Baines Typically excellent review from zonalmarkingEasy goals
The first goal came early on from a Schweinsteiger free-kick that wasn’t defended properly, and Mueller headed in from close range. Germany dominated the rest of the half, and there was little sign of any tactical changes from Maradona and Bilardo. The one thing they did was to switch di Maria and Rodriguez, but that just gives a chance to use the phrase ‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic’ more appropriately than ever. Argentina’s shape was awful, just lacking any cohesion whatsoever, and offered no variation in build-up play.
There’s little point in describing the three second-half goals in detail, because they were all exactly the same. Overload Argentina in their right-back zone, shift a centre-back out of position to open up space in the defence, cross for a player on the edge of the six-yard box to score. Podolski for Klose, Schweinsteiger for Freidrich, Ozil for Klose. It didn’t matter who the German players were, they all had the determination to get into attacking zones, they all had the intelligence to look up and play a simple square ball, they all had the technical quality to play the crosses and finishes to perfection.
Simplicity the key
And in a sense, it was the most beautifully simple display of football you’ll ever see, both in terms of the tactical plan and the performance on the pitch. There was no bold strategic shock from Joachim Loew, there were no 30-yard thunderbolts to remember for years. It was just pass and move, fluidity and good teamwork, and the basic plan to get the ball into wide areas, then play the ball across the box. The similarity of the three second half goals is so strong it borders on the ridiculous – the only surprise is that they all came from the side of the pitch that Lahm wasn’t on.
The final twenty minutes saw Argentina try and fit Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Pastore and Aguero into the same team. There was so little element of ‘tactics’ to it that it barely deserves talking about, it was just ‘throw on your best attackers’. Juan Veron would have been appropriate to play some key passes and let Messi work further up the pitch, but it wouldn’t have altered Germany’s cruise to victory.
That's good, and summarises in a manner that even Andy Townsend would struggle to match.
I'd say though that it underplays Schweinsteiger's jink for Friedrich's goal, which was a joy to watch, and would have had the BBC studio gang spunking onto their post-match digestives if Messi had done it.
