OT - World Cup Semifinal #1 GER v. BRA, ESPN, 3:00pm CDT
before this match. This was the beginning of total football and forced England to rethink and reshape how they approached the game of soccer. Brazil had their similar historic lesson today. I believe they would have been crushed even with Neymar and Silva.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNr6yW6B70g
That might have been why it was seven instead of two or three.
But I honestly thought Brazil lost this tactically before the match even started. You just can't send both fullbacks on full Roberto-Carlos-style walkabout against a quality counterattacking team and expect to survive. Especially when your midfield is doing the same. And you're missing your best defender.
Tactical suicide. I gather Gilberto and Ballack had figured that out five minutes into the match too.
VCU trying to press Michigan last year...playing right into our strength
Die mannschaft rumbles on.
A bit of karma...thought this current Brazilian side thugged up the midfield against Spain in the Confederation cup final. The quarterfinal against Columbia just reaffirmed that opinion.
Scary thing is that Germany is doing this without Marco Reus.
Who Let The Dogs Out?
I know he's banned, but I'd guess he's pretty close to the edge right now.
Ball possession: Brazil 52%, Germany 48%
Shots: Brazil 18, Germany 14
Shots on goal: Brazil 13, Germany 12
Corner kicks: Brazil 7, Germany 5
My impression is confirmed by the charts at zonalmarking--possession was much more heavily in Brazil's favor in the first half hour then it was in the rest of the match. At the half-hour mark Brazil had completed 129 passes to Germany's 83.
"Bunker" wouldn't be my word but Germany stood off from the beginning, inviting the Brazilian pressure and exploiting the space behind. Amazing to me that players at this level wouldn't sense that and be a bit cagy about running into the trap, but I guess that's what happens when your entire back line consists of attacking players.
Brazil had more possession because Germany only needed to complete like three passes before they scored.
I am a sad man, a very sad man... that is all... I will unabashedly ask my mgobretheren for any love you guys can send my way... well, futebol is done now counting down to football...
Oh wait they still have a chance ; )
Actually I'm rooting for a Brazil-Argentina consolation match.
This match was perfect commentary on a couple of issues that came up on the board during the tournament:
1. This is the answer to all who wondered why the US didn't play entire matches the way they played the last ten minutes against Belgium.
2. There was some discussion of what US youth players need more--better coaching? or more street soccer? I'm sure the answer is both but this was a demonstration of why street soccer alone can't get you there. You can throw the world's finest dribbling tricksters out there and they'll get shredded if they don't have some tactical sense and cohesion. For the last 14 years, tens of thousands of German youth players have been getting weekly tactical training from professional coaches funded by the DFB. This is the result.
It goes beyond the training institutes, too--they've apparently been working hard on how the youth clubs are run, even for less-exceptional players. Here's a comment at the Guardian on how it works:
When my kid was in the youth teams at 8, they had sports under-graduates from the university teaching them. They also don't play too many competitive matches for the kids and blow the whistle quite often where the kids stop where the coaches (yes several of them) go to each kid and explain why he is in the wrong position and to look around at his team...The kids learn positional football very young. Can you imagine that here the whistle and every kid has to stop and then 10 minutes speaking to them about their position and where they intended to run to ??
My nephews all played and I've watched a lot of 8yo soccer in the US. It doesn't look like that. Frankly, there was never even one coach on the field capable of commenting on positional football even if they'd wanted to do this sort of teaching.
I wouldn't proclaim the Brazilians as being the masters of street soccer and creatvity that they used to be. I found the forwards of Brazil to be very predictable, one footed, and slow to recognize open players - all things you woud not see from "street masters". They also play very direct and rarely had backward digonal passes when then advanced well on hte goal line.
Totally agree that the tactics for Brazil were also abysmal. I think a big part of the problem is that the players all play on different club teams and their strategy was "get the ball to Neymar, and then he dives". The guys who play on Bayern all seemed to be on the same page. Many of the great teams in WC history had players who played on the same club teams.
The entire DFB program, from top to bottom, is structured to produce players to fit the particular style employed by the NT. They play the same way in U17, U21, they teach it to their eight-year-olds. It makes it very easy to fit the pieces together. It wasn't just the Bayern players that were on the same page--they've all been on that same page for 15 years now.
for a club and being put in their club's system where they spend 98% of their training time.
Spain was great because so many of their players played for Barca (talk about a system of play introduced to their youngest).
Obviously Germany overhauled their system after the old system was deemed to not produce results, and look to have done a better job, but it is not that simple. I would argue that Germany's best players personalities fit more into a team concept . They are the Spurs and Brazil are the Heat without Lebron.
The USA is different from Europe and South American countries because it lacks fundamental skills and its squad are not used to playing at high speed/pressure mainly (because the MLS is a secondary league that is slower and less skilled). When more guys play in the big leagues abroad things will dramatically improve regardless of coach or system.
The deep understanding between the starting 6 (off the top of my head) Bayern/ German Nationals was very obvious. Germany look to have taken it to the next level with a system, quality skill (which they always had playing in the BL), and team understanding.
The more players play in the top leagues, and the more they play on the same club teams, the better the team usually does, regardless of the sport.
The USA has recently overhauled their national team program from top to bottom and hopefully it will work.
I wouldn't judge the US system by that or even u12 clubs. The quality of coaching here is improving at all ages, and the Academy system tends to mimic what they do in Europe.
Unfortunately High School soccer will now take a back seat like it does in basketball, hockey and other travel sports.