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5 Conclusions: Germany 2-1 Russia

October 13th, 2008 | By: Jan | 5 Comments »

Jogi Löw 1. It was the proverbial game of two halves.
Germany played a great game in the first half, strung together some neat attacking moves, scored two great team goals and could have made things worse for Russia with a couple of other chances. It was a reminder of what the team is capable of. The second half was then a mirror image of the first half, just that it served as a reminder of what Russia is capable of. In the end, Rene Adler and the goal post kept all three points in Dortmund. The game could have just as well ended 3-1 or 2-2.

2. Löw’s substitutions fail to impress (again).
During the second half Russia did well to take Germany’s midfield out of the game, which effectively also took Klose and Podolski out of the game. So Löw reacted to this problem, by substituting Klose for Gomez. Mario Gomez ended up being just as detached from Germany’s game as Klose before him. Ten minutes later, he substituted Trochowski for Frings, drying up the supply to the strikers even more. But, with ten minutes left it’s OK to try and defend the slim lead, even though Russia hit the post only four minutes later. Simon Rolfes was only brought on to waste some time. The Swedish ref wouldn’t let that happen though, and simply added those 30 seconds to the 3 minutes of extra time he had announced.

At the end of the day Germany won and David Odonkor didn’t have to play as a right back, so it wasn’t that bad. The substitutions had no positive impact on the game either though.

3. Löw’s half time speeches fail to impress (presumably).
I’ve never seen Löw giving a half-time speech, so this is only speculation. I’ve never seen Hiddink giving a half-time speech either. But I was impressed to see how a first half nervous and insecure Russian side, would come out with slightly adjusted tactics and be able to turn the tables on Germany in the second half, the way they did. I haven’t seen Germany do that under Löw. Germany played bad against Finland in the first half and things weren’t much better in the second half. The same happened during the Euros. It’s more likely to see the opposite. Germany playing a good game and then losing the plot as the match unfolds.

4. Our offside trap works (intentionally?).
Combined with a good linesman it helped to defuse a lot of Russian attacks. This was the best aspect of Germany’s defense though. Philipp Lahm has made it a habit to combine great tackles and dangerous forays into the other half, with the odd blunder which automatically leads to a goal. Per Mertesacker has yet to regain his old best form. The defense as a whole is still shaky.

5. It’s time to give some youngsters a dream debut against England.
While I criticized Löw’s substitutions, I also have to admit, that he didn’t have a lot of options to begin with. His options are currently playing for the U21 and would still be eligible start for the U19. Players like Marin, Kroos and Özil should be considered as potential candidates for Trochowski’s and Schweinsteiger’s position. Whether they are all World Cup 2010 material is another question, but there definitely aren’t a lot of opportunities to test it out and answer that question. Judging by Russia’s performance, they won’t drop a lot of points, so Germany can’t afford any slip ups either. Which leaves the few friendlies between now and 2010 as the only games where you can safely give those players a lot of playing time. So, despite being a high profile friendly, I still hope we’ll see some fresh faces against England in November.

Tags: Dortmund, Germany, Germany National Team News, Russia, World Cup 2010

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Comments

By Michel-Olivier | October 13th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

low should call ozil and castro. he should try 4-3-3
————-Adler———
Fritz-Westermann-Mertesacker-Lahm
Jones—Frings—ballack
Schweini–Helmes–Podolski

Posted from United States

By diana | October 14th, 2008 at 2:50 am

Regarding No.3, I remembered reading about the French players (forgot who said about it though) saying that Raymond Domenech gave them a team-talk at half-time (France was already two goals down to Romania in the World Cup qualifiers at half-time last Saturday) and it made the difference. France equalised eventually. So maybe, half-time speeches do make a difference or two.

Posted from Singapore

By Nick | October 14th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Diana Let’s not raise our standards too high and compare Loew to Domenech! At least we now Loew is not playing favors anymore. He still needs a lesson from Klinsmann (they were a double act) about motivational speeches.

So turns out Frings has been agitating too. I would not be happy either if I got replaced by Hitzlsperger in the starting 11. Now we have to see if Ballack is injured out of the game. If he is, then he should stay on the bench for his own good. I still wonder what would of happened if Ballack sat out that Spain match.

By diana | October 14th, 2008 at 10:55 pm

I’m only raising an example, Nick. Nothing else. Don’t get me wrong. I had never sat out to compare the two coaches in the beginning. I’m sorry if you get the wrong idea, given I was just reading around during the weekend and I just happened to come across that.

‘I still wonder what would of happened if Ballack sat out that Spain match.’
We may never know.

But I know my father, he was rooting for Spain to win the final. He had originally wanted a Spain-Portugal final from the start of Euro 2008 (I just casually asked him who he fancied in the final and he replied that), and so imagine my delight during the quarter-finals between Germany and Portugal which we both watched, I was the one who stuck my tongue out at him after the final whistle has been blown. I really did that. I mean, I rarely beat my father in anything, football predictions included.

But we all know the conclusion during the final in Vienna. My father having the last laugh in the family. He had the right to be happy. I did not throw temper tantrums after the final whistle, given I knew Spain were the worthy winners. After 44 years as well, they had waited for this.

I understand the feeling even more, especially during the Olympics in China in August, my country ended 48 years of hurt of not winning a medal (a silver medal in the women’s table-tennis team and interestingly, the Germans lost to the Chinese in the men’s table-tennis team final). We came so close on the previous two Olympics…before the entire country celebrated in this edition. You wouldn’t want to know how the newspapers reacted here on August 16, the day after we beat the South Koreans to enter the final. Pure joy. It’s like the National Day all over again here (given we only celebrated it on August 9 and that is the day where we celebrated my country’s day of independence and she turned 43 this year). Of course I am happy, given the last time Singapore won an Olympic medal…my father had not even attended school yet (still a young boy at that time and he said that he remembered he heard the news of Singapore winning a medal) and while my mother, she’s too young to even know about it back then. Coincidentally enough on the day we beat the South Koreans in China, it was actually also the day of my birthday.

Added in the fact that the Bundesliga is on TV in my country for the first time in my memory (the opening day of the season being on August 15)…triple happiness. Singapore winning an Olympic medal after 48 years, the Bundesliga on TV here, my birthday. Everything happened on August 15.

Posted from Singapore

By Jean Pierre | October 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

michel(le) Olivier(a),
do you support all countries of the world or something? do you even comment Monaco world blog (if that excist) tu es tres multiculturele ;p

Posted from Netherlands