Loew said he brought Mustafi on over Grosskreutz because Mustafi is better defensively. I bet Grosskreutz would have jumped.
Or at least take a defensive piss…
A more effective strategy from Grosskreutz’s bag of tricks would have been to throw a doner kebab at him.
By the way, while I’m complaining…Götze looked completely unconfident on the left-hand side, often pulling the ball back when he should’ve pushed forward. On the other hand, Özil did push when he should have, but seemed unable to pass the ball at the right moment and gave it up quite a bit. They almost looked as though nobody had ever pressed them with the ball before.
I’m so conflicted. I don’t know who to root for tomorrow.
I want the U.S. to clinch it with a win, but if they lose, my beloved Ghana has a fighting chance…
I was at a casino today and caught the last ten minutes of the Germany-Ghana match. I have never seen soccer like that; Germany brings the ball up, shoots, Ghana gets it back, brings it the length of the field, shoots, Germany gets it back… Amazing, and a decent crowd there watching, too.
And I have a question. If the U.S. just ties Portugal tomorrow, the group will be 4-4-1-1 (Germany, USA, Ghana, Portugal) (at least, I think that’s right). The best Ghana or Portugal could do is 4 points. That means the U.S, and Germany could each advance with a tie.
Has that ever happened before, and does it affect the quality of the game? Seems like if each team could be content with a tie, neither might try all that hard to win.
It happens sometimes, and as long as there’s no outright collusion there’s nothing wrong with it. As I think was mentioned upthread, there was an infamous case of two such teams hardly attacking at all in the second half of their last game, although in that cast one team needed a goal too. When it got to 1-1 it was like they looked at each other and silently agreed “no more attacking”. To address concerns of prearranged collusion, since then final group games have been played simultaneously, but there’s not much you can do about this sort of spontaneous non-aggression pact.
It is very common for one team to only need a draw, and they may well alter their tactics accordingly. Maybe only play one man up front, or generally be more cautious in their play.
There is also usually an incentive to win the group. Less strong in your scenario, but still the winner of group G is likely to play maybe Russia then France in the knockout stages, rather than Belgium then Argentina. On paper that is an advantage.
Correction - in the infamous West Germany - Austria game, the mutually agreeable scoreline was 1-0, and the ceasefire occurred after West Germany scored.
This BEL - RUS match is dull, dull, dull. Do something!
Yeah, not exactly the most exciting match of the tournament.
A tame ball rolling gently wide of the far post is the highlight of the second half. Neither side is committed to anything. Argh!
ETA a decent free kick from Belgium just now, blocked. A spark of life in this match?
Goal for Belgium.
They certainly picked it up over the last ten minutes or so.
Belgium finally woke up, 1-0, thankfully a great final touch on an excellent strike.
Although they will probably win their group, I don’t think this is Belgium’s year. Maybe 2018.
Belgium are a very good side. They are playing a risky game though, just doing the minimum to get through the group stage. Can they bring it in the later stages?
I agree, but maybe Euro 2016. Tons of potential in this team.
That’s for sure. But they don’t appear to be cohering as a team at this World Cup. I agree about Euro 2016; look for this young side to do some serious damage then.
Who knows, maybe the elimination stages will bring out something different from them.
Hell, If you look at the brackets, winning their group mean that they have to play the second place team in group G. I think the US can beat them. I think Portugal and Ghana can beat 'em. I think Germany can sure as hell beat 'em. No matter what happens in group G, I don’t see the winner of group H getting past the first round.
Or maybe they [the Belgiums] go nowhere. It wouldn’t be the first ‘golden generation’ that crashes and burns, and it won’t be the last. Everyone’s been parroting the talking points about how great the Belgians supposedly are but they haven’t shown a whole lot other than qualifying in a less-than-challenging group. That whole reputation is based on what the individual players do in club football, not on what they do as a team. During this World Cup, they’ve been unimpressive, they’re not playing a risky game giving no more than is necessary, they give what they have and it’s just barely enough to make it out of the weakest group in this tournament.
Anyone watching South Korea and Algeria?
It’s a better game than this-morning’s snoozefest. It started with the two sides feeling each other out a bit, but opened up relatively quickly, and then the Algerians put in two goals in the space of a few minutes.
The first goal was really nice. A lovely through ball, and great strength and skill by the Algerian striker to finish.
And just as i write this, the Algerians go up 3-0. The South Korean defense is a mess.