2014 FIFA World Cup™ Quarter-Finals: France vs Germany|Fri, Jul 4, 12:00 PMET

Seriously, it probably was. There are a lot of myths about that match. See below. It wasn't actually that bad. Germany kept trying for a second goal, even if Austria wasn't doing much.

 

Germany won't win this I'm afraid, this Cup has South America written all over it
At least we're once again in the semis, perhaps we'll get the third Bronze in a row

 

I always found it ironic that Germany got most of the criticism for that match. People forget that Germany were winning the match, it's not unusual for teams to hold onto a lead and not risk anything. The real culprits in my eyes were the Austrians who were behind but made no attempt at all to equalize.

 

Well, a lot off people are saying this but apart from Colombia I don't see Brazil or Argentina advancing.
But he, maybe next match forces me to a humble post.

Germany wins, playing good or bad, they just win (again). WM material.

 

Lol boring match....maybe because you are not german or french. For me it was an amazing dangerous tight match. I have waited for the 1:1 the whole 75 minutes. It was crazy wild in the hot sun. Amazing match. I am glad we did it. Tight shit. Brutal and good.

 

OK, now the other Germanic tribes must make the semi-finals, Belgium and Holland.

 

The French weren't allowed to hack their opposition into submission this time around. Thats what happened to the power - no cerebral focus for the power when they couldn't kungfu football their opponents.

Most overhyped game of this World Cup... Everyone here was talking about how it would be a classic... I predicted it would be a snoozefest and noone believed me.

 

Seemed like a great game. Ended up being quite dull. France not that many great chances to equalize. German GK equal to the task - not stretched or at his limit.

 

Neuer a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever on that last save.

 

I only saw the second half, but yeah, really quite disappointing. I was expecting more, especially from France... In the interview with the coach afterwards it seemed like they kind of anticipated that they would probably lose this, which is of course the wrong mentality to start such a game...

Germany may have been better, but I feel the French team was able to show more, but didnt...

 

Grabbibg a player to slow their coubter attack is unsporting and a card. France did this twice. Hacking their legs for the same reason is also a card. France did that twice.

Oddly Germany didit three times and got carded twice. Very inconsistent from the ref.

 

Yes, stick to rugby.

 

Zahzah is the new Nostradamus.
Thank you for being here, it's always a honour.

 

I saw that infamous Germany - Austria match in '82 and compared to it, today's game was a fast-paced thriller.
I pretty much knew that Germany would win if they score first, and that it might go into OT, possibly penalties if the French had scored first.
The Germans do many things better than anyone else, one of them is tenacity, they NEVER let go, they NEVER give up.
I remember a Euro Cup playoff game, might have been a semi, between France and Germany, ca. mid-80's or so. The French were clearly the better, more talented team, but somehow, some way the Germans always equalized, forced overtime, forced penalties and after what seemed like forever, ended up winning, despite having been outplayed the whole time.
And that French team was a great deal better than this one.
I think Brazil might need some help.

 

This game put me to sleep. Wtf do you people mean it was exciting?

 

It was a game for the connaisseur as our French friends would say I guess. It wasn't exciting in the sense of constant box-to-box-action. But it was a very tactical game and since the scoreline was so close, the sword of Damocles was dangling above throughout as well.

 

Pretty accurate description. Far from the best game that either side could produce but not the worst either. I'm torn as a French fan who to support in the semi-final. We French have always long admired Brazil and they will also be the underdog without Neymar, combine that with our history against Germany in sport (82 and 86, even if I was not alive then), and it seems obvious who to pick. But in more recent times I have to admit I was delighted when German fans were rooting for Zidane back in 06 and also I have to admit I like this generation of German players.

But back to topic. I agree with what a poster had said earlier that I knew if Germany scored first it was going to be very, very tough. Because we saw what they did against Argentina/England in 2010 on the counter and more than anything I think it led to our players having that in the back of their mind. But that doesn't excuse our performance. We weren't good enough, and we had to be better in order to advance (since on paper, Germany were the superior team anyway). Congrats to them again as deserved winners.

 

While I think Germany are a great team, I just am surprised that France took the posture it did against Germany. It showed more respect for Germany than I would have expected from a side like France. To be sure, I had predicted a close match where Germany would win, but this was not the game I had in mind. The fact that the game was somewhat boring aside, the French simply refused to commit numbers on attack for almost the entire game. Even in the last few minutes, when teams trailing at this stage of the game become desperate and play accordingly, the French were merely playing more like a side that has just fallen behind and has plenty of time to score. Before then, looking at France's tactics and set up, you would be hard pressed to guess they were trailing at all!

 

It's a good point... though to excuse us, there are some reasons why that was the case.

1. Our best players are defensive-oriented... with Ribery out of the WC before it began, that's even more the case.
2. 7 out of the 11 in the German XI took part in the 4-1 and 4-0 victories in 2010 over England and Argentina respectively, where after Germany had lead, they were deadly on the counter (and in this game, most of their decent chances in the second half were on the counter, including the one Schurrle could easily have put away if he had been better and Lloris not anticipated well).
3. We were just sloppy the entire game and the German high pressing made it tough to retain possession in midfield so we just needed better buildup so we were taking more time so not as to lose it needlessly.

 

Every highlight can make a game look good. Especially when created by mischievous persons bearing an agenda.

The most appalling games can look great in highlights. Premier League games for instance.

Also Austria received their fair share of critique. The quotes by the Austrian manager became castigated everywhere; France Football gave a 1/6 as match grade to all players on the field, incl. the Austrians.

 

The analysis is just wrong. France was stronger in the offense then Germany. But France mostly tried the long-ball-way which just didnt work perfectly. But they almost scored the goal they just were not effective enough that day and Germany defended good. Sometimes even luckily.
On the other hand of course Germany had 1 or 2 amazing counter-attacks that ended extremely bad and shit. Schürrle cant ********ing shoot