It's been moments with too many easy turnovers from both teams during the game ... however, when considering the weather circumstances (heavy rain & not very good pitch), this match was surely very entertaining (many scoring opportunities) and of solid quality! In the end, Germany has been keener to get the win (despite missing some important players) ... and got rewarded after an impressive comeback. PS: Superb goal from Forlan!
so, after this worldcup, all in all, i have to say i'm pretty much satisfied with German NT even though we didn't reach the final. but still it was a succes for us to maintain performance after WC 2006 and EC 2008. we just need a little little little bit more for final success. let's take a look what we archived this WC: - best victory in first round - first in our Group - smashed england, got revenge for the wembley goal - great victory over Argentina, Müller got revenge to Maradona - won third place game, got revenge for Ghana, since the last shot hit the crossbar - probably get an award for having best player/scorer (maybe Müller, Schweinsteiger) - Klose place 2 now on all-time-Highscore list all in all, a pretty much amazing WC for us! Imagine this boys in 2 or 4 years, having more expirience, since they are such young boys! i hope we can bring a title to Germany in next few years! GO GERMANY!!
Btw: If I was Dutch, I'd be a lil bit scared with regard to tomorrow's final & Paul's prediction! Before he picked Germany to win, it took him a while ... and the late goal is simply evidence of his visionary talent, isn't it? ) But who knows, maybe he only knows how to predict results of the German team. Yep, a huge kudos to the brave Urus for this good performance! Such a small country being among the "top 4" of this WC, is definitely a huge surprise & impressive achievement! The final will be surely a lot more tactical.
Agree, Muslera did not look good tonight on multiple occasions. Entertaining match. Just because it's entertaining does not mean it was necessarily all great soccer though. Loads of inaccurate passing, sloppy ball control and defensive gaps opened up the pitch on both sides. Great to watch though, perhaps an argument modern day soccer could use some offensive impulses to make it more entertaining. More flexible offside rules, maximum of 6 players +GK of one team on their side of the pitch? All in all, a good show in which two teams were eager to prove both were no flukes in getting to the semis at this world cup. Good job Uruguay, playing some of the most entertaining matches of this cup. Certainly a team to take into account in 2014! Even greater matches by Germany this tourney, a deserved 3rd place, seeing as they also knocked out Argentina and England. Still a shame we didn't meet in the finals but oh well, those damned Spaniards, playing that damn nice fluent ticki-tacka possession game....
Great game. And to the guys saying Lahm/Podolski have the flu, one of the ESPN commentators said the coach has it as well.
Maybe, but you never know, since we have 2 completely new finalist (compared to last few world cups) and i think it's pretty much possible to have 5 goals in this game... both have nothing to loose but much to win... we'll see about that...
Great Game. Credit to Germany for coming back with one day less rest,and disappointment, to do what they had to do to win. The german striker at the end missed a sitter, but it was great to see end to end opportunities in this tight WC. Muller was obviously freshest on the German side, but he is always doing good things around the ball,and off the ball. It was amazing how his teammates always look out for him and how he demands the ball, as such a young player, pretty amazing. Smart player. One of my players of the tournament is Arne Friedrich. I LOVED the way this guy played every game I saw him play, the way he battled, even today, and his desire to win or score. He won't get the recognition of Pique and Puyol, and probably deservedly so, but he played fearlessly.
Seriously, it is getting beyond tiresome. So Germany is cosmopolitan and their team reflects that, why can't people get it? Geez, when I was at the Goethe Institute, there were people of every colour speaking German. People need to get over it
agreed. i live in berlin and i can absolutely confirm this. when you go on the streets here, you can see people of so many different colors and origins. but when you ask them who they are, they will most likely tell you german. because it's already the second/third generation of immigrants. most where born here and used to work here and pay taxes for german goverment. so, if you have that in a country, what's the problem about having this in national team as well?
The list in front of Uruguay is long. England made the QFs in 2002 and 2006 and the R16 this time. Uruguay did not even qualify between 1994 and 2010. Hell, even the US would be seeded first.
Does anyone else think Forlan's goal is perhaps the goal of the tournament? The shot, by itself, embodied every aspect of the game of football: power, accuracy, style, and finesse. We have seen many other great shots but none had all the four elements in one shot.
I don't know about 3, maybe 2. He is 20 right now, in 2022 (3 WCs from now) he'll be like 33-34. The van Bronckhorst goal against Uruguay was better than Forlan's.
Understand your argument, but research a bit before you write. We made it in 2002. We made 2 out of the last 3 WC's, and we were 4th in this one. 8 teams get seeded, so the 4th best team SHOULD get seeded.
Hard to believe he had so many troubles years ago in Manchester isn't it? He was missing sitters and seemed totally w/o confidence the few times i saw him. Then he goes to Villareal and he stars scoring goals left, right and center. Crazy. He was utterly fearless and played with limitless confidence all tournament. A true joy to watch him play. He probably would have scored more if not for the defensive game plan against France, but perhaps that was a wise game plan all the same. Wonder if he moves on to a big club soon. He looked every bit the equal of Villa, Torres, Ronaldo, and Messi in terms of the ability to generate opportunities, and better than all of them when it came to finishing.
germany legitamately played like brazil in large portions of this world cup, attacking and free flowing. wasnt at all what i expected, tremendous showing for them. forlan was inspirational for uruguay. mueller for young player of the tournament, golden ball to none other than mr. diego.
What a wonderful game even though I was glad Germany won even if they had not it was still a wonderful game. I wish more games would be like this that more teams would play attacking football and try to win instead of trying not to lose. Also if the upside continues on Thoams Mueller we won't be talking about pretty boy CR or Messi by the next world cup beacuse Thomas Mueller will be the best player in the world.
funny how mueller just signed his first senior contract a year ago and look at him now. whatever they do developing young talent over there at bayern, it clearly works. lahm and schweinsteiger years ago, now mueller badstuber and kroos.
Forlan seemingly never put one off target during the entire tournament (obviously over-exaggeration...but not by much). He was a joy to watch, had supreme confidence, decision making, and instinct. All the makings of a great striker.
As good as Uruguay were in this tournament, they didn't beat a single European or South American side and just barely qualified. Win the Copa America next year and qualify a bit more safely, then I'd argue for Uruguay to be seeded.
That FK by Forlan hitting the crossbar in the dying seconds of extra time is just crazy, imagine if he hit that! would have been epic, legendary, what legends are made of.
The problem is that FIFA just changes the seeding formula according to their wishes every tournament. It's hard to make any predictions which teams become seeded in 2014.