one day he will left the bundsliga, pokal, champions league, the euro and the world cup and those muller haters would shut the fack up for a change.
Italy had problems too. They just made the most out of their misfortune. Teams with more injuries have done that and won titles...like...well, in 1996 the Euros were won by a team that did that. I can't remember who they were. Spain, Daylight, Argentina, Brazil and Italy should be rated higher IMO. Of course anything can happen in the end as it isn't played on paper.
I really think we can beat brazil and Argentina.. Italy too. Spain really should be out only true rival. Then again we have flopped to worse teams before.
Germany hasn't even played in south america in so long. Argentina has. Brazil is Brazil..and they will be at home...and they still have a very good squad. If it wasn't for Spain being such an outstanding team in all conditions - and with spanish conditions not being that dissimilar to south american ones to begin with - I would have made them the favourites. Italy may not win the trophy but their teams are often excellent and always beat Germany. But, there's a reason it's played on the pitch and not on paper. As an aside, I don't yet consider Spain a real rival to Germany because this German team is just not as good as you all think they are. There are some seriously outstanding talents that could get into the Spanish squad, but that's all. It's too imbalanced and too undeveloped. Take away all the excitement and you would get a team that is several levels below Spain. I think the German team of 1996 would take this one to the cleaners.
Brazil's in crisis mode right now, first of all. They have talent, but no chemistry and no continuity as a team and they only have a year to work it out. Home advantage could work wonders, but I'm unimpressed and their work so far makes me wonder if they've actually regressed from when we beat them down in 2011. Italy has done superb work with Prandelli and I'd actually consider them, not us or Brazil or Argentina, to be the 2nd best team in the world. As for Argentina, they look impressive in qualifying, but I'm not sure. Their forward line is the nest in the world, but I'm unsure how their midfield and defence can perform under continuous pressure. I think everyone in the world is not on Spain's level, but I think, bar Italy, we are closest to it.
Even if Brazil gel they don't have the midfield to compete and will have to play defensive and counterattacking football, and they don't have the great striker to make sure they score on their few chances. Brazil should make the quarters or semis thanks to their homefield advantage, how awesome Silva and Dante are, and how dangerous guys like Neymar, Hulk and Lucas can be on the break, but they're not contenders the way Spain, us and Italy are. And Argentina is even more unbalanced than Brazil cause at least Brazil has an excellent back line and a mediocre midfield, argentina is mediocre in midfield and further back. Frankly Portugal scares me more than either of the south american powerhouses.
And can we stop this nobody would start for spain myth? Neuer would start for them now as he's surpassed Valdez and Casillas, Lahm would start for them with practically no competition, Hummels would start for them with the way Pique's game has deteriorated, Schweini would start for them over Xabi Alonso between Busquets and Xavi, and at least one of our attacking mids, Ozil, Reus, Gotze, Muller would start next to Iniesta in their front three. That's 5-6 players who are good enough to start for them. They're more talented but it's not by that much.
Germany has never won a competitive match against Italy. I don't care what our club teams do until the Nationalelf find a way to defeat the Italians when it matters.
Yeah, it's really ********in lame. Hopefully we just don't face them en route to beating spain in the final.
I'd rather get a title. Worry about breaking the curse once the first one's already under their belt.
Spain also had that curse against Italy but managed to beat them on penalties in the Euro 2008 and are no longer scared of them and of course destroyed them 4-0 in the final last year.
Grown ups believing in fate and superstition and even arguing with it as they have a point in discussions. That's weird lol
I'm not too superstitious, but there's some things that are just too powerful and consistent, Germany beating England, Italy beating us, and the Giants comingback when I work out are just some forces that have always turned out to be true.
Bayern showed the weaknesses of the Italian teams- pace, high tempo pressing, pace again and some wing play. With the useless Podolski on the left wing and Kroos/Oezil on the right wing, it was always to be a struggle. Reus on the left and Mueller on the right should have started. Stupid Loew.
Definitely a factor. As usual it's a combination of elements that manifest themselves. Football can fall into patterns like anything in life but it's always governed by laws that can be defined. Some more difficult than others. I think Bayern did really well to show up Juve and compared to how Löw approached Italy, was far smarter by deploying Mandzukic and Müller just around Pirlo. But also the experience was an issue. Löw starting such an inexperienced defense against the unpredictable and motivated Balotelli. It was poor planning from the manager that started well before the Euros. That's what you get with slow integration.
I don't actually believe it's fate or anything. But I get a laugh out of these trends being so consistent and will continue to do so until the day they stop.
Lol. That's good. Although we didn't really see Pirlo clamped down on until Kroos went off IMO. Anyone think he could maybe not be the best man for these types of jobs. But yeah; Heynckes schooled Löw there.
Erm, Pirlo also didn't show anything with Kroos on the pitch and of course he is the right one for such a job. He does it all the time for Bayern as AM and also neutralised Xabi Alonso together with Gomez last season for example and there is a reason why Bayern has always midfield controll. Even in the NT match against Italy was Kroos the player who won the most challenges so you can't even blame him for not trying, the difference is he didn't have any support in the NT and had to work from the right wing (Löw let him and Özil share that position). Another difference is obviously Schweinsteiger's better shape and even more important Gustavo. He covers for Schweinsteiger and concentrates on his defensive duty while Khedira didn't for Germany. A lot of people don't seem to notice that Gustavo took Marchisio out of the game and also battled Vidal. Against Italy it was actually Montolivo who caused us more problems than Pirlo and that was because our remaining midfield never had proper control and didn't press Italy enough. On top of all this you have proper wing play with Ribery/Robben supported by the FBs. You can sum it up by saying that Germany (Löw) did do everything wrong that was possible while Bayern was perfectly prepared for this game and also executed it just as well.