What a game!! An absolute cracker from a neutral's point of view. My heart goes out to the Argentine fans here.
Well before the game started both teams had started with attacking formations. One notable change was bringing in Luis Gonzalez instead of Esteban Cambiasso. So before the start both teams were sending all the right signals.
Once the game started, both teams cancelled each other out and there were hardly any chances worth mentioning in the first half. The best chance came to Michael Ballack which he squandered. However, Tevez was impressive.
Then the second half started with a bang with Ayala scoring off a sublime corner delivered by Riquelme. This meant that Germany would be pushing forward with more men and try to get the equaliser. While analysing this game one thing that made the biggest difference was the kind of substitutions made by both the teams. Lets see.
1) Odonkor for Schneider:
Cause : Germany were a goal down and needed to atleast equalise to keep their chances alive. They were lacking in pace and Odonkor had impressed against Poland.
Effect : He impressed and caused Sorin some trouble, earned a few corners as well.
2) Leonardo Franco for Roberto Abbodanzieri:
Cause : Abbodanzieri's injury
Effect : Argentina had lost its Goalkeeper who was impressive so far. Also LF seemed to be short of confidence as well as match practice. Also it was a substitution which was effectively wasted, as it was not of any strategic importance. Blaming the defeat on LF would be stupid.
3) Esteban Cambiasso for JUAN ROMAN RIQUELME:
Cause : The decision to bring on Cambiasso was justified because they needed to strengthen their defence once they had scored and prevent Germany from scoring. But at what cost?
Effect : By replacing Riquelme they had removed the player who in more cases than not provides the killer ball either from set pieces or open play leading to a goal. It would have made more sense to take Lucho off. The fact that Pekerman did this despite JRR providing delivery to the one goal that Argentina scored is baffling to the extent of being stupid. So they would have found it difficult to score again if Germany equaised.
4) Julio Cruz for Hernan Crespo :
Cause : God knows!
Effect : Score was 1-0 when this substitution was made. I see absolutely no sense as to why this was made. Scoring was not a priority at this stage nor was it a possibility after this substitution(Messi/Saviola would have been a better option, but it wasnt needed at all). There was no need to bring on Cruz/Messi or take off Crespo at this stage. Argentina were leading and they just had to bide their time(10 mins). Especially after one substitution wasted it would have made sense to keep this substitution if needed later.
5) Tim Borowski for Bastian Schweinsteiger:
Cause : Schweinsteiger wasnt making much of an impact so far, it made sense to bring some fresh legs on.
Effect: Great flick which led to the goal by Klose. People say the cross by Ballack was great, but the flick was equally good. And a great finish to match that.
6) Neuville for Klose:
Cause : Klose was suffering from cramps.
Effect : Neuville took free kicks in the absence of Schweinsteiger and Schneider, and added pace up front.
Extra time was nothing great. And penalty shootouts are a lottery as everyone knows. Overall a great game, worth watching if you are a neutral.
It was dissapointing to see such a fight erupting at the end of such a great game. Best of luck to Germany, Argentina can go home with their heads held high.
However, Pekerman made up for his good managing so far by doing something stupid.. It was expected after all the tinkering he had done before the World Cup. Good thing he resigned.. He is better with the youth teams..
The happiest person at the end of all this would be Jurgen Klinsmann.. The decision to play Lehmann ahead of Kahn was one of the most controversial things that he did and was subjected to such a lot of criticism by a lot of people including me :).. He has silenced everyone with this performance. Lehmann has proved he is up there if not better than Kahn.
Well before the game started both teams had started with attacking formations. One notable change was bringing in Luis Gonzalez instead of Esteban Cambiasso. So before the start both teams were sending all the right signals.
Once the game started, both teams cancelled each other out and there were hardly any chances worth mentioning in the first half. The best chance came to Michael Ballack which he squandered. However, Tevez was impressive.
Then the second half started with a bang with Ayala scoring off a sublime corner delivered by Riquelme. This meant that Germany would be pushing forward with more men and try to get the equaliser. While analysing this game one thing that made the biggest difference was the kind of substitutions made by both the teams. Lets see.
1) Odonkor for Schneider:
Cause : Germany were a goal down and needed to atleast equalise to keep their chances alive. They were lacking in pace and Odonkor had impressed against Poland.
Effect : He impressed and caused Sorin some trouble, earned a few corners as well.
2) Leonardo Franco for Roberto Abbodanzieri:
Cause : Abbodanzieri's injury
Effect : Argentina had lost its Goalkeeper who was impressive so far. Also LF seemed to be short of confidence as well as match practice. Also it was a substitution which was effectively wasted, as it was not of any strategic importance. Blaming the defeat on LF would be stupid.
3) Esteban Cambiasso for JUAN ROMAN RIQUELME:
Cause : The decision to bring on Cambiasso was justified because they needed to strengthen their defence once they had scored and prevent Germany from scoring. But at what cost?
Effect : By replacing Riquelme they had removed the player who in more cases than not provides the killer ball either from set pieces or open play leading to a goal. It would have made more sense to take Lucho off. The fact that Pekerman did this despite JRR providing delivery to the one goal that Argentina scored is baffling to the extent of being stupid. So they would have found it difficult to score again if Germany equaised.
4) Julio Cruz for Hernan Crespo :
Cause : God knows!
Effect : Score was 1-0 when this substitution was made. I see absolutely no sense as to why this was made. Scoring was not a priority at this stage nor was it a possibility after this substitution(Messi/Saviola would have been a better option, but it wasnt needed at all). There was no need to bring on Cruz/Messi or take off Crespo at this stage. Argentina were leading and they just had to bide their time(10 mins). Especially after one substitution wasted it would have made sense to keep this substitution if needed later.
5) Tim Borowski for Bastian Schweinsteiger:
Cause : Schweinsteiger wasnt making much of an impact so far, it made sense to bring some fresh legs on.
Effect: Great flick which led to the goal by Klose. People say the cross by Ballack was great, but the flick was equally good. And a great finish to match that.
6) Neuville for Klose:
Cause : Klose was suffering from cramps.
Effect : Neuville took free kicks in the absence of Schweinsteiger and Schneider, and added pace up front.
Extra time was nothing great. And penalty shootouts are a lottery as everyone knows. Overall a great game, worth watching if you are a neutral.
It was dissapointing to see such a fight erupting at the end of such a great game. Best of luck to Germany, Argentina can go home with their heads held high.
However, Pekerman made up for his good managing so far by doing something stupid.. It was expected after all the tinkering he had done before the World Cup. Good thing he resigned.. He is better with the youth teams..
The happiest person at the end of all this would be Jurgen Klinsmann.. The decision to play Lehmann ahead of Kahn was one of the most controversial things that he did and was subjected to such a lot of criticism by a lot of people including me :).. He has silenced everyone with this performance. Lehmann has proved he is up there if not better than Kahn.
4 comments:
It would have been an ideal final - two best teams in this world cup imho.
Keep bloggin'!
@rajiv
Yes it would have, but what can we do the whole FIFA rankings are screwed, hence the bad draw!
thats why they say.. 1 - 0 is NOT a lead... its one of the worst situations for a manager.. do u try to kill the game by scoring the 2nd.. or sit back n defend.. i think JP mad a BIG mistake by choosin the latter... shoudlve brought on messi..tired legs on the back 4... nothin better than the pace and trickery of messi to compound their woes.. dont think lehmann had much to do in the game. i still thuik he's the weak link in this team... and i really admire JK's enthu for the game.. he was actually "heading" every cross...what spirit man.. hope germany win the cup..atleast for him. besides for a manager with no prior experience, see what a job he has done.. brought together a team with "form" players.. no one has bin given a place on "repuatation and past achievements".. guess if sven had the "ballacks" he'd ve axed becks and owen LONG back.. sure they'd done better, had they had a good manager.. not necessarily a big name.. some one like stuart pearce, or even SAF.. he'd ve killed lampard and beckham.. and england are gonna keep sinking.. unless they replace mclaren. For some reason he thinks that DROWNING is the solution to all problems!.. 1 - 0 up.. lets bring on drowning,, 5 - 0 down,, hey... no probs.. whats drowning there for.. and why pick theo walcott when u arent gonna play him!! shitty manager.. shitty future.. lets hope germany can beat italy. want portugal to be humiliated. maniche is an embarrasment.. diving mofo! ok.. read this mini blog..enjoy!
@ anush :
I dont really think he chose the latter, he put his foot in both places at the same time and hence got kicked you-know-where..
Yes JK,MvB are all the next generation managers creating waves with their respective teams.
Mclaren is biased, even during the WC i think he had more of a say during substitutions than SGE, warning signs here.
And Portugal do suck.. Hope they lose to France. Zizou is ageless man!
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