Quarter-Final: France Vs Germany

When Pique grows up he wants to become Mats Hummels. Hummels.

i picked germany to win...they have more experience in these kind of situations than france does, not to mention they played in a harder group and didn't meat any 'easy' opponents...i don't think france failed necessarily, they just were up against a relatively disciplined and experience side.....it was a balanced tournament for them....they didn't over-achieve nor under-achieve.....not getting out of that group with teams like honduras, swiss, and equador would have been a failure..considering the talent pool, not beating nigeria too would have been a failure....i think the disappointment from folks might be they expected too much

Robespierre wrote:calma farfan you are better than this

don't worry bro , i was mostly talking about Gil and the usual anti-france gang in that last part

the rest of your post is pretty much spot on .

farfan wrote:hans , so far according to GL , NO TEAM is a top team

This

It's not as ridiculous as it sounds though, there just isn't a team that has been thoroughly dominant and although I see the Dutch as the most likely opponents for Germany, I'm not too convinced they'll be able to 'expose' them.

Considering the high stakes and the quality of both teams, this was probably the most disappointing match I've seen in this World Cup.

Fußball wrote:When Pique grows up he wants to become Mats Hummels. Hummels.

Respect to Joachim Low, been hating all tournament but he made the necessary changes and learnt from prior mistakes when it truly mattered.

Hummels was MOTM, truly brilliant performance and why GL thinks he's overrated is beyond me.

Art Morte wrote:Considering the high stakes and the quality of both teams, this was probably the most disappointing match I've seen in this World Cup.

Well, don't blame Germany. We had a 120 minutes match of attrition only 3 days before the QF and the QF was played in the searing midday heat in Rio. Considering the fact that we had to look forward to the semi final, why should we go all out if the opponent didn't ask us to?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Respect to Joachim Low, been hating all tournament but he made the necessary changes and learnt from prior mistakes when it truly mattered.

Hummels was MOTM, truly brilliant performance and why GL thinks he's overrated is beyond me.

the depressing thing though is that now German media also write along the lines what you just said:
'Löw's unexpected changes led to victory'.

When in reality, and you've been saying that all along too, it was Löw's unnecessary changes BEFORE that were impacting our play negatively, and what he did against France was reverting back from his own fallacies and implementing what everyone else had been demanding all along.

Meh as long as he doesn't revert back to type it shouldn't be an issue.

Maybe Löw set up the changes before the QF (Lahm in midfield) to confuse the opponents and to have something left that could improve the play right away?  

The game would have been different if Löw had kept the same composition that fought against Algeria (Lahm in midfield etc...).
Nevermind, France is eliminated and Germany played as they should after they scored.

If Löw had kept the 4-3-3, we would have lost. Yes, that's what everybody was saying. No controversy there.

BeautifulGame wrote:Almost exact replica of Spa-Ger semi last wc.France were too inexperienced and that showed i think.

I disagree. This was very different. The way I see it Spa-Ger was a case of Spa being too good on the ball and completely dominating Ger to the extent of frustrating them. Ger tried everything they could but had no good enough answer. Fra-Ger on the other hand was a case of Ger doing the needful but not dominating much. Instead it was up to Fra to step up and make this a contest but they lacked the determination, the urgency, the collective belief, the mental toughness, that extra spark, etc, and thus exited the world cup a bit too meekly for one of the biggest football nations of all time.

France weren't lacking too much, we just pretty much mirrored their lineup and engaged all their players in constant one on ones, which we won, and doubled down on them early to force errors in their buildup play. They partly looked bad, because we didn't let them play well.

farfan wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:Almost exact replica of Spa-Ger semi last wc.France were too inexperienced and that showed i think.

dude it's france.

anything involving us evokes ridiculous hyperboles .

losing to the favourites of the tournament from a set piece makes you the laughing stock of the world apparently.

That is not what has made France a laughing stock. What has made France a laughing stock is that a team especially a big team trailing by just one goal in a world cup knock out match fights like tigers and blazes on all cylinders trying to get that one goal which can restore parity. France exited a bit too meekly as if stating that they had already done enough by reaching the quarter final. It's the lack of fighting spirit that has the watchers of the game so disgusted with France. Hell minnows are making it so much harder for anyone to knock them out. So when France does something like this then yes it very much is disgraceful and laughable.

Why would France have opened up their defense before the 70 minute mark, if they were only trailing by one goal?

If they had pressed any harder, we would've annihilated them on the counter. Just ask England or Argentina what happened to them last world cup. They pressed the equalizer too early, too aggressively.

France had a couple decent chances with their cautious approach, only allowing us 2 or 3 good opportunities for counters - until they opened up at around the 75th minute, where we suddenly had like 5 good counters (which we wasted).

France weren't cowardly, they were smart. It just so happened they weren't good enough to get away with it, but I just don't see no point in abandoning your mostly functioning defensive principles if you have 75 minutes left to play and are only 1 goal down.

VivaStPauli wrote:France weren't lacking too much, we just pretty much mirrored their lineup and engaged all their players in constant one on ones, which we won, and doubled down on them early to force errors in their buildup play. They partly looked bad, because we didn't let them play well.

It's not just about how well and badly who played. Imagine if Germany were 1-0 down instead. We can bet our bottom dollars they would have come at France with all guns blazing and did their utmost to get the goal to restore parity and very likely have got it. Yes France did try playing and scoring a goal but something was missing that is very hard to put in words. When a big team is in a situation like this the way they come at you is one of the reasons why people anticipate contests between big teams in tournaments such as world cups so eagerly but France did nothing of that sort. They seemed to lack belief and spirit in a way that is so unlike a big team and in this world cup most minnows have shown more fight than that.

France had actually quite a few decent opportunities which they squandered, no?
Benzema shooting straight at Neuer (not the last one, before), Valbuena etc not being able to control promising through balls..

messixaviesta wrote:

farfan wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:Almost exact replica of Spa-Ger semi last wc.France were too inexperienced and that showed i think.

dude it's france.

anything involving us evokes ridiculous hyperboles .

losing to the favourites of the tournament from a set piece makes you the laughing stock of the world apparently.

That is not what has made France a laughing stock. What has made France a laughing stock is that a team especially a big team trailing by just one goal in a world cup knock out match fights like tigers and blazes on all cylinders trying to get that one goal which can restore parity. France exited a bit too meekly as if stating that they had already done enough by reaching the quarter final. It's the lack of fighting spirit that has the watchers of the game so disgusted with France. Hell minnows are making it so much harder for anyone to knock them out. So when France does something like this then yes it very much is disgraceful and laughable.

Is that a reason to forget everything they have done so far?
A bad match is enough to erase all the good matches before?
People only remember the last game and forget group stages, is it that hard to say they did a good WC (especially when you know where they came from) ?

Other countries are more "laughable" than France: Spain, Portugal, England, Italy etc...(all big countries gone in group stages).

If France had scored on the last Benzema opportunity, they would have probably won in extra-time then people judgement would have been utterly different.

France arent Argentina or England though. They have really great fast defenders who can play a high line and could easily match any team physically and for a pressing game. They are actually the most physical team of the tournament for me...they could easily play a power game if they want.

Smart? it is ok to be smart but when you just goes out doing nothing in the later 75 minutes you have to wonder was the decision to do nothing was smart enough?

France's chances? two shots from very difficult angle.. one from a slow volley by Valbuena and another in the last minute by Benzema...in between, no real urgency.

Indeed it wasnt so strange to imagine a match not spectacular.
I wait similar things for Argentina-Belgio.
The stress is enormous for a quarter final match and Germany had even reached the 120' minutes . so it was difficult to ask something of better to Germany.
It was normal this attitude considering they had scored immediately and  the energies were n't at the maximum. Germany played  the match who it had to do .
The only disappointment was the France , because it hasn't reacted basically after that goal . And it was not tired as Germany.
Anyway there will not be processes for these in France , I think it will prevail a satisfation considering the last WC and considering this young team gives optimism for the future.
I mean , I criticized France because I waited something of better, but I'd like to be in place of France tbh.

Insoucious wrote:

Indeed, maybe the (lost) final of 2006 enhanced this sensation.

so what is the NT who you french ppl feel as the most rival ? ( for Italians is surely the France , it is felt as a derby not only for football too ,2006 simply increased this, then Germany (Spain is just for the moment, who wins it is never plesable).. tbh for me it seems even excessive because I don't know if there is same correspondence of antipathy and expecially  it depends on fact I have nothing against France and other countries, I am very far from being nationalist.

VivaStPauli wrote:Why would France have opened up their defense before the 70 minute mark, if they were only trailing by one goal?

If they had pressed any harder, we would've annihilated them on the counter. Just ask England or Argentina what happened to them last world cup. They pressed the equalizer too early, too aggressively.

France had a couple decent chances with their cautious approach, only allowing us 2 or 3 good opportunities for counters - until they opened up at around the 75th minute, where we suddenly had like 5 good counters (which we wasted).

France weren't cowardly, they were smart. It just so happened they weren't good enough to get away with it, but I just don't see no point in abandoning your mostly functioning defensive principles if you have 75 minutes left to play and are only 1 goal down.

Yes I had the same thought in mind that Germany were using the same tactics as they did in the Argentina match from last year. Sit back, let them have the ball and wait and watch. Then at the right time go for the kill. So being cautious to an extent is justified but not for that long and to that extent. In the end what's the sense of showing so much fear of conceding that you give yourself very little chance of overturning just a one goal deficit? Hell these are days when teams come back from three goal deficits. If you think Germany would have easily been able to defend a one goal lead then I am quite sure many other teams would have given a much harder time.

Insoucious wrote:If France had scored on the last Benzema opportunity, they would have probably won in extra-time then people judgement would have been utterly different.

Absolutely. Germany were pretty exhausted in the end of the normal 90 minutes. If it hadn't been for Manu Neuer in the 94th minute, Brazil would now be quaking in their boots because their perennial nemesis France would await them. (For some reason I'm pretty sure that Brazil are one of the not so many countries that prefer to play Germany instead of France XD) ^^

Insoucious wrote:
Is that a reason to forget everything they have done so far?

If you want to give them credit for a better showing this time than in some previous tournaments then sure but that's not the kind of credit big teams care about. Sometimes a team can unexpectedly get knocked out early but if a big team reaches up to a certain stage then it makes it that much difficult for anyone to get the better of it. France didn't do that which is disappointing for their fans and many neutrals who were watching world wide.

Adit wrote:France arent Argentina or England though. They have really great fast defenders who can play a high line and could easily match any team physically and for a pressing game. They are actually the most physical team of the tournament for me...they could easily play a power game if they want.

Smart? it is ok to be smart but when you just goes out doing nothing in the later 75 minutes you have to wonder was the decision to do nothing was smart enough?

France's chances? two shots from very difficult angle.. one from a slow volley by Valbuena and another in the last minute by Benzema...in between, no real urgency.

100% spot on