Soccer Goals Safari

Today saw the conclusion to the World Cup Quarter Final matches with two games, one of which was a real thriller and the other came to a predicatable conclusion although it certainly had its moments.

First up, Argentina versus Germany. This was a game I was expecting to be a little closer (or should that be Klose?) than it actually turned out to be. Argentina was my pick for winning this battle before the game, and they came out all guns blazing from the first whistle. However, very rapidly – within the first three minutes – they lost possession and Germany caught them on the break. Now there is a pattern emerging with Germany here; they played an overwhelmingly awesome counterattack strategy against England and got a fistful of goals. Well, today’s game was set up to be no different. Breaking out in the third minute, Podolsky was fouled on the left wing, which led to a perfect free kick into the Argentinian penalty area. Muller connected with the slightest of glancing headers, and scored the first goal off the keeper’s shin.

The South Americans didn’t give up, launching attack after attack, all of which were neutralised with surgical precision. The first half finished without further goals. The second half continued with Argentina desperate to get back into the game, and repeatedly getting caught on the counter, with the Germans mounting multiple attacks, and it was only a matter of time before they struck again. Schweinsteiger had a storming game and his clinical passing first saw Klose score into an empty net, the last defender and the keeper busy elsewhere; and then a completely unchallenged run allowed Schweinsteiger to get to the touchline and clip the ball back to Friedrich, who scored his first ever international goal for Germany. 3-0. As the fight sapped out of the Argentinians, Germany rubbed salt into their wounds, with a lightning fast break from their own half, which tugged the defenders away left, allowing Ozil to float in a perfectly weighted cross for Klose to score his second of the game, and put the match out of reach. Klose now equals the German goal scoring record in World Cups of Gerd Muller, and I think he may surpass that during the next game or two. Germany 4, Argentina 0. A complete drubbing, and something both to give a little heart to England (yeah, clutching at straws to find something positive!) but also to set the seeds of doubt into their next opponents. It is three games during this championship that the Germans have fired 4 past their opponents.

A lot of teams in this World Cup have had outstanding players in average teams; for example, think about Rooney and Messi, and there are undoubtedly other players of renown who have seriously underperformed and those teams are now gone. Germany doesn’t really have outstanding players; it has great players, but not outstanding ones. What it does have, unlike most others, is an outstanding team. So they are in the semis.

Next game: Spain versus Paraguay. This was a good game. It lived up to the expectation that Spain would win it, even though they could have fallen foul of nerves as they had never reached a World Cup semi-final before, often being stopped in their tracks in the quarters. The outstanding Spanish striker David Villa scored the only goal of the game, and so it was 1-0 to Spain and they go through to the semis to meet Germany.

The main talking point of the game was failed penalties; a game of two missed penalties rather than a game of two halves. During a Paraguay corner, the Spaniard Pique went in for a spot of sumo wrestling with Cardozo, winning himself a yellow card and the Paraguay team a penalty. They missed due to a great save from Casillas. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Under a minute later Spain had a penalty of their own which Alonso slotted past the keeper without any trouble; unfortunately for him, the referee disallowed the goal for encroachment, as five or so players made it well into the box before the ball was struck. The retaken penalty was saved by Villar, who then completely took out Fabregas during the scramble for the rebound. If the ref had seen it, it would undoubtedly have led to another (third) penalty! So that’s the end of that chapter. The Quarter Finals are done, and the Semi Finals looks like this:

Uruguay vs Holland and Germany vs Spain.

Who’d have thought the only South American team left by this stage would be Uruguay? Amazing tournament. I am thinking the final may end up being one of the biggest rivalries in Europe, Holland vs Germany, but what do I know? A week ago, I was putting Argentina and Brazil into the semis!