MOST INTRIGUING WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS MATCH-UP

Story by Patrick Kamanga

THE MOST INTRIGUING WORLD CUP SEMI FINALS MATCH-UP

The World cup football extravaganza is ebbing away. It has been a World cup of excellent play, exceptional talent, and full of gallantry.

Each of the four remaining teams at the semi-finals of this year’s World cup in Brazil is a potential winner in their own right. This semi final matchup however is the toughest pairing of teams since Italy in 1990.

At Italia ’90 the hosts played the Maradona led Argentina while West Germany met England. Both games were close, tight and emotional affairs that provided end to end action which coincidentally ended in similar one all draws through regulation and extra time, culminating in post-match penalty shootouts.

Argentina and West Germany prevailed meeting in a repeat of the Mexico ’86 final where the German juggernaut triumphed.

History is stark in favour of both South American soccer giants Brazil and Argentina if you consider that no European team has ever won the Copa Mundial in the Americas.

History on its own does not provide the full picture of the situation at hand nor offer any significant advantage to the two South American neighbours at this juncture.

The Latin Americans meet two top European sides, Germany and the Netherlands who are primed and ready after sweeping aside opposition that had been unfortunate to face them in the elimination rounds. Their progression was by no means easy but they raised their game and ultimately prevailed.

Both Brazil and Argentina have been quite disappointing struggling through their respective groups then tottering and staggering through the elimination rounds.

Being from the host continent both teams will have the advantage of having the twelfth man, the home crowd to rally them on. We have to get into the intricacies and the complexities of the game to understand how both sets of teams are going to handle this historical matchup.

ARGENTINA vs. NETHERLANDS

Argentina’s forward line is its forte. It has an array of weaponry that would instill fear in any team. With the likes of four times World Footballer of the Year, Lionel Messi amidst the sortie anything is possible. His phenomenal talent has more often than not led to comparisons with the legendary Diego Maradona. This has not been by accident. His diminutive stature, dribbling ability and knack for scoring spectacular goals is uncannily similar to Maradona and has accumulated numerous accolades for his club similar to his predecessor but that’s where the comparisons end.

While Maradona was able to transfer his searing club form from Boca Juniors, to Barcelona, then Napoli and on to national team, the Albiceleste, leading his nation to the “holy grail of football”, the World cup in 1986, Messi has by large been unable to replicate his club form when donning the blue and white stripe of Argentina.

Will this be the year that he finally comes into his own mould, casting aside the looming shadow of Maradona’s legacy finally delivering the ultimate prize the World cup title, the only accolade still conspicuously missing from his illustrious career?

 Other players of note in that offense are Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Gago and Sergio “Kun” Aguero. The pacy Angel Di Maria will not be available after sustaining a thigh injury, limping off during their match against Belgium.

In Di Maria’s absence Aguero should start. Coming off an injury laden season at his Manchester City base, the recurrence of the niggling injury has seen him substituted prematurely severally in the course of the tournament, has played below par and is nowhere near his best.

With that level of talent at his disposal and for a team that relies on the passing game, Argentine Coach Alesandro Sabello has been unable to neither find his winning combination nor gel his players into one fluid unit in order to bring out the best from his boys.

They have largely played like individual units relying mostly on the brilliance of each individual rather than the sum of the whole and have had to rely on Messi’s magic to bail them out severally.

The Argentine defense is also average at best and has held up because of Sabella’s tactical prowess, switching and adjusting personnel as needed but has yet to face world class opposition to prove their mantle. Argentina is therefore top heavy and will surely be stretched to the limit when they face the “Orange tide”.

The Oranje as the Netherlands team is known is a team comprising of average players but as a team and a functional unit they are second to none!

Football is a game of many ironies. Unlike their opponents Argentina, the Oranje came into this tournament largely unheralded, with many of their fans having written them off and expecting very little from the team. The resignation of their fans emanated from the fact that their national team was a massive let down at the Euro 2012, where they lost all 3 group games booking an early flight home.

Though the team qualified for the World cup finals comfortably, the profound sense of pessimism persisted and perhaps even increased after a key player, midfielder Kevin Strootman sustained a cruciate ligament injury which ruled him out of the competition.

To complete this gloomy picture, the Dutch have a dismal record of squad members capitulating at several prior finals, along racial lines and other divisive factors.

With this scenario in hindsight, Holland’s Coach Louis Van Gaal had to think outside the box. His performance as a coach has been nothing short of miraculous! The Dutch squad has a reliable core of five very experienced players blended with a young, energetic and an exuberant majority.

Harnessing his players’ natural abilities derived from and built upon the Dutch philosophy of total football, he’s conjured trick after trick from his bag of magic, tweaking and tinkering with his squad to get the desired results.

Apart from his genius and the brilliance of his football mind, his man management acumen is second to none at these finals.

Always looking to bring out the best from each and every player at his disposal, he has an exceptional rapport and enjoys good relations with his squad members. Van Gaal has also cleverly created a relaxed atmosphere within his camp even allowing his players to bring their families and spouses along which has created extra impetus.

The total effect of all that those variables and dynamics are self explanatory! The proof is in the pooding!
Another interesting fact that perhaps is the team’s biggest motivator is that the Netherlands are the only nation among the remaining four that has never won the World cup.

Is this the year they finally etch their names in football eternity?

BRAZIL vs. GERMANY

These two teams’ historical record and achievements on the world football stage are staggering to say the least.

Germany has reached the semi final stage a total of 13 times including the ongoing tournament, been runners up 4 times and been crowned champions 3 times.

Brazil has scaled the semi-finals of the World cup 11 times including this year, been runners up twice and won 5 titles.

Both these teams have always entered any tournament that they’ve participated and the World cup in particular with one thing and only one thing on their mind, winning! 
Second place is synonymous to failure and therefore not even an option!

With these facts in mind both these two teams will do absolutely everything to win this game so it promises to be quite an explosive match.

Both teams have not exhibited their best game and have largely struggled to overcome opposition considered weaker.

Brazil’s midfield has struggled to make its mark on this tournament and the dynamism and creativity that has long been symbolic of their midfielders is largely lacking.

This lack of creative punch has consequently spilled over into their striking force rendering it near sterile.

Another interesting fact is that after Brazil’s opener against Croatia, both their full backs Marcello on the left and Danny Alves at right back were caught on the counter and the folly of their forward runs exposed repeatedly.

Coach Luiz Phillipe Scolari has since curbed these attacking instincts preferring to keep things tight at the back and relying on long balls targeted at their forwards and thereby bypassing the midfield.

The team Captain and most reliable defender Thiago Silva incurred an unnecessary second yellow on their last game against Colombia while their talismanic forward Neymar sustained a vertebral fracture from a crude challenge during the same game. 
These two pillars of the Brazilian team will solely be missed and therefore of importance is how the entire team will respond to these adversities.

Me thinks that these two key players absence may actually work in Brazil’s favour, galvanizing the squad and motivating them to raise their game collectively as a unit.

In Thiago Silva’s absence, Dante who plies his trade with German Champions Bayern Munich will be a natural replacement. Another player who will lay stake on this game will be Luiz Gustavo, who should start as a holding midfielder having also played for the Bavarian side for a number of seasons and is currently in the pay books of another leading German side, Wolfsburg.

These two players will be key and instrumental due to their wide knowledge and experience with the Germany game and style of play.

In Neymar’s absence Oscar is the natural heir to the number 10 position and shall therefore be flung in the deep pocket to act as the creative force. Oscar however has struggled against physically imposing opposition while playing for his club side Chelsea and therefore Scolari would best be advised to play him along Willian who is much stronger and should compliment his creativity.

With the towering height and physical strength of the German defense, striker Hulk would be the most fitting forward to start at the apex of their attack formation with Fred playing off the wing or interchanging positions with him to confound their foes.

The Nationalmannschaft as the German team is known epitomizes physical strength, mental fortitude and pragmatism. This is a very dynamic team with many versatile players that can play in different positions across their length and breadth of the field.

Germany struggled against both the physicality of the Ghanaians and the technicality of the Algerians in earlier games, elements that the Brazilians can exploit if Scolari gets his tactics right.

The German machine will look to exploit lapses in their opponents’ wing backs and will employ wing play aimed at delivering crosses from which their strikers who are good in the air will aim to exploit.

Either way this is a fair contest between two balanced teams. It promises to be a physical and bruising encounter, a tight affair that may easily go all the way to a penalty shootout.