No Germany lost because: We did not put away our early chances. Loew started Poldi, Kross and Boateng instead of Reus, Mueller and Bender. We did not have the maturity to put the first goal behind us and keep playing our game. Stupid defensive errors killed us and we had no game plan to come back from that. Let's not take away from what Italy did. The beat us and we looked clueless. Don't sink to the level of some (certainly not all) of the Italian and Spanish fans posting. Admit when you lose and congratulate the winner. That's sportsmanship. FFS it is just a game.
We know our football, and don't buy into media hype. People think portugal gave us a tough match, no they didn't. They parked the bus like in 2010, but we didn't score. Italy actually challenged us, and attacked.
@LoewenBoy: Well and what about Klose instead of Gomez? But Bender absolutely not. Boateng played a lot more often and he is mostly good. Bender wasn't an option or at least it wouldn't have made a big difference. Or maybe it would have..... Kroos was shit. He isn't supposed to play there and definitely not after 4 non played games...
Best of luck to Germany in the future. I typically root for them when Italy goes out. Your team and fans showed a lot of class, but I expected that. Tough loss. I know how you feel.
I don't understand why Mueller didn't play more, especially in these knockout rounds. I always thought he was one of Germany's best players. Was he in poor form going into this tournament?
Like Schweinsteiger he certainly was. They got ********ed hard starting in January 2012. Players have to be in top form during the tournament. Not years earlier
I was talking about the second half and chances like di natale 1 vs 1 against neuer. di natale usually misses very few of them. but of course that's my biased POV, imho that was a crucial moment (approx. half of the second half) that could have saved me a bit of sweating later. and it would have changed an excellent game to a perfect game. you need an excellent game to beat germany and a perfect one to do it without suffering. and of course germany not playing their best match.
Here, yes. Boateng was shiite. He was out of position and the reason for the first goal...though Bayern fans will want to blame Hummels, it was Boateng out of position that allowed the Italians to come inside and score. He blew, pure and simple. Bender marks, plays position and can flank. None of that was done by Boateng consistently today. He was the wrong choice. My *guess* -- given that Kroos was playing in the middle most of the first half -- is that Loew was using him as a holding MF and allowing Oezil to play on the right and swing inside when he wanted. I appeared Loew got cute and it backfired on him.
Yeah well in the second half you are right. And from an Italian view these are the crucial moments in the last 30-40 minutes. But from another perspective everything could've been different in the first place. And in the end when you play with only 3 defenders like Holland did against Portugal in the group stage you are mostly ********ed brutally when the opponent starts to counter attack. Luck is important then. But holy shit Germany and also Italy were not very efficient. Italy for example against England. No goal but 1000 chances. That's what I call ********ing unefficient. But instead of practising and trying different player combinations they relax and watch a movie (Germany watched "The Amazing Spiderman" ) or they enjoy the view from a boat or go cycling....But whatever. Maybe that's what they need ^^
No...which is what many German fans were wondering too. Loew has a hard on for Poldi which many fans hope is over. Poldi was shiite. Other than that Mueller, while not at his best this tourney, was a better option than Mueller or Poldi any day.
Bender might have made it differently or not. You don't know and you can't compare his actions during the ********ing ********ing Bundesliga with the national team. In the next few months everything can be tested. Bender and more Götze and Reus combinations and all that shit that never works when it has to work. Training is the key word here. They have to ********ing practise a lot during the next months and years.
First, performance in the BL (or whetever club you play for) is the BASIS for making the national team. So, yeah, we can compare that. Rarely are guys played so totally out of position for the NT that it negates their league play. Second, and perhaps more important, Bender has played RB before and been damn good at it. Third, he freakn owned his side when he played in this tournament. So he can play the game. Remember Mueller in 2010? How many people were saying to bench him until he played more and showed what he can do? Lastly, for anyone who knows coaching, Boateng was simply a walking liability today. Why do you think Loew pulled him? Certainly not out of desperation. He sucked and was not doing what he was supposed to. I suspect you are going to see more of the Benders, Reus, Mueller and others and very much less of Poldi, Meatsacker and Boateng.
Reus was interviewed about his haircut by a japanese journalist who thought it was better than Gomez´haircut. Reus said he always tried to do the best he can, but Mario is also very much engaged. To win, you need people like Puyol with his Leni Rieffenstahl-/Bon Scott-memorial haircut, or Pirlo with his "I don´t give a sh*t"-look. Lutscher aka Frings was that kind of guy in the german team. Unfortunately he got messed up in a fist fight with Argentinians when it counted. Di Natale has the best haircut in the tournament
You got to be kidding me... Portugal was the only team attacking and Spain was wasting time!!! I swear, Spanish fans think passing 1,000,000 times equals attacking. Every time Portugal got the ball they pressed forward, Spain sat back playing monkey in the middle. Spain parked the bus for the past 3 matches and yet accuse other teams for parking the bus. Give me a break. What's next, 7-3-0 formation is a super attack? You are only deluding yourself. When a coach puts a 4-6-0 formation this screams anti-football and coming to park the bus. There is a reason people wanted Portugal to go through, they were the better side and came to play football. Anyway, this was a proper football match. Enjoyed every minute of it and if only this was the final instead of the snooze fest Sunday. Sad to see Germany's run end but glad to see Italy playing great football. Well done to both teams.
was this so called bus parked vs italy? NO, they were not afraid or intimated, neither did they clog the midfield and kill the game. It's not spains fault teams fear for us, i'm just glad the final is against a team that respects us, not fears us. We'll actually see some football played sunday.
Nonsense, you could have been knocked out in that game. They were effective in containing your threats but were not clinical in front of goal. I didn't think Spain would struggle this much against Portugal, but they did.
We did it! At the end! I feared the failure of our physical condition, and it did not happened. Instead, what I hoped strongly, was a "sin of presumption" of Lowe. Sure enough it happened. The presumption is that he did play Gomez from the beginning, very evanescent! The presumption of deemed strong enough to think that the only field to face Italy, playing all as a tsunami. But doing so, you are not exploited Ozil, Germany's only player to have the genius that could undermine the Italian defense. At times I thought I saw Dortmund 2006, but Lowe was that night! Why Lowe? Why Gomez and not Klose from the beginning? better for us Italian. What great play schema! cross for Gomez to free a player in area. This is England not Germany! Better for us! I like Hummels and Keidira.... but others? It's true, Lady Luck has protected us a bit, but if we count the occasions clear that Italy had, the score could be much heavier. This is good though, because I do not humiliate Germany would have liked. Strongly emphasize the sportiness of the Germans. In this we have much to learn