PRECISION ENGINEERED GERMAN FOOTBALL FINALLY DISPATCHES WOEFUL BRAZIL!

Story by Patrick Kamanga

PRECISION ENGINEERED GERMAN FOOTBALL FINALLY DISPATCHES WOEFUL BRAZIL!

No where to hide

Records are set to be broken and history can always be re-written!

What the whole world witnessed at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte Brazil can’t be simply described as “earth shaking” but more correctly as a “mass soccer continental plate tectonic shift” that saw the realignment of “the football constellations!”

The last time Brazil suffered such a huge defeat was a 5-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920 while the last home lose was a 3-1 defeat to Peru, coincidentally at Belo Horizente in 1975.

Well Germany had other ideas. 
Both records were under review and the Nationalmannschaft went about ruthlessly ending and shredding Brazil’s 68 game unbeaten run on home soil.

The world cringed in disbelief as the much taunted German machine finally came out firing on all cylinders, producing a breathtaking show on cold calculated passing, precise execution and ruthless finishing. 

A nation in mourning, the ghosts of 1950 evoked and their skeletons exhumed

The once mighty Brazilian Selecao which mesmerized and dazzled the world with beautiful football a generation ago, now an ebbing memory, capitulated and got vanquished in a merciless fashion.

Brazil losing the game was not surprising, keen observers had sensed it coming but it’s the manner and ease with which the German Juggernaut went about executing its show of carnage.

This eon ending show was symbolic similar, to Spain’s crash landing fiasco earlier in the tournament.

In hind sight, even if talismanic Neymar and the resolute Thiago Silva had been in the field it would have mattered little nor made much difference; the result would have still been the same, albeit with a much decent score line of 3 or 4 goals.

Brazil survived Croatia by the referee’s graces, rode their luck against Chile via a penalty shootout, and against Colombia won by sheer attrition and distraction but they had nowhere to hide against Germany.

Their every flaw or weakness was exposed then exploited mercilessly and with industrial precision.

The German “Empire” has finally been established. This is the beginning of a long dynasty that is not shy at “laying down the law” or reading “the riot act” to those who dare raise a finger of objection.

On a more serious note, what the world witnessed however was the culmination of 12 years worth of hard work and effort by the Germans.

After what they described as their weakest and most shambolic show by any German team ever at the 2002 World cup in Korea/ Japan where they lost a one sided show to Brazil, with the goalkeeping heroics of Oliver Kahn preventing total annihilation and kept the score line decent, Germany’s soccer fathers had seen enough. The German football authorities and stakeholders went back to the drawing board determined to make deep rooted changes.

They completely reorganized every facet of their game, re-writing and harmonizing the national youth system’s syllabus and streamlining how their club sides across the board managed their finances.

Talk about re-building from the ground up.

The Sami Khedira, Mesut Orzil, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng etc generation were the prototypes and hence first from the production line in this new initiative at South Africa 2010.

In the words of the German Football Federation, the D.F.B’s Chief adviser and former national team Captain of 2 World cup campaigns, Paul Breitner, Germany had to re-evaluate and reconsider their old Sweeper System.

The Sweeper system also known as the Libero system, had been a 1960’s Italian invention that the Germans took to heart in the early 1970’s which served them well and was the system that saw them sweep all opposition as World cup hosts in 1974 and Bayern Munich’s European Club Champions (predecessor to modern day U.E.F.A Champions League) treble winning feat between 1974-76.

This system also saw Germany make it all the way to 3 consecutive World cup finals appearances in 1982 and 1986 culminating in their triumph in Italia 1990.

They struggled through the 90’s decade exiting at the quarter finals stage in 1994 and ’98, finally making it back to the World cup final in 2002 against Brazil.

That loss to Brazil was a “watershed” moment in German football history, which not only signaled the end of an era but an opportunity at re-invention and rejuvenation.

From adversity came re-birth.

With Bayern Munich as the live laboratory where new ideas are tried, tested and perfected before large scale adaptations are made, the next stage of Germany's metamorphosis was when Dutchman Louis Van Gaal was hired as coach in 2009.

Van Gaal’s choice for appointment was not a coincidence but a deliberate and calculated move having served as coach on two separate stints at F.C Barcelona.

The Spaniards had twice humiliated the Germans; first when Spain outplayed Germany in the one sided affair at the finals of the Euro 2008, closely followed by Barcelona’s crushing defeat inflicted upon German Champions Bayern Munich at the quarter finals of the U.E.F.A Champions League in 2008-09 season.

Van Gaal had therefore been hired to stop this pattern and change this trend while addressing Spain’s dominance over Germany. This experiment failed due to Van Gaal’s indomitable personality and insistence on doing things his way culminating in his firing after only one season.

Normal service was resumed when the two sides met yet again at the semi finals of the World cup in South Africa, with Spain exhibiting a show on spot the ball and catch me if you can!

German football redemption finally started taking shape when the nation’s two leading clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund completely pulverized to smithereens both Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid at the semi finals of the Champions league in May 2013.

Bayern Munich subsequently won the continental diadem under Jupp Heinckes but upped the ante by hiring Barcelona’s iconic coach and faithful son of Catalunya, Josep “Pep” Guardiola at the advent of the 2013-14 season.

Germany’s football fathers' vision of merging the natural abilities of their footballers and the sublime technical abilities of the Spaniards, finally saw their dream realized as their baby, the German machine finally took its rightful position by booking the nation’s 8^th World cup final appearance with a resounding 7-1 win over the hosts that can only be described as a massive continental shift of geological proportions at Brazil 2014!

Coach Phil Scolari earnestly begged his nation for forgiveness

There's an adage that says "the night is darkest just before day break"

The question is with their nation in mourning like it did in 1950, will Brazilian football languish in defeat or will it seize this opportunity and deem it as chance at making radical surgery and much needed changes to it's ailing game now on its death bed?

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.

                                                                                            

KRUL'S "CRUEL" HEROICS SEND COSTA RICA PACKING!

KRUL’S “CRUEL” HEROICS SEND COSTA RICA PACKING

Holland's chief protagonists

Holland’s Coach Louis Van Gaal continued his tactical masterstroke with yet another critical substitution after all other options had been exhausted in Netherland’s quarter final game against Costa Rica. He brought in Newcastle’s imposing Tim Krul for first choice goalie Jasper Cillesen on the 120^th minute with the post match penalty shootout looming.

Krul came on and stole the show with one of the most impressive penalty saving performances ever seen at any World cup finals. The sheer sight of him psyched up, jumping about, stretching on the touch line and raring to go must have psychologically affected the confidence of the Costa Ricans.

If you think about it, they must have wondered “If the guy leaving the stage was that good having made several great saves, then his replacement must be exceptionally better, we’ve gotta be extra careful taking our spot kicks!”

To illustrate how prepared the Dutch were, they not only studied the Costa Rican’s penalty taking techniques during their win over Greece at the round of 16 but they practiced their own shots religiously and were sure Krul would be the better choice over Cillesen. 

Krul took mind games to another level

At 6 ft 4in (1.93m) Krul not only intimidated his opponents by his imposing size and reach but he twisted their screws mentally and unnerved each of the Costa Rican penalty takers by telling them in advance which side they’d kick their shots.

He then went on and dove the right way on all the shots taken, saving two while the other two barely grazed his finger tips!

Gotcha!

 Krul's penalty saving heroics however evoked memories of Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Goycoccea in Italia ’90. Goycoccea was second choice and had come in to replace the injured Nery Pumpido and single handedly catapulted Argentina with a great show of reflex and sheer guts against Brazil in their second round match. 

Goycocchea made penalty saving an art form

He wasn’t done yet! He then went on to save three then two penalties each against both Yugoslavia and Italy in the quarters and semi finals ensuring his nation’s second consecutive World cup final appearance. 

His repeated heroics intimidated their opponents at the finals, West Germany to the point where the Germans didn’t fancy facing him in a penalty shootout and they did absolutely everything in their powers to win it in regulation time. He subsequently won the Golden Glove award for his incredible exhibition.

Back to matters Brazil 2014, what was even more ironic is to imagine that Costa Rica had the personnel to compete and even beat the Dutch but Costa Rica’s coach and his players clearly lacked the self belief required to compete at this level.

Pitted against England, Italy and Uruguay in a tough Group D, they were largely expected to fill in the numbers and be the group’s whipping boys from whom every other team expected to collect maximum points.

Costa Rica shocked the whole world, defying the form books and advanced to the next round as group leaders. 
They were to extend this great run by overcoming Greece on penalties after playing with 10 men for a prolonged period of the game. By virtue of those performances and achievements any fan would have expected the Central American’s confidence to be sky high and therefore at a level where they could match the Dutch.  

Coach Pinto clearly had his tactics and attitude wrong

Teams usually assume their coach’s persona and it reflected on this Costa Rican team as their Coach Jorge Luis Pinto in jitters, was quoted complaining about Arjen Robben’s diving antics during a pre-match interview in an attempt to influence the match officials, clearly overwhelmed with the task at hand. 
His lack of ideas clearly came out in the way he set out his team to sit deep and play a defensive formation, hoping to hold out for the entire game plus the extra time period or get lucky and nick the odd goal then park a bus. 
By setting his team to play so defensively, he was obviously banking on the exceptional penalty saving abilities of his goalkeeper Keylar Navas to ensure their advance.

How wrong he was, he had no clue what was coming his way!

Credit for Netherland’s win goes to Coach Van Gaal for his careful and meticulous planning and preparing his players for any eventuality, tactical, mental or otherwise. 
Like the true “General” that he is he’s been able to rally his troops and ensure they triumphed over different opponents under every manner of adversity at these finals.

This is clearly shaping up to be the year that the Dutch finally dump their tag as “the greatest soccer playing nation never to have won the World cup!”