The Set: Croatia 2-1 Germany

1. Marcel Jansen is receiving the most criticism of any of the players for the Germans after their embarrassing loss to Croatia. Yes, he did have a poor game defensively, but that can happen when you defend the entire right side of your opponent’s midfield with one young fullback. He received no support, whatsoever, from Lucas Podolski. This might be understandable as the lad is an out and out striker, but why didn’t Low compensate by directing either Frings or Ballack to help shut down that corridor. And it once again begs the question, why fit a square peg into a round hole. Podolski is not a left wing. He’s a striker and plays like one. Plus, having watched Werder Bremen weekly, I’ve seen some shocking defending from their left back that Per Mertesacker typically cleans up quite nicely. But Low has Metzelder as the left sided center-half, who was unwilling to move from the center.
   
2. Case in Point #1 - Deep in the first half, Croatia should have made the score 2-0 when Corluka received a ball from Pletikosa in his own half. He beat Jansen for pace on the left and ran the length of the field. This was a ball that was started slowly from a keeper who gingerly got off the ground to start the play. But during the time it took him to pick himself off the floor and get it to Corluka, Podolski, Frings and Ballack all stood in the middle of the pitch doing sweet fa, thus forcing Jansen to defend his left all by himself. And when he was schooled by Corluka, Metzelder held his position allowing him to run all the way to the 18 yard box, where he crossed the ball, eventually falling to Nico Kranjcar, who fortunately for the Germans has proven needs on average 65 shots to score one. The point is that Jansen was schooled but at least he was doing his job.
   
3. Case in Point #2 - The fist goal also saw Jansen involved, as Srna snuck by him on the far post and poked in a cross from Pranjic. But the problem on this play wasn’t that Jansen got beaten, but that over on Germany’s right side, Philip Lahm and Fritz got pulled into the center by a dummy run made by Ivan Rakatic leaving Croatia’s LB Pranjic with all the time needed to make a sterling cross. And Mertesacker and Metzelder also drifted in on this run, leaving a large gap between the central pair and Jansen, which Srna took advantage of.
   
4. Germany hasn’t scored from a corner in 95+ efforts. Watching Torsten Frings delivery, I can tell you one of the reasons for that. Time to reevaluate who takes set pieces.
   
5. Right now Joachim Löw is looking tactically inept, which is supposed to be a strength of his. I hate when managers don’t select on merit. And so far, Heiko Westermann, who had a monster season at Schalke, much of it playing on the left for the oft-injured Christian Pander, hasn’t had a sniff. Rene Adler was the Bundesliga keeper of the year, while Lehmann has lost his spot to an iffy keeper at Arsenal. Simon Rofles has proven to be a better partner with Ballack in the buildup to the tournament, but hasn’t seen a minute. And the Marin issue isn’t going to go away as he has lost Schweinsteiger and Podolski’s goals are covering his lack of ability as a left wing. And then there is the fact that Podolski and Klose, who both are coming off poor years, are automatics. Gomez has been brilliant the last two years, but he’s not the kind of player that links with Klose. He would be better suited to play with a jackrabbit like Neuville. So he looks like he is struggling, but a manager needs to play to strengths.
   
6. Schalke 04 is going to finally win the Bundesliga next year! You heard it here first. Ivan Rakatic will be in his second season, and watching his performance, which was immense, although overshadowed by Prajnic, he is going to be one of the best attacking mids in the world in five years time. His dummy run on the first goal sucked in most of the German side. His meander across the 18 and subsequent shot created the 2nd. And he was all over the pitch tonight, defending and creating. Add in the revelation from the Dutch, Orlando Engelaar and the just signed Jefferson Farfan from PSV to an already good squad and they may well make more noise in the Champion’s League that this years quarter final run.
   
7. MOM: Danijel Prajnic. What a performance! It was the best performance I have seen by a LB, since….well Van Bronckhorst. But seriously, it was the best performance by a LB that I can remember in a long time. He provided for the first goal; was a solid threat going forward throughout; and shut Germany's right side down comprehensively. They couldn't do anything on his side, with either Fritz or Odonkor. I imagine Herenveen’s phones have been ringing off the hook.