Germany 0 - Argentina 1: Loew is low, Mardona gets the right type of high.
Por Stanley Croyance
16 Comentários
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In the run up to this game, Michael Ballack stated that Argentina were a team who knew every trick in the book. In the same press conference, Germany trainer Joachim Loew refused to criticise Diego Maradona's lack of experience, by stating that instead of Maradona being crazy nominating over 100 players in his tenure as coach, it shows that he is spoilt for choice. Both statements were true tonight, and not in a good way for Germany.


Germany started in a rough 4-2-3-1 formation that looked to press as high and quickly as possible, Argentina showed flexibility, to use a variant of a 3 man defence, and 3 man attack. Germany never gave a start to Toni Kroos, instead they used Bastian Schweinsteiger  in the holding role with Ballack, Ozil ahed of them as the playmaker, with Podolski wide left, Thomas Mueller on the right for his debut, all packed behind Klose. Argentina on the otherhand had Heinze-Samuel-Otamendi-Demichelis at the back with one of the defenders constantly pushing into midfield, veron the playmaker with Macherano behind him, Jona Guiterrez on the right, and Di Maria advanced on the left with Messi and Higuain the strikers.


The game started very quickly, both sides looking for goals, Argentina very composed with the ball with their trademark rapid fire passes, allied to their very nifty combination play and movement. Germany struggled to create many clear cut chances.


Argentina went closest to opening the scoring, a mazy dribble with lightning speed by Di Maria saw him breeze past Tasci and Boateng and then fire past Adler who went the wrong way, but was glad to see the shot hit the bar. However Adler wasn't looking so happy after him and his defence copied defending out of the Werder Bremen tactics book. Di Maria sent over a long pass from his half, the whole German defence pressed up to the halfway line, Higuain ran onto the ball and managed to take it past Adler who was closer to the halfway line than his goal line, and Higuain had the simple task of passing the ball home from way out.


The second half saw Argentina try to see if they could hold onto the result, and they were very impressive. They held the ball very well, passing all the time and never booting the ball away no matter the intensity of the German pressing. Towards the end of the game, they went over 2mins 30 seconds of consecutive passes, despite Germany breathing down their necks, very clever. Germany on the other hand never managed to make the break through, Argentina squeezed midfield, so they tried to work it wide but by the time the cross came in, Argentina had numbers at the back. Germany also seemed to have details to take turns at kicking Messi, of which a few got yellow cards, and this clearly upset Messi who committed a bad foul on Lahm seconds after Ballack had tripped him. 


Germany are not looking good. Adler is looking off form, he let in a bad goal vs Bremen a few weeks ago, Boateng is not an international class right back, he could be a top central defender, Di Maria roasted him all night. Schweinsteiger is not a holding player, and this is compounded by the fact that Rolfes is not playing for Leverkusen, Germany desperately need Rolfes back in the engine room. Podolski isn't a wide attacker, then again he is probably not a good candidate for striking as he has only scored once all season. Klose's bad form continues, Kiessling hasn't scored as prolifically in 2010 as he did in 2009, Gomez needs too many chances. Also why is this 5 man midfield back? Play Marin or Trowchowski wide if you want to use 5 men in midfield, Podolski isn't the answer there.


Argentina, and particularly Maradona need to be respected, on this performance, they will be serious contenders. Some mock Maradona for selecting over 100 players in his tenure, but Loew was right, it shows strength in depth. Imagine the players that were not here such as Zanetti-Cambiasso-Gago-Lucho-Lisandro, and yet Argentina could still put in an accomplished performance. Maradona should be respected. He took his time to call up Higuain, and now he is hungry and always wants to prove something when he plays, Veron should be enjoying his pension, but he pulled the strings with high quality tonight, Messi is still looking for his spot in the team, but it is a good thing that he isn't that good yet, it means the other players can do serious damage. Write Argentina off at your peril, i surely will not.
16  Comentários
Por  CCCPPlus
04.03.2010 20:07
correct. Maradona's Argentina is too misterious. When I saw them last august over here I was very impressed with how the second tier enthusiastically play FOR Maradona. Low is also a very good manager. I hope he will quit Germany to join Russia (small chance, but its my wish). but I still consider Spain as most probable champion. Can't get convinced with Brazil though
Por  Mani18
04.03.2010 20:36
After the match I believe more than ever that both teams will not do great. Germany does not have the player material and Argentina does not have a coach. England, Spain and Brazil all look stronger.
Por  SCroyance
05.03.2010 00:19
I think Germany have some scope to improve, they surely should know what doesn't work. I'm not sold on England, they have lots of fight in them, but once they play a real team, they will suffer, they can't keep the ball or apply pressure enough.
05.03.2010 03:22
Many people have been writing Argentina off, partly due to their coach and partly due to their form over the last few years and the difficulty they had in their qualification process. But looking at their options in attack, that surely would be a big mistake. The bookmakers have them as the 4th favourites, and rightly so. Zanetti and Cambiasso would definitely get into the team but I'm not sure about Gago. On the right wing Maradona played Jonas Gutierrez of Newcastle United. Why ?? With the options in attack that Argentina possesses, surely there should be no place for Gutierrez. Diego Perotti of Sevilla has been in sensational form for almost 2 years now and really needs to get into the team. On the bench were Aguero, Milito, Datolo and Tevez, who are as good substitutes as you would find anywhere in the world. Other options include Lisandro, Lucho, Lavezzi, Saviola and Cruz. This is a team that should be capable of winning the tournament. But the favourites by a long long way are still SPAIN.
Por  SCroyance
05.03.2010 13:52
If you look at Argentina, exclude the 6-1 to Bolivia that was due to altitude, and losing to Paraguay and Brazil, the stand out teams in the CONMEBOL zone, they have only lost to Spain 2-1, and even then, they were not atrocious, and Spain have been smashing everyone recently. Jonas Gutierrez is a key player for Argentina, he hasn't got extraordinary talent like those around him, but he shuts down the flanks very well, he limited Maicon when Argentina met Brazil, and he shut down Ribery in February last year, I think he is better on the left because Argentina are so weak on that side defensively than on the right. I think a lot of the distrust of Argentina is because of Maradona, but he seems calmer now, and I don't think he has done anything particularly alarming in his formations, why not try a 3-4-3 in a friendly, at least he never does it in matches that count. He seems to have a structure now and made the players play the Argentine way.
06.03.2010 10:47
Stanley - What do you think of Diego Perotti and dont you think he should be in the squad. As for the formation, he has been playing 2 forwards, with Messi being one of them. Clearly Messi is not as effective this way and he is currently the best player in the world, so changing the formation to his liking is not unthinkable. What do you think of a 4-3-3 with Mascherano, Cambiasso and another midfielder in the middle and the attackers being Angel Di Maria on the left, Messi on the right and Higuain as the striker to begin games with.
Por  SCroyance
06.03.2010 13:09
Akhill, to be honest, I've never seen Perotti play, of all the football I watch, I rarely see Spanish apart from highlights! I've heard good things about him though, however he only has 1 cap, probably a bit too 'inexperienced' when you consider that Higuain will also probably start and he is inexperienced at this level, Di Maria has 7 caps and is inexperienced, probably one too many if they include Perotti. As for their shape, credit must be given to Maradona, he has tried every single formation bar a 4-6-0 or 0-0 10, and the one he had this week, a 4-1-3-1-1 is probably one of the most stable. Doesn't look like Maradona likes Cambiasso, who I really rate highly, the key man in his team looks to be Veron who played a blinder, and because he hasn't got the legs, he needs Jonas and Mascherano to scuttle around him, whilst Veron knits the team together. Gago was prime, but doesn't play for his club. As for Messi, they've tried to make him key, but the combinations don't work for his characteristics, so he is just a piece in the puzzle, it could be a good thing he isn't the only guy to make the team tick, as then it means if you mark Messi out, the whole team fails, this way other players can make a contribution as well. Messi may not like it, but it gives the rest of the team more balance and direction than trying to play only for Messi.
06.03.2010 15:10
Ya I understand what you mean, this might make the most sense. You should try and watch the Sevilla-Real Madrid game tonight. Its the best time to watch Perotti and you get the bonus of watching one of the most improved players in the world Jesus Navas, who I think is going to tear Arbeloa apart tonight. I can smell an upset.
Por  SCroyance
06.03.2010 17:01
Wow, Akhill, shame on you adding another game to my plate today! I'm watching in this order today, all one after the other, Arsenal-Burnley, Juventus-Fiorentina, Milan-Roma, now Seville-Madrid! I'd sincerely love to watch more La Liga, I do see the Classico's, but there isn't a good roundup package on Ligue 1/Bundesliga/Serie A compared to the roundups of La Liga by Guillem Balague which is top notch, if there was a roundup of any of those leagues, I'd definately watch at least 1 Spanish game a week! I like Seville though, very robust but skilful, I also think they could damage Madrid's hopes today, they've beaten Real in 2 of the last 3 games between themselves!
06.03.2010 18:11
haha my pleasure....enjoy
07.03.2010 00:14
alemania no es candidato a nada muchachos , argentina callo muchas bocas
07.03.2010 08:56
germany have a problem with goalkeeper position they have to find a good one , i think wisse is better than adler
Por  SCroyance
07.03.2010 13:50
Akhill, I saw Perroti yesterday, another small player, looked quick and seemed to have a good brain too, although he never got the best of Ramos when on the right. I'll have to see more of him. Seville disappointed me, race 2-0 up, then crumble, they do look like they missed Romaric yesterday for his extra bulk. Bad news for Barca, dropping points.
Por  SCroyance
07.03.2010 13:52
Ali, I don't think Wiese is better than Adler. One of the most important things of being a keeper, you should make saves that look like certain goals, Wiese can't do that, he will save routine shots, but not the hard chances, Adler can do that. Although he is in very bad form right now compared to his normally lofty standards.
08.03.2010 03:30
Tell me about it man, I was literally in tears when VanDerVaart got to that rebound, I was really disappointed with Sevilla, had begun to start liking them lately, but this was the worst I've seen them play in years...maybe the early goal was bad for them since they sat back a little more and played into Real's hands... They definitely missed Romaric yesterday and also Renato...yeah you definitely need to see Perotti again, this was a one off bad game for the entire team...what did you think of Jesus Navas, he is who I want in Barcelona as Henry's replacement.
08.03.2010 07:26
Germany didn't play as a team and that was the problem, ...We didnt see any of the trademark passing from the Germans . Too many players were off color as well, Ballack , Klose , Gomez , Ozil , Poldi , Adler....The team would definitely improve and gel and again Germans would be a minimum guarantee for a Quarter Final Place...And Wiese better than Adler ..No chance ...Neuer would be a better choice...If I were to choose GKs for Germany ..It would be Neuer , Adler and Butt
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