There are no penalty kicks during the group stage. A draw is a draw.
okay , I was wondering
Declan
It’s not as big a deal as for the English, I’m sure. I just talked with an English colleague about that. We’re both quite young, I think that plays a role.
In any case I don’t know a special German song for playing the English, but I know an English one for matches against Germany 
It’s a huge deal for England because, alongside general history, they are also viewed as our bogey team - they have a habit of beating us on penalties - so it’s not really surprising that they don’t have the same fear of us.
Yup, it’s more a thing for the media to harp on, no reason for strong feelings in favour or against the English team or England per se. The tradition involved, however, the antics of the tabloids, the many memorable moments (the Wembley goal, Paul Gascoigne missing the ball and therefore the open goal just so in the 99th minute of overtime during the Euro 96), the relentless exchange of blows on the field, the penalties, of course, all fill us with the anticipation of a spectacle.
Anyway, England looked much improved and more like themselves while our team struggles more and more with their nerves. We conceded 7(!) first-class chances to Ghana and should call ourselves lucky that we didn’t face a more efficient opponent.
Our offence missed the penetrating power Ghana had and showed for a second time a disturbingly weak conversion of chances.
I am willing to cut our young guys some slack, more than some, but I didn’t expect some of the more experienced players to falter, especially Per Mertesacker has devolved from a tower to a dolt.
Schweinsteiger, otoh, played great, he made sure that the middle wasn’t overrun. Lahm was indispensable again, blocking opening lanes with his quickness and smart positional play.
While we can’t thank Löw enough for his insistence to build a new team with a younger, more versatile generation, he shows troubling deficits in finding the most-suited lineup and lacks appreciation for the tactical situation during a game.
Our potential is great but the team at present state is easily disbalanced and vulnerable.
Oh, and congratulations to the USA! A well-deserved first place. Be proud of your team.
Yeah, I have to say, the US have surprised me. It’s not like England put up much of a fight against them, but the US have played some really excellent football, and they’re looking much more consistent than a lot of teams. Good luck to them (unless they meet England, of course).
I just hope Mertesacker and Badstuber both have their off days out of their system now. I don’t think Mertesacker will play as badly against the English.
It should be a real nail-biter again and I don’t know if my nerves will be able to take it. I may have to resort to going to a “Public Viewing” venue near here (a nice Biergarten) and numbing my nerves with enough Weizenbier beforehand. The weather is supposed to be really nice on Sunday afternoon, so the idea is sounding better every time I run it through my head.
You know I have to say it: Why do you hate America? 
And, just as an aside, unless you (the general you) are from Africa, or have friends and/or family with connections to Africa, why would you give a blind rat’s left tit about what happens to an African country in the World Cup?
It’s called “Supporting the underdog.”
To get to the stage where you can field an international football team, as a country you have to have fulfilled a lot of societal obligations*. African countries were far more disadvantaged in this regard than a lot of the other countries involved, hence, their achievements are all the more admirable.
- Or be fielding a North Korean team.
If I’m not mistaken, mhendo is from Australia but living in the USA. So he’d want Australia to win, be sympathetic to the USA teams, but not bound to them. He probably just thinks it’s good for the tournament for an African nation to advance.
That said, when we last played Ghana, they got a penalty that we felt was extremely soft (see video highlights of the match here) and seemed to generally flop and waste a lot of time. It wasn’t a fun match to watch from an American POV.
I hope so. My evaluation might be wrong and unfair because I usually see Merte live only on rare occasions and then against high caliber opponents but I have the impression that his performance has declined over the past two years, not deeply but steadily. Isn’t it weird that our once world-class defence has become such a liability that we have to follow the motto “the best defence is a good offence” aka “Flucht nach vorn”? The future looks better though, most of the U21 and U19 defenders show remarkable talent. Jebus, how much time we wasted!
During the last World Cup we had invited relatives and friends from, well, around the world to celebrate together. We flew flags on our premises for every nation represented among us and it looked like the U.N. headquarters and sounded like Babylon.
Since we are not the hosts this time, we didn’t repeat it, but our children were so fascinated by all the hubbub that we agreed to let them organize at least one “garden party” (ha) – which is going to happen on Sunday, just with their closest friends and their friends .. in other words: lots and lots of hollering teens painted in black, red and gold.
A Biergarten and public viewing sound nice.
OK, now the nerves are starting to set in, only 3 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes and 21 seconds to the match against Mexico.
On paper we should defeat them, but then I remember that Argentinians are practically born with victory disease, that games at this stage are never easily won, that the last time we played Mexico in a WC (2006) we won with a Golden Goal, that arrrrggghhhhhhhhhh…
I love World Cups, but gosh, it is stressing as helll…
Checks clock (now 3 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes and 51 seconds …)
No te preocupes! You have a secret weapon…Javier Aguirre.
Argentina is looking fine, no worries. (Says the guy who would worry too). Whether they play their 3-4-3 or 4-3-3, your players are not just able to counter the tactical shape but exploit it far better than Uruguay was capable of. And Mexico’s problems in the offence are serious: too slow to escape your back four, too rigid in their positions to confuse them, not efficient enough to score reliably with few chances.
Of course, if they manage to pick up pace .. Still, you already have my wife’s support, so it can’t go wrong.
Do they still use “Golden Goals” in the World Cup or do they now play full extra time periods?
No more golden goals.
Nope. Two extra times periods of 15mins and if all tied after that penos
That seems to indicate that your stay here in Argentina was very productive for you, did you perhaps return to Germany with some of our most appreciated natural resources?
I think Mexico are only slow when they put Blanco on the field. No idea what Aguirre is thinking starting that dinosaur. And he’s such a diver, if you have a good ref he’ll just draw cards for simulation.
Yep, penos ensue. 