Personally, I'm hoping for a German victory. Many
are saying that their football is hard and basic, much like taking a
sledgehammer to a door, rather than using the handle; but even more are saying
that the Spanish are starting to irritate. Their no striker ploy is pretentious
at the least. What Vicente Del Bosque is thinking when he brings on the like of
Jesus Navas and Cesc Fabregas, when the lethal Fernando Llorente is sat sitting,
warming his heels, I don’t know. The stats speak for themselves; Spain have only
scored more than one goal in a match when playing with a striker. They drew one a piece with Italy, and beat the Croats with the same one
goal. Torres isn’t really
helping my argument, what with being as profligate as a dead chicken and all,
but the little, ‘tika-taka’ Velcro gnomes have made chance after chance for him,
and a striker on form would have buried a dozen. Even he's scored
twice!
Spain, and indeed Spanish players, have been
revered in the last 5 years, and are seen as the pinnacle of the beautiful game.
But from where I’m standing, I only see real penetration from Spain in only
about 20 minutes of the 90. They don’t really make for an entertaining watch,
and are perfectly happy making pretty patterns with the ball for most of the
match, pausing momentarily to score, as if it were an annoying by-product of
their art.
The Germans on the other hand, are efficient,
industrious, and clinical. I disagree with the idea that they’re dull. How can a
team containing the likes of Ozil, Gomez, Muller, and Schweinsteiger be dull?!
Not only do they have a brilliant first eleven, with no conceivable weakness,
they also have real explosive talent pushing through from the bench. Marco Reus,
Andre Schurrle, Mario Gotze and Toni Kroos are all exceptional attacking
talents, and will undoubtedly become greats of the future game.
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