploited their weak defense with the midfielders and strikers. At the 70 minute mark Argentina was clearly outmatched and out coached. So impressive! Bye, bye Argentina and Maradona. :D
 
pzaur

pzaur

Audioholic Samurai
Didn't get to watch any of today's games. I'm glad to see that Germany bounced Argentina out. The semis should be good!

Poor Ghana...Suarez deserves to be player of the game. He gave Uruguay a chance to win with his red card.

-pat
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
I'm really looking forward to the Argentina - Germany game. There is no way Badstuber can keep up with Messi so Germany is going to have to deploy some strategy here. I'm very interested in what the tactical approach will be for each team.

As well as the Netherlands game (whoever they end up playing either way it will be a good game).
Here is the tactical analysis overview in case you did not get to watch the game.


July 3, 2010 8:59 PM Bookmark and Share
Argentina powerless against German tactics

* Posted by Jason De Vos
* Comments4Recommend7
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Germany dismantled Argentina and cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory Saturday, securing a semi-final matchup with Spain in the process.

It was as comfortable a victory as Germany will ever have against the South Americans, and while the players will get all the plaudits, their coach deserves a fair bit of praise as well.

Joachim Loew got his tactics spot on against Diego Maradona's men, as Germany's 5-man midfield dominated the game. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira minimized the threat of Lionel Messi, as both took turns ensuring that Messi had very little time and space in which to operate.

Stopping Messi is virtually impossible, but Schweinsteiger and Khedira did an excellent job ensuring that the Argentinean maestro never really got into his stride. Whenever Messi picked up the ball, one of Germany's two defensive midfielders was in his face.

When Schweinsteiger was in possession of the ball, Khedira latched on to Messi, denying him the freedom he craves. When Khedira found the ball at his feet, Schweinsteiger returned the favour and did the defensive duties to nullify the threat of Messi.

Germany's two fullbacks, Philip Lahm on the right and Jerome Boateng on the left, were free to push forward in support of Thomas Mueller and Lukas Podolski, Germany's two wide attacking midfielders. This created a numerical advantage on the flanks for the Germans, which they exploited at every opportunity.

These tactics were clearly laid out by Loew, and executed to perfection by his players.

By comparison, Argentina's coach, Diego Maradona, did not appear to have any idea how to change his formation to counter Germany's tactical setup.

Maradona went with a 4-3-1-2 system, with Javier Mascherano in the middle of the park, Angel Di Maria to his left and Maxi Rodriguez to his right. Messi played as an attacking midfielder/withdrawn striker behind a strike partnership of Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain.

The problem for Argentina was that neither Di Maria nor Rodriguez is defensive-minded, forcing Mascherano to cover far too much ground to be effective defensively. Mascherano is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, but with minimal assistance from his other midfielders, his job was virtually impossible.

Germany's five-man midfield, with support from either fullback, controlled the game because they starved Argentina of the ball. When Argentina did manage to win the ball back, they were quickly outnumbered by the German midfield, who retreated to occupy the space in front of the German back four.

It would have been wiser for Maradona to employ another holding midfielder alongside Mascherano to lessen his defensive burden. Esteban Cambiasso, controversially left off Argentina's World Cup squad, would have been the perfect solution, as he would have doubled the amount of defensive coverage in midfield.

This would have allowed Argentina's fullbacks to get forward in support of their attackers, providing width as an option, rather than trying to force the ball through a wall of German defenders. It would have meant replacing one of Di Maria or Rodriguez, both of whom were largely ineffective.

To do this, though, Maradona would have had to alter his tactics -- something he appeared unwilling, or unable, to do. Relying on just five players -- Higuain, Tevez, Messi, Di Maria and Rodriguez -- to break down the Germans proved to be too much to ask.

It was as if Maradona went into the game expecting his offensive players to dominate the Germans, without understanding how Germany would set up as a team. When that didn't happen, Maradona had no back-up plan, and Argentina were continually repelled by the well-organized German defence.

Football can at times be like a game of chess. You lay out your strategy in your mind, but if something happens on the field that nullifies that strategy, you must be able to work out a solution.

You must be able to recognize that Plan A isn't working, and quickly and effectively shift to Plan B.

Maradona didn't do that, and he and his team were made to pay a heavy price. Maradona was a brilliant player -- one of the best ever. But as a coach he has yet to demonstrate the same level of ability.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Germany Holland Final

Now that Germany soundly spanked Agrentina, I see a Germany/Holland final. I knew that Germany would defeat Argentina because Germany's strength is in their teamwqork as opposed to individuals such as Masse who rather take the shot himself instead of passing it over to someone who has a better chance. Germany shutdown the three high profile players and used team work to advance and captilaize on Argentina's mistakes.
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
Now that Germany soundly spanked Agrentina, I see a Germany/Holland final. I knew that Germany would defeat Argentina because Germany's strength is in their teamwqork as opposed to individuals such as Masse who rather take the shot himself instead of passing it over to someone who has a better chance. Germany shutdown the three high profile players and used team work to advance and captilaize on Argentina's mistakes.
Well let's not get ahead of ourselves. Uruguay has won the world cup before and the Netherlands have always choked. Robben is the world's best player right now, but history is on Uruguay's side and that's hard to overcome. Diego Forlan is the Man of the Tournament and PK master. Uruguay could make this a shootout and have the better keeper for that IMO. I would love to see either side in the Finals so this is a win-win from a fans standpoint. Netherlands has the better side, but Uruguay has the better history. We shall see what prevails.

History is against the Spanish who despite being the most talented team in the tournament have many times choked. They have an incredible ability to maintain possession which is how they beat the Germans in 2008, but now Germany is way faster with the loss of an old slow Ballack. Speed kills and the Germans are the fastest team in the tournament with the best striker in Miroslav Klose who is only 1 goal behind Ronaldo.

Basically we have 2 of the great historical countries and 2 of the great chokers. We could have a final of chokers, a final of history or a mixed final. I'd love to see any team lift the trophy because they have been the 4 best teams in the tournament by far.

History gives this order

Germany
Uruguay
Netherlands
Spain

Talent gives this order

Spain
Netherlands
Germany
Uruguay

Combine the 2 and the order is

Germany
Netherlands
Spain
Uruguay

It would be great to see a new champion, an ancient one or great teamwork win it.
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
You have to also take into consideration tacticals lsiberian. Clearly Germany is at the top with Joachim Loew as the mastermind behind it all. IMO it is going to be tough for Spain to beat Germany. They will have to either get lucky or have their goalkeeper steal the game (which is quite possible).

Attacking play way to success...
By Matt Monaghan
5 Jul 2010 16:17:00


Germany World Cup 2010 head coach Joachim Low has revealed the blueprint for the exciting attacking play which has his side on the cusp of success.

The German squad have fired in 13 goals and conceded just twice on the path to Wednesday's semi-final meeting against Spain. Along the way, both England and Argentina were hit for four strikes apiece.

This form has made the nation a hot favourite to take the trophy after being dark horses before arriving in South Africa. Several of the youngsters in the squad, including Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller and Manuel Neuer have also gone from relative unknowns to household names along the way.

Speaking to Bild, Loew detailed the cavalier approach that has put his team on the path to a final place.

“The plans for how we wanted to play at the World Cup have been thought over long and hard since the draw on December 4," Loew revealed.


"Our analysis was quite clear: we could only win the World Cup by playing attacking football and making life difficult for other teams.

"The way that Italy won the title in 2006, by defending and winning by a single goal, is no longer possible – you don’t get anywhere playing like that nowadays. We planned the World Cup all the way to the final.”

Low also discussed his tactics and plan to split the pitch into 18 rectangles of the same size.

“It’s about order on the pitch. That is the most important condition for good football. The players should know their place in the basic structure of the team, so that no-one thinks he can run all over the pitch. Certain rectangles must always be covered,” Loew stated.

“The game doesn’t end when the ball is in play. I want to see players getting into space and asking for the ball. This makes the game more fluid and dynamic.

"I knew that some of our players are extremely good at that – Oezil, Poldi [Lukas Podoloski], Mueller, [Toni] Kroos. And I said to the team, ‘If you don’t move around the pitch, you’re not even going to beat teams like Canada!’ That was our golden rule from day one. We go over it in theory and in practice every day.”

Loew added: “The team has mastered the art of playing simply. I have seen training sessions that have, at times, reached footballing perfection."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm loving this coach and team more and more especially after that dig about Canada. LOL!
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Germany's goal tender is another force to be reckoned with. Germany's netminder's ability to read the plays and steal the ball from the Agentinians on a number of occasions helped him maintain a shutout. No other team in this world cup has consistently turned in high goals and kept the goals against very low. I do think Germany will win overall but Netherlands are on a role right now. I saw the Spanish Portugal game and neither side impressed me as being particularily strong.
 
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
Settled then...I'll take Spain...:p. All the kidding aside Spain (on papper) is the better team. Their strenght is similar to Germany's as they're sound defensively and play as a unit. Up front they're as competent with skilled players(ie: David Villa and Fernando Torres...come to mind) as this matchup IMO is the world cup and the winner should prevail in the final.
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
Germany's goal tender is another force to be reckoned with. Germany's netminder's ability to read the plays and steal the ball from the Agentinians on a number of occasions helped him maintain a shutout. No other team in this world cup has consistently turned in high goals and kept the goals against very low. I do think Germany will win overall but Netherlands are on a role right now. I saw the Spanish Portugal game and neither side impressed me as being particularily strong.
Portugal was scared against Spain almost like they were playing to go into shootouts. Portugal didn't even defend in Spain's end and basically just let them march up half the field uncontested. In the end Spain just worn them down. I wasn't impressed with Portugal at all, however Spain I thought played well, it was more the tactics used by Portugal that made the game really dry to watch.

On the other hand I would expect a lot of excitement in this upcoming game.

Go DUTCH!
 
billy p

billy p

Audioholic Ninja
He sure looks happy now...that wasn't the case a few weeks ago prior to the WC as Germany's expectations were low and his neck was on the line. The one thing Germany does better than most others, is they develop players from within using their developmental league and those player are paying dividends now! Hey, I like the the Orange they kicked Brazil's a$$....but Holland is a wee notch below the level of the other 2 teams IMHO...but you never know.:)
 
MinusTheBear

MinusTheBear

Audioholic Ninja
He sure looks happy now...that wasn't the case a few weeks ago prior to the WC as Germany's expectations were low and his neck was on the line. The one thing Germany does better than most others, is they develop players from within using their developmental league and those player are paying dividends now! Hey, I like the the Orange they kicked Brazil's a$$....but Holland is a wee notch below the level of the other 2 teams IMHO...but you never know.:)
The turning point from Germany was the loss against spain a while back. Leow basically decided at that point they needed to make some changes. Bring up some young guys with more attacking and speed abilities that can play in space. Mesut Oezil is one player that comes to mind. Germany's expectations were indeed lower because of a lot of the younger unkown players on the squad with also the addition of their captain Ballack injured for the entire world cup. The youngster Khedira and Schweinsteiger has really filled in nicely and IMO adheres to the direction Leow is taking this team. Schweinsteiger has been really good this tournament.
 
Tarub

Tarub

Senior Audioholic
Goooaaalllllll!!!!! Spain scored against Paraguay.
 
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3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Looks like predictions of a Germany Holland final are coming true. I don't doubt that Germany can dispense with Spain quickly but I'm nervous about Holland. This will be Germany's real test.
 

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