Hola, me llamo Señor Gonzalez. Soy pendejo! Yes, we are all very aware that you were there Manuel. Throwing two managers off the pitch before half-time is a great way to ensure that the whole world knows your name. What was the worst thing that might happened, a slap fight? Oh perhaps your were right to avoid that emasculation-fest. Either way, Graham Poll should send him a “Thank You” card.
Hey, 228 minutes into this party Michael Ballack decided to accept the invitation. He may have already lost it again.
Super Mario has devalued himself more than any player at this tournament. One goal and he’s a €20 million striker. A David Villa performance and he’s €30. Now Stuttgart would be lucky to get €15.
Why is this? Some of it is the partnering. I mentioned he’d be better off with Neuville than Klose. But the thing that stood out tonight was that he doesn’t have the balls to score. He has done a decent job of running into space and creating chances, but the minute the ball falls to him to shoot, he succumbs to the pressure. The shot and lack of followup in the 7’ is proof that he doesn’t want the pressure of a country on his back.
Ratings for Germany: Philip Lahm (6). Anyone not named Philip Lahm (a generous 4.5). Unless you’re Torsten Frings and then the word “shit” is being kind. I’ve seen some fairly poor performances at the Euros since Germany won in 1996. This was the most comprehensively poor performance I have ever seen. Portugal at Euro 2000 just played them off the park. They were only one decent freekick better than a Austrian side that could be fielded at the Olympics tonight.
One thing about getting stuck in the cheap seats, Low must have realized that his squad was playing like it was on a Foosball table with short right legs. Immediately after the restart, Podolski remembered his position (for a good 10 minutes), Ballack drifted out to help and thus Lahm could venture forward on the left-hand flank. Commentators said that Podolski was subbed to save him from injury as their leading scorer. More than likely, he was finally subbed because he played most of the game in a 3 meter-wide area in the middle of the pitch. Is there any wonder that Napoli’s Gyorgy Garics, playing a modified wing-back for Hickersberger, was the closest thing we had to a MOM.
Since Low has proven himself incapable of changing the squad, the only hope Germany has in the quarters is if Portugal rightly look past them to their semi-final matchup with Croatia. The double pivot is useless and Deco and Moutinho should have little problem causing havoc in the middle of the pitch. And if you think Garics looked good streaking down Germany’s left, wait until you see the winger Portugal has for the positionally inept Podolski. I would suggest Westermann and Hitzlsperger to counter Ronaldo, but why act like logic will be used.
Austria is on the verge of something. I was unkind, like many, to the Austrians coming into this tournament. Even their own fans jokingly tried to get them expelled back in the fall. And for that we will always love their sense of humor. But those fans, real pundits, and idiots like me have been proven wrong. This team was well organized and finely conditioned. Hard to score upon, their relative inexperience up top meant that they could suffer on the finishing side. But Harnik and Hoffer are both only 21 and fresh off last year’s semi-final showing at the U21 World Cup; meanwhile, Roman Keinast has shown potential as a target-man.
Their defense is relatively young, with the tenacious Emanuel Pogatetz being only 25 and revelation Garics being only 24. With Sebastian Prodl (another of last year’s U21), Andreas Ivanschitz, Christian Fuchs and Christoph Leitgeb, there is a core of young talented players that should be ready to contribute in the coming months as qualification for World Cup 2010 begins.
In fact the only outfield players over 30 were Hiden, Aufhauser and Vastic, who is only notable for scoring. This was an amazingly young squad by even Arsene Wenger standards. So the big question is whether this young squad can gel in time to make a run at South Africa or if they will hit their stride in 2012. After watching three gritty performances, France, Romania and Serbia must now realize that their qualifying group is going to be the Group of Death.
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