Phew, this was a tough game. It was deserved cause they had the better chances, and there was not a single goal attempt by Italy which was really dangerous, despite some dangerous situations.
But I think Germany is very close to their world champion form. And this game was very similar to the final against Argentina, not a game to shine. Instead hard work and a disciplined tactical structure, cause it would be too dangerous to play against Italy in an other way. Otherwise they would have risked to fail too easily like in 2012, or like Spain did this year.
But then again, they did not beat them (it was a draw), only came forth against them. At least an improvement.
Italy defended well, very-well organized, as expected, but they lacked some qualities in midfield and attack to give Germany the death-blow. Pellè played in Holland (AZ and Feyenoord) so I know him quite well: heâs a good target man and an excellent team player, but heâs not a real goal getter of the Italian type (a Rossi or Luca Toni) and the Italians had no play maker, no creative brain. Usually they have a top player in this position (a Mazzola, Rivera, Pirlo, Totti, Roberto Bagno or - 1982 - Conte). The player who had to give the decisive pass, was defender Bonucci: against Belgium (that plays a little like Germany), this worked, but Germany pressed Bonucci too deep into his own defense.
Germany is still vulnerable to this typical Italian game with quick breaks, and I guess the Italians would have won if they had had a real play maker of the above mentioned class.
I agree that the game looked a little like the World Cup Final against Argentina
Italy played the tournament better than expected. Expectations were not that high cause they lacked real creative players and the team was a bit old.
But they had shown against Belgium and Spain that, apart from the expected defending qualities, they were able to make dangerous counterattacks resulting in goals, if they got the space.
Germany hat the advantage to know this, and so they did not gave them the space. This leads to to a game which has a strong tactical quality, but is not that attractive to view. But unlike in other games in this tournament (or Netherlands - Argentina in 2014) both teams did not completely neutralized themselves, they tried too win, and both had their chances.
Controlled offensive is the magic word, and Germany will play the same style against France, if they make the HF. The QF in 2014 was of course similar.
I still think this was the anticipated final, at least Germanyâs chances to win this tournament are now pretty high. Of course France has still the home field advantage.
But Germany has found now a functioning team, with the weaker players being replaced, and they have the spirit and the mental strongness, and the technical abilities. Now all they need is to have the luck not to have bad luck.
Really canât see much difference between this game and the Portugal Croatia game for instance, but in the overall Germany was the better team, Italy was good enought to play the game eye to eye with Germany without really having a better team or players, that says it all about how much dangerous any Italian team can be.
Germany is the one team that really does not have a key player, like Ronaldo or Modric or Bale, and that is their main streght, and they are top favorites right now to win the tournament
Portugal has been criticized for their non-attractive game (they were involved in the most spectacular game of the tournament though, Hungary - Portugal), but tonight they were clearly the better team, so it was a well-deserved win
Portugal, the eternal bridesmaids. Can they do it at last? If Iâm brutally honest and with apologies to @El_Topo, I donât see them going past either France or Deutschland this year. Itâs not like theyâre hopelessly mismatched though, theyâre certainly capable of what would only be a slight upset whichever opponent they end up facing. And yes, they thoroughly deserved last nightâs victory and are worthy finalists.
Anyway, I used to like it when the bloody Spaniards had never won anything, it made me feel better about Englandâs inability to achieve, so we canât have the Portuguese finally achieving something too! Thatâll leave us on our own - or worse: Stuck with the Belgians!
Like the English, weâre mighty underachievers. We won Euro '88, and England won the World cup '66, but those results are no more than a sticking plaster on a wooden clog, sorry: leg.
Yeah, but Portugal is country of 10 million, Belgium 11, Holland 16, and England is country of 53 million, a lot bigger than all 3 combined. And English have invented and are crazy about bloody game, and itâs like the only team sport they play (not counting sports that are popular only in English ex-colonies). So, sorry caress, there is no doubt who are the kings of underachievement.
Oh I know weâre the biggest underachievers, I just donât want us to be the only underachievers. I see a faraway, 25th century future in which only us and Liechtenstein on the entire planet have failed to win a major tournament since 2000.
Sam Allardyce is the favourite to succeed âWoyâ Hodgson as England coach. God help us all. Jurgen Klinsmannâs currently second favourite, which means that if he gets the job and we actually win anything, weâll still have to concede that itâs thanks to ze Germans! Nein!
Arsene Wenger, definitely. Iâd like Klinsmann too though, in seriousness.
My favourite from the crop of English potential suitors would be Glenn Hoddle although of course he had a go before and it all went a bit tits-up.
Sam Allardyce is I suppose the obvious candidate but, being a West Ham fan, Iâm still a little too close to his dour brand of football (he was West Ham coach before Slaven Bilic).
I donât know Allerdyce too well. I would prefer a foreign coach as well, even though the experiences with Capello and Ericson werenât altogether positive (putting that 1-5 in Munich aside). Iâd ask JĂźrgen Klopp, but Liverpool wonât be happy to let him go, so yes, Wenger and Klinsmann are good choices.
Donât know what to think of it really. France has good forwards and excellent midfielders, but Iâm not sure their defense is strong enough. I know Germany had some problems in defense as well (and Hummels isnât playing), but the French defense looked really shaky in several games. Even Iceland caused them serious problems in the second half. The French seem to have found good replacements for Benzema and Valbuena (both not selected for obvious reasons) but they have no good replacement for the injured defender Varane.
So my idea is that Germany is slightly favourite to make it to the final
