FIFA World Cup 2010: England vs. Germany - What Went Right for the Germans.
Germany took on England in the Round of 16, in a match which was assumed to be highly contested. The German’s took the lead at the twentieth minute mark when Klose opened the scoring for them. Twelve minutes later Podolski scored from an acute angle to give them a two goal advantage over the English. England started picking the pace in the last fifteen minutes of the half which saw Upson head home with England’s first on the thirty seventh minute. A minute later Lampard hit a sublime chip which hit the post bounced a foot behind the line then bounced back out. Everyone thought it was a goal, everyone except the referee and his linesmen that is. And during a game it’s sadly their opinion that matters the most. Both teams went into the half with the Germans feeling content with their one goal advantage, whereas the English felt as though they had been robbed of their equalizing goal. The second half started with Germany trying to get their noses even further ahead, while England tried to prevent that from happening and get on top. But Muller scored twice for the Germans in three minutes, getting one goal on the sixty seventh minute and the other on the seventieth. It was all over for the English, being three goals down with only thirty minutes on the clock. The English had a few chances but failed to score of any of them and so it all ended with the score being four goals to one in Germany’s favor.
So what went right for the Germans? To start off, the Germans were solid in the back, they had players tracking back on every English attack and they kept all the key English player’s marked at all times. They gave the English no breathing space to play in at all. The back four consisting of Lahm, Mertesacker, Friedrich and Boateng were all just good. They had a few moments when they might have been hesitant but on the whole they were just solid and good and repelled the English till the very end. The German goal keeper Neuer, made some fine saves to aid his teams cause, and made an excellent save to block Lampard and an even better save to block out Gerrard’s late shot.
The midfield was superb. Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Ozil were fantastic. Khedira helped protect the back four countless times and was over all very effective. Schweinsteiger was the constructive genius for the German’s launching most of the counter attacks and spreading the attack beautifully. Muller was involved in everything running all over the place and even nicked in two goals for good measure. Ozil had some sublime movement and passing, which ripped the English to shreds.
The attackers were just as good as well. Klose and Podolski took every chance they got and they took it exceptionally well. Both of them were on the score sheet with a goal a piece by the end of the game.
Apart from being exceptionally good, the German’s looked like one good piece of machinery, there were no ego battles, no one was considered better than the other, every one played like they were supposed to and where they were supposed to. They seemed to be organized and showed unity that at times seemed missing amongst their opponents. They took more chances and hence got more goals, additionally they had a good wall at the back and marshaled the midfield.
They knew their opponents were weak on the break and that’s where they hit them. They just kept going and going and never looked like they were slowing down. Lastly, the one thing that was working for the Germans and not for the English was their luck. Having Lampards goal disallowed was probably the most crucial point in the game, it had the English going into the half feeling like they had everything to achieve still while the Germans felt that they were now on top and the game was theirs to control. It was this point of view that eventually led to the demise of the English and helped the Germans triumph over their arch enemies in what was probably one of the best displays of counter attacking football to ever be witnessed.
Tags: