by Boxscarf » Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:06 am
Had Van Persie taken the two early chances that presented themselves to him and had Sneijder scored with his excellent chance then Germany would have lost. I don't think the Germans played as well as they have done, but the sign of a great team is when they can still get the results without necessarily playing their best football. The reason Germany won last night was due to hard-work, doing the basics right and taking their chances when they presented themselves. Mario Gomez is a very underrated striker, people always talk of Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Messi and Ronaldo, but in my opinion Gomez is one of the best strikers in Europe. The great thing I like about Germany is that the midfield just create pockets of space for each other, Lowe has got his system spot on with Podolski and Muller out wide and Ozil and Schweinsteiger operating in the center.
I was disappointed with the Dutch, they invited Germany to play, their lack of pressing, their lack of urgency and their lack of spirit was embarrassing. Germany vs Holland is one of the biggest International matches and only one team really turned up for it yesterday. Holland looked a lot better when Robben was moved over to the right - the introduction of Van Der Vaart and Huntelaar really helped the Dutch, but it was too little, too late.
As someone who has watched Germany since falling in love with them after Euro 96, this is one of the most exciting German teams I can remember, Hummels, Badstuber, Muller, Boeteng and Ozil are very young and they are always improving, if Lowe keeps this team together for the next two years they'll be in a really good position to win the World Cup. I would expect Germany to go out with the intentions of beating Denmark, but the great thing about the Germans is that I feel they'll only get better as the tournament goes on.