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SF2 : France v Germany

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
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And I pray France win. Portugal are in the final but have been pretty shit to be honest.
 

Syn_13

Fly On, Little Wing
Jul 17, 2008
14,851
20,659
And I pray France win. Portugal are in the final but have been pretty shit to be honest.

Yeah, from a footballing point of view I'd be very disappointed to see Portugal win. They've not deserved to get this far.
 

glacierSpurs

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2013
16,163
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Well, that was very disappointing by Germany. They didn't turn up anywhere near as much as they did against Italy.

I think there were a lot of contributing factors going into that though. It was a gruelling match for them against us and we took them all the way up to penalties. It must've taken it's toll on the German legs. Also, from a mentality point of view they were relieved to squeeze past a tough draw, whereas France were riding high after spanking Iceland.

On top of that Germany missed some of the big players who made them tick. Hummels is the main man at the back, Khedira's been such a great engine for them, and Gomes is the focal point. They missed some of the spine.

Edit: Let's not forget this was a home match for France.
And Gotze can never be counted upon.. He's in the squad probably by virtue of the winning goal he scored in the WC IMO..

This German team has some transitioning in progress and sadly some senior players like Poldi, Ozil and Kroos are not like the batch of Lahm and Schweni that always cared as much.. Some hungers shown from the rising tides in Kimmich, Can Draxler etc and those big names need to fight their way into the WC in two years time to justify their inclusion..

If only Reus and Gundogan are fit to be in the squad.. Need a number 9 forward badly to come into the fold in these two years if 5th WC is of any hope.. Just so sick of Kroos playing so deep, Ozil playing on PMS mood and Gotze making the squad pretty..
 

goughie1966

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2008
5,150
17,874
I've hated Germany since that German keeper took out the French player back in the 80's. Then came the cheating bastard in the 90 WC semi final who took a dive to get Gazza booked. And don't get me started on that Andreas Moller sticking his chest out to knock us out of Euro 96 on penalties. Fuck em, nothing like seeing a German losing a semi final, especially when they're the better side. Joyous...
 

easley91

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
18,720
53,767
Yeah, from a footballing point of view I'd be very disappointed to see Portugal win. They've not deserved to get this far.
Prior to this tournament they would've been knocked out finishing 3rd in the group. Yet they are in the final having only won one single match in 90 minutes. Really hope they lose after fluking their way into the final.
 

Archibald&Crooks

Aegina Expat
Admin
Feb 1, 2005
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I've hated Germany since that German keeper took out the French player back in the 80's. Then came the cheating bastard in the 90 WC semi final who took a dive to get Gazza booked. And don't get me started on that Andreas Moller sticking his chest out to knock us out of Euro 96 on penalties. Fuck em, nothing like seeing a German losing a semi final, especially when they're the better side. Joyous...
Schumacher on Battiston



The Ref gave a goalkick :bored:
 

WorcesterTHFC

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2016
1,776
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Germany controlled the game, but it was also one of those matches where they could have played for another hour and not scored.
Prior to this tournament they would've been knocked out finishing 3rd in the group. Yet they are in the final having only won one single match in 90 minutes. Really hope they lose after fluking their way into the final.
It's a pretty damning indictment of this tournament that Portugal are anywhere near the Final, but, in a negative way, it seems appropriate when you consider that most of the football has been poor quality and unentertaining. (Certainly most of the games I've seen.)
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Well, that was very disappointing by Germany. They didn't turn up anywhere near as much as they did against Italy.

I think there were a lot of contributing factors going into that though. It was a gruelling match for them against us and we took them all the way up to penalties. It must've taken it's toll on the German legs. Also, from a mentality point of view they were relieved to squeeze past a tough draw, whereas France were riding high after spanking Iceland.

On top of that Germany missed some of the big players who made them tick. Hummels is the main man at the back, Khedira's been such a great engine for them, and Gomes is the focal point. They missed some of the spine.

Edit: Let's not forget this was a home match for France.


I was far more disappointed by France than I was Germany. I think both managers made tactical/selection mistakes; Deschamps were much much worse - going with the same 4231 and personnel as against Iceland - Pogba and Matuidi were out of their depth as a cm2 against quality opposition and completely handed Germany the initiative, but then found themselves going into half time a goal up through a pretty fortuitous penalty. I don't really understand why Low persisted with Schweinstieger, it was the kind of decision we have criticised England managers for for decades, ignoring younger players in form for the old big personality stalwart. Can and Schweinstieger was just too stodgy, why not have played Kroos and Can or Kroos and Weigle, with Draxler, Gotze and Ozil as AM's behind Muller ?

This has pretty much been the tournament of bad tactical management. The only manager who has really impressed me in a tactically offensive way was Storck the Hungary manager, whose team played a really surprisingly good brand of football with limited talent resources.

You can say Conte's Italy, Coleman's Wales and Lagerback's Iceland deserve some merit for what they achieved with mediocre squads (generally speaking) but they all really based their tactical approaches on the Pullis/Greece philosophy of pragmatism and organisation.

Low's deserves some credit as Germany continually played a good brand of football, whilst also only conceding one goal in open play and his tactical switch against Italy was smart IMO, but he never once quite got the blend right, never once seemed to use all the tools at his disposal in the right way at the right time.

Then there were horror stories. Never has so much talent been so badly fucked over by so few (one man) as Belgium were by Wilmots. I think Fernando Santos, the Portuguese manager can count himself very lucky, this guy actually has a pretty strong squad in all areas but played some quagmire football, tactically lacking in any real systematic approach, but finds himself by default almost in the final.

Deschamps teams have played some decent football, but have played some very poor/ordinary teams, the first decent team they play, despite them not being tactically tip top, they get played off the park.

I just hope whoever plays the bestir football wins the final, whoever that is, because that has been in short supply in this tournament.
 
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