Of all 11 Argies today, not ONE had a moment of living up to their potential. No wrong formations and/or tactics could render all these pricey players from at the very least, a few shinning moments. In 1990, Diego had 3 injuries (back, ankle and toe). Taped up, beat up, slow and tired (from winning the Scudetto and Europe that year), he led an old a wary team to the WC. Lost their first match, they fought back to beat both favorites Brazil and Italy and made the finals and lost. You know what? That is a winner in my eyes. The new Argies suck.
Haven't had time to read the entire thread, but here is my take: Argentina seemed to lack the ideas to break past the back 4. They were good up to the last 20meters, but then seemed to become confused. Again, the team that took advantage of the opportunities presented to them won. Germany's second was a nice counter and a perfect pass. The opportunity was the delayed reaction of the defender (I forget which one). Once the second goal happened, Argentina pushed too hard and it was fairly clear they would give up a third - but I was surprised at how quickly. The forth goal was from a perfect pass (Ozil?) and a quality goal. Deserving. It was sad Argentina did not score. They did not seem to lack inventiveness or thinking (I saw several intercepted passes from Germany). It almost seemed that Tevez's height was a hindrance against the tall Germans. I was glad to see Germany score 4...not because it was versus Argentina, but because it shows that the previous matches versus Australia and England were not flukes.
I always rooted against Germany in the past (because my wife is German/actually the real reason is they have a history of too much diving and acting on the field). But in this match, I rooted for Germany mainly because I didn't like this year's Argentina team. Also, a lot of change took place in Germany team. Ballack did not play while many young players took over. This is a historical thrashing by Germany over their rival Argentina. As someone already said, the key to Germany's win was their defense against Argentine onslaught between the first and second goal. German defense was incredible. They shut down a great offense and kicked Maradona's big mouth for good. They showed how football should be played. A team full of superstars (or should I say super strikers) is not necessarily better. German players played BOTH offense AND defense. Not Argentina. THAT was the difference. Muller and Schweinsteiger have both risen to superstardom in this tournament while Messi, Rooney, and Ronaldo went home with one goal between them. Lastly, Argentina qualified to WC with fourth place finish in South America. Their meaningless wins over weaker teams in WC meant not much. This kind of team Maradona made up cannot beat high quality and well organized teams. I was shocked that players like Zinetti, Riquelme, Cambiasso did not make the team. And Milito should have started. Too much said, but actually not enough said. What a mess. 4-0 thrashing will hurt for generations.
German coach saw past Maradona's game, taught his players how to destroy us. End story. Vamos Vamos!! Argentina!!! Milito doesn't do anything for Argentina. If you 'follow' argentina you know we have Zabaleta, Insua, Banega, Cambiasso, Mascherano, and a few others. Maradona failed to spot the best players that everyone else saw and he only put what he wanted on the field. That's why I will hate him for always for this World Cup. I will never refer to him as "El Diez" or whatever. Just Diego. He's an unprofessional hack.
This would never have happened in a 4-2-3-1 formation with 2 DM's in Masherano and Cambiasso. One DM was just not enough
How good do you think Argentina could have been with Riquelme this year? When Maradona left him out, I kind of knew that was a wrong decision.
The second goal was in no way a counterattack. They had 12 - 15 passes and went forward and backward and forward before Klose tapped it in.
I didn't say anything because he said "winners". More German players...5...won it than dutch players - 3
The worst part about world cup time and Germany doing well is that around here the "German-philes" and baby white supremacists I went to high school with all come out of the woodwork. Saying such things on facebook as. "Germany has the worlds best athletes!" and "Germany should control all of europe!" The funny thing is I honestly don't think these people even watch the sport
1950 actually, and their last time in the semifinals was in 1970. Define domination... the last time Argentina won it all was 24 years ago... after that final in 1990, it has left no later than quarterfinals in every World Cup: 1994 - Round of 16 1998 - Quarterfinals 2002 - Didn't make it out of their group 2006 - Quarterfinals In your examples: Brazil was fourth in 1974, third in 1978 (under very suspicious circustances) and was bar none the best team in 1982. Germany after 1990: 1994 - Quarterfinals 1998 - Quarterfinals 2002 - Second Place 2006 - Third Place The reality is, like Uruguay before this World Cup, Argentina is living of past glories and reputation from players who do a great job at the club level, but have been perennial underachievers for a generation now. The national team looks far closer to Mexico than they do Brazil or Germany.
Klose and Mueller have been the best on Germany. I am big fan of Podolski, but he hasn't score so far
Excellent summary of the game. Argentina lost but it did fight tooth and nail to come back. I was actually nervous throughout the game until Germany score their second goal. Argentina could have come back at any time
EXCELLENT question. Now that you mention it, I am going to do a FB purge tonight I was pulling for the Argies tonight, I'm a Maradona fan and was pulling for them for the sake of some in-laws. But Germany is just a more complete side 1-11. Simplest way to put it.