He obviously had a better passing option. If you pause the video at 1:58, you will see a German player directly ahead of him with no Russian around. It's up to Westermann to edit out his best and worst decisions and it's ultimately up to him to make the best one. Why would he pass it laterally when Lahm wasn't entirely open. Keep in mind, Germany was on the backfoot for this entire sequence. Russia had all the momentum and at this point Germany was reckless with their possession. If he didn't feel comfortably passing it to the man ahead of him, just clear the ball and recollect. You can also clearly tell how unorganized this team was just from that single frame in the video. They're scattered and that's credit to Russia for playing so unpredictably and quick, that they were able to confuse the German defense, something Hiddink excells at. He's done with this all his teams, they thrive on a high risk offensive game where they oppress the opposition with their speed and physicality, interchanging and constantly moving. Lahm may have been in a bad position, but it's up to Westermann who has the ball to be able to tell that and make the correct decision. It's even about precision, it's about bad judgment, period. He forced Lahm into a bad position by giving him a laterall pass in a tight area, in a time in the game when Russia had ALL the momentum. Anyway I can't be bothered to go in circles about this, since this is bringing out all the silly comments (not neccessarily from you)
I thought it was established he is the greatest German to have ever played the sport. Hacke, I gave up on you... Too hardheaded for your own good.
Yeah. Sirmanchester, it's insane to say westermann hasnt got the ball skills of ferdinand or carvalho when he probably has better balls skills. but, he didn't show the decision making of ferdinand or carvalho when there was a better option right ahead of him to pass to.
Are you kidding me? This is your argument and test of one's ability on the ball? For the record, both players have played in midfield but their ability on the ball serve a much greater purpose at the back. Just because Westermann can play in midfield doesn't mean he has superior abilities on the ball, that just means he's incredibely versatile.
because he can play in midfield it means he has better ability on the ball which is what makes him more versatile.
I did that certain tackle 10 years ago when I played against TSV Frontenhausen in a youth match. Unfortunately there were no cameras around. Seriously, I learned that tackling in a training camp for the Lower Bavarian team. But like so many tricks you learn at those camps, you use it once or twice and then forget about it. But yes, Lahm is the only top player I know of, who does it.
SirManchester It's funny that every major German news / sports site agrees with me on this, and even Lahm himself admitted his mistake in an interview right after the match, but for some people on here, it seems to be totally out of question to blame him for it. I won't bother translating the following quotes, should not be necessary anyway. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/wm-quali/startseite/spielpaarungsbericht/object/833827 http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/0,1518,583613,00.html http://www.faz.net/s/RubFB1F9CD53135470AA600A7D04B278528/Doc~E1CC46D5FF7054DA8AF4F90107F2304DB~ATpl~Ecommon~Sspezial.html http://www.spox.com/de/sport/fussball/dfb-team/0810/Artikel/deutschland-russland-einzelkritik.html http://www.sportal.de/sportal/fussball/wm/einzelkritik/index.html?43507 Won't bother discussing this further either, it seems rather pointless. Let us agree on disagreeing.
Again, I'm not trying to convince you and I respect your position. Also no need to translate, I can speak and read German perfectly. Those news sources, and I'm more than happy to be smart enough not to believe them or consider them proper sources of understanding. Like most pundits and journalists today, it's rubbish and rarely are they spot on in their assessment (and this goes for all across the globe). Having said that, those sources have ignored a fundemental point in this goal - that's Westermann was the one who put Lahm in that position. Lahm didn't take the pass well, and we can say Westermann's pass might have been a bit too strong, but that aside, it was bad judgment initially, on the latter's behalf that led to whatever Lahm did. Lahm can admit his mistake but it's hard to think, given the right perspective how Westermann was not involved. I've stated before how he could have handled the situation, and the fact remains he didn't. It's silly to focus on Lahm by these sources, and put the weight of this goal on his shoulders simply because he lost the ball. Germany shouldn't have put itself in that position to begin with. It was panicked, erratic, and under pressure football. That always puts you on a difficult situation and usually good judgment will help a great deal. This was not the case.
First, that doesn't always translate onto the pitch, since ability on the ball isn't all you need to play the given positions in football. Second, you claim that Westermann is as good or better on the ball than either Ferdinand or Carvalho who have been the best in their positions for several years now. I don't see how you can make that claim, and using his versatility has no inherent value in trying to prove your point.
It's simple. Westermann has better ball skills than mertesacker but he is not the better defender. Likewise against ferdinand and carvalho. Westermann just controls and passes the ball better when he has it. And runs with it better.
Hacke, you want a player to be alert in case his team mates f#ck up. Lahm wasn't, so it's his fault. I see it totally the other way as when somebody f#cks and the other player wasn't ready to clean up his crap, it's the first person at fault but the 2nd who could have potentially done better (but not at fault).
As if coach-novice Klinsmann is any better. I´ll be very surprised, if Klinsmann survives one seasons at youir club. I admit Schaafs defense tactics is bad, but Klinsmann doesn´t have one. To the NT match: Very strong performance in 1st half, horrible in 2nd half. Some players said after the match they were tired, but this must not happen. There was absolute no will to score the 3rd goal (ok, one chance by Trochowski) and so it became difficult. About defense mistakes: Germany didn´t play against a pub-team. The Russians have a very strong attack. I wouldn´t blame Mertesacker, Westermann or Lahm for giving the Russians chances, but the midfield, who stood in 2nd half to deep in their own half and didn´t prevent Russia to play passes to the right wing, where Lahm played very often against 2 Russians. So he didn´t look good in some scenes, but that´s not his fault, but a collective team mistake. I was also pissed, that the ball got lost too easily, so that Russia could create very much pressure. All things, that can and must be improved.
I really can't see how anyone can give Lahm the main blame for that goal. Westermann had the ball, he wasn't under pressure, and decided to play a pass to Lahm who was under pressure. First, you don't play such a pass, especially if you have all the time in the world yourself. Second, if you still do it, you make sure that the pass is actually acceptable, Westermann's was far from it. Yes, Lahm should have been more aware of that, but that gives him maybe 20% of the blame, the rest is all on Westermann. As for Lahm admitting his mistake, what is he supposed to do, blame his teammate? No player will put blame on his teammate in public, especially when he's one of the leaders of the team and the team won anyway. Besides, Lahm is a humble guy, humble guys always talk bad about themselves and praise others. Just look at Wayne Gretzky, the best hockey player of alltime, yet no matter who you ask him about, he will always tell you what an amazing player the other one is, and in regard to other greats he will mention how that guy would have been so much better than himself if it wasn't for (add numerous different reasons here). Just like he will tell everyone how certain young stars will break all his records, even though they have virtually no chance whatsoever.