Italy 2 Germany 0
Excellent game. Italy certainly deserved the win, but Germany put a good fight. I think Germany has to be happy with how well they played this World Cup, considering the low expectations (based on their pre-WC results) coming in. Klose and Podolski were a revelation; who'd have predicted that they would play as well as they did throughout the tourney. Of course, that changed when Italy put the screws to Klose, whom Italy shut down.
Once again, the team with the dominant midfield won. Where was Ballack? He was practically nonexistent. (BTW, do you think Chelsea is worried? Their two huge signings - Ballack and Shevchenko - both had a bad World Cup.) Also, in retrospect, I think the loss of Frings was pretty important. He was having a very good Cup. And then, for some reason, Schweinsteiger didn't start either. So Germany was left with a slower midfield, and Italy took advantage. Italy doesn't have the big name in the midfield (well, depending on where you think Totti plays), but I was impressed with Pirlo. The deft touch to Grosso was fabulous, only outdone by the shot itself.
On the goal, it was hard to tell what happend to the German defense. Metzelder (I think) left Grosso to try to cut off Pirlo at the top of the box, and then Ballack came over to take away Grosso, but too late. Was it Metzelder's fault for leaving Grosso to mark Pirlo, or Ballack for being too slow to mark Grosso once Metzelder left?
The game had a very nice back and forth flow to it. Most of the game was a midfield battle, but even so there were enough chances in the first 80-or-so minutes to make it sufficiently interesting. Strangly, the Italian back line was a bit shaky for the first part of the first half, but then settled down very well and completely took Klose out of the game (Podolski at least had a few chances). By the end of regulation, I thought the Germans had the better of the play. But the Italians really stepped up in OT, didn't they? Beyond the goals, there were 2 posts and numerous other chances. (Even Germany had a good chance or two, including one in which Buffon made an excellent save.) The OT, I thought, was really pretty exciting. But I think Germany was simply worn down by then, after their OT match the prior round, while Italy was able to substitute the likes of Pirlo after 60 minutes against Ukraine. By the 2nd OT, that made a huge difference.
Also, what was great about the OTs was that Lippi played so many forwards! Can you believe that he brought Gilardino, Iaquinta AND Del Piero in the game? It made for great attacking soccer. Why the hell don't other coaches on the verge of losing do this??? And Italy wasn't even losing at the time (although Lippi was rightly concerned that going to PKs would have been a losing proposition for them). Look at Arena's bizarre substitutions in the Ghana match, or even Big Phil's substitution decisions in yesterday's Portugal-France match. Awful.
Also, the refereeing was great. He let them play, which was nice. And even though the Italians did a little bit of their diving act, it wasn't too much.
Over all, one of the best matches of the tournament. And the shots of the Circo Maximo after Italy scored were great.
Once again, the team with the dominant midfield won. Where was Ballack? He was practically nonexistent. (BTW, do you think Chelsea is worried? Their two huge signings - Ballack and Shevchenko - both had a bad World Cup.) Also, in retrospect, I think the loss of Frings was pretty important. He was having a very good Cup. And then, for some reason, Schweinsteiger didn't start either. So Germany was left with a slower midfield, and Italy took advantage. Italy doesn't have the big name in the midfield (well, depending on where you think Totti plays), but I was impressed with Pirlo. The deft touch to Grosso was fabulous, only outdone by the shot itself.
On the goal, it was hard to tell what happend to the German defense. Metzelder (I think) left Grosso to try to cut off Pirlo at the top of the box, and then Ballack came over to take away Grosso, but too late. Was it Metzelder's fault for leaving Grosso to mark Pirlo, or Ballack for being too slow to mark Grosso once Metzelder left?
The game had a very nice back and forth flow to it. Most of the game was a midfield battle, but even so there were enough chances in the first 80-or-so minutes to make it sufficiently interesting. Strangly, the Italian back line was a bit shaky for the first part of the first half, but then settled down very well and completely took Klose out of the game (Podolski at least had a few chances). By the end of regulation, I thought the Germans had the better of the play. But the Italians really stepped up in OT, didn't they? Beyond the goals, there were 2 posts and numerous other chances. (Even Germany had a good chance or two, including one in which Buffon made an excellent save.) The OT, I thought, was really pretty exciting. But I think Germany was simply worn down by then, after their OT match the prior round, while Italy was able to substitute the likes of Pirlo after 60 minutes against Ukraine. By the 2nd OT, that made a huge difference.
Also, what was great about the OTs was that Lippi played so many forwards! Can you believe that he brought Gilardino, Iaquinta AND Del Piero in the game? It made for great attacking soccer. Why the hell don't other coaches on the verge of losing do this??? And Italy wasn't even losing at the time (although Lippi was rightly concerned that going to PKs would have been a losing proposition for them). Look at Arena's bizarre substitutions in the Ghana match, or even Big Phil's substitution decisions in yesterday's Portugal-France match. Awful.
Also, the refereeing was great. He let them play, which was nice. And even though the Italians did a little bit of their diving act, it wasn't too much.
Over all, one of the best matches of the tournament. And the shots of the Circo Maximo after Italy scored were great.
posted by Al at 10:32 AM
5 Comments:
i agree: one of the very best matches in the tournament. not having tivo, i couldn't review what happened on the first italian goal, but basically, if it was anyone but germany, i'd have said that they just got caught at the end between fatigue and looking ahead to the shootout,so maybe we should say it about germany, too.
personally, btw, i thought ballack did fine in general in the world cup, although not in this match....
Al, i did mean to say something about loading up on forwards when behind late in a match. i've seen sir alex do this for man u several times, and the problem is, the guys tend to get in each other's way. so much of soccer is finding space, and when you have 3 or 4 forwards out there jostling for space in a defensive zone where the opposition is packed in anyhow that it rarely works.
now, given that you're looking at losing anyhow, is it a worthy risk more often than we see coaches taking it? probably, but the answer to why they don't, i think, lies in the expectation that it would be too much of a muchness.
OK, I may have been overstating it about Ballack. He wasn't bad; neither was Sheva, for that matter. But neither really did too much either. I don't think either performance revealed them to be among the best in the world.
I see your point about extra strikers. But then again, so often I see situations in which a lone striker is played the ball, is covered by two or three defenders, and has no one to lay the ball off to. I think the ideal situation is to have a big guy get the ball and draw defenders and then have more speedy guys available for runs. Now, you may think that it would be OK to have your MFs make those runs, but toward the end of the game when they are tired, it is more likely that they won't be able to get up the field fast enough. Hence, needing more forwards, who won't have the defensive responsibility that requires them to get so far back that they won't be able to go forward quickly.
frankly, i couldn't understand why sven didn't go ahead and take a shot on theo's speed in the second overtime against Portugal, for the very reason you suggest.
look, i'm in favor of aggressive managing, and i do think that managers aren't willing enough to try something like loading up on forwards; i'm just saying that it's not a completely deranged position. after all, you would think that rooney, ruud, and saha would be a handful for any defense (even italy's back four!), but the emprical record at old trafford is that i haven't seen it work yet.
happily, sir alex will always err on the side of aggressiveness, so we may get a larger sample set this season....
frankly, i couldn't understand why sven didn't go ahead and take a shot on theo's speed in the second overtime against Portugal
I completely agree.
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