Day 5: Germany vs. Portugal

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its brian cox!
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Has Ozil played as a false 9 before? I think it's a disaster waiting to happen

0-0 or 1-1
The last reports indicate that Özil will be left on the bench with Müller played as the false 9.
 
I'm amazed by some of the reactions to the German team and its prospects. I knew Löw isn't highly rated, but it hadn't occurred to me just how bad people feel he is. Even to the point of accepting a heavy defeat as a reasonable price for his resignation/sacking. He sounds about as popular as Moyes.

I look back at Germany's young squad in 2010 and remember what a breath of fresh air they seemed to be, and I always assumed that he got some credit for that. Instead it sounds like people see that as an example or a symptom of his failure. I guess it's just that I'm not a fan so I'm not so sensitive or maybe because most England fans would be overjoyed to have that kind of team.

It's great for the forum to see these other angles on the international game.

It is popular in Germany to dislike the likes of Löw, Podolski, Schweinsteiger and Özil. No matter what they'll do.

I don't trust Löw for 100%, but i trust him. He is our manager since 2008 (2006, but 2008 was his first tournament). Since then we made the final 08, semi final 10 and semi final 12. 2 times we lost to a prime Spain, but every game was close. 2010 Spain just won because of 1 corner goal. The only really disappointment for me was the semi final vs. Italy 2012. Löw made some bad tactical decisions there but that was not enough for me to start to hate him. I will judge him after this tournament. And to be honest: In Germany we are always pessimistic before a tournament starts. But Löw always managed to bring the team into a perfect shape for the very first game, even though the preparation looked bad. And we always went far in the tournaments and played very exciting football most of times. So i can't see any reason to critisize Löw that much.

While i agree about critising Özil (i wouldn't play him in the first eleven) it's the same for me with Schweinsteiger and Podolski. Even though Podolski isn't doing too well for his clubs, he is easily one of the VERY BEST german nationalplayers in tournaments. Just watch highlights from 2006, 2008 and even 2010. 2012 was not so good, but he wasn't a regular starter anyways. But it seems our fans always hate the players which polarize the most. Schweinsteiger and Podolski are the best examples for that. Since the confed-cup 2005 this 2 were the faces of the team (like Neymar is for Brazil for example). And if they don't play like Maradomessinaldinho they are so fecking overrated and shouldn't play because the likes of Marko Marin are always better. ;)


edit: But anyways the biggest disappointment for me is Reus' injury. I had the feeling he could become the superstar of the tournament. Now i can't see an individual player in our squad to become something like that. It really feels for me like it would feel for a Brazilian that Neymar would have been injured.
 
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According to newspaper O Jogo we will have the same line up from the Portugal vs Germany match from Euro2012 except for Almeida instead of Postiga. Quite positive it will be that starting eleven since O Jogo is usually reliable in what concerns our national team.

Rui Patrício; João Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves and Fábio Coentrão; Miguel Veloso, Raul Meireles and João Moutinho; Nani, Hugo Almeida and Ronaldo.

Bento will play Veloso instead of Carvalho solely because of international experience. I guess that´s expected from a very conservative manager like Paulo Bento. I would prefer to play Carvalho due to his physical power and defensive ability but he will have plenty of international games in the future since it´s only a matter of time till he takes Veloso´s spot. Even so O Jogo talked about a possible 4-4-2 with Veloso and Carvalho as CM in the next games.

I think this match will end with a draw. Both teams arrive at this World Cup not at the best of forms. Germany with some notable absences and us with crucial players struggling with injuries. It will be a close match like all the Germany vs Portugal matches have been in the recent past. Of course i want the victory but i wouldn´t be sad if we got a draw against a strong opponent. Germany have some injuries and formation problems but they still have what worries me the most, their winning mentality. I´m glad they won´t play with a strong physical striker at front since we always seem to struggle against them (for example Gomez in the last Euro2012). In relation to the managers i think both national teams could do better as i´m not particulary impressed with either Low and Bento. Even so if we compare both careers in the last Euro 2012 and the ammount of talent both have at their disposal, Bento has done better.

Hope it´s a good game and may the best team win (hoping it´s Portugal of course :D)
 
I have a feeling the Germans are going to have a poor tournament this time around. Klose must be 90 years old and he is still their best striker.
 
It is popular in Germany to dislike the likes of Löw, Podolski, Schweinsteiger and Özil. No matter what they'll do.

I don't trust Löw for 100%, but i trust him. He is our manager since 2008 (2006, but 2008 was his first tournament). Since then we made the final 08, semi final 10 and semi final 12. 2 times we lost to a prime Spain, but every game was close. 2010 Spain just won because of 1 corner goal. The only really disappointment for me was the semi final vs. Italy 2012. Löw made some bad tactical decisions there but that was not enough for me to start to hate him. I will judge him after this tournament. And to be honest: In Germany we are always pessimistic before a tournament starts. But Löw always managed to bring the team into a perfect shape for the very first game, even though the preparation looked bad. And we always went far in the tournaments and played very exciting football most of times. So i can't see any reason to critisize Löw that much.

While i agree about critising Özil (i wouldn't play him in the first eleven) it's the same for me with Schweinsteiger and Podolski. Even though Podolski isn't doing too well for his clubs, he is easily one of the VERY BEST german nationalplayers in tournaments. Just watch highlights from 2006, 2008 and even 2010. 2012 was not so good, but he wasn't a regular starter anyways. But it seems our fans always hate the players which polarize the most. Schweinsteiger and Podolski are the best examples for that. Since the confed-cup 2005 this 2 were the faces of the team (like Neymar is for Brazil for example). And if they don't play like Maradomessinaldinho they are so fecking overrated and shouldn't play because the likes of Marko Marin are always better. ;)


edit: But anyways the biggest disappointment for me is Reus' injury. I had the feeling he could become the superstar of the tournament. Now i can't see an individual player in our squad to become something like that. It really feels for me like it would feel for a Brazilian that Neymar would have been injured.


spot on :)
 
No draws so far this WC, probably another late late goal to decide this one. Portugal to win 2-1 with an injury time Ronaldo freekick.
 
What's with the Reus wankfest on this site? Not saying he's a bad player, he's obviously very good but he's a boring & economical player to watch. He isn't exactly a Hazard, Messi or Neymar type player that gets fans off their seats.
 
No. I meant Balon D' Or.

If Messi advances further than Ronaldo in this world cup, and scores a few goals in the process, they will give it to him. People want a reason to not have to vote for Ronaldo.
Why you always talking about messi vs ronaldo?
 
What's with the Reus wankfest on this site? Not saying he's a bad player, he's obviously very good but he's a boring & economical player to watch. He isn't exactly a Hazard, Messi or Neymar type player that gets fans off their seats.

Then you didn't see his last games of the season for Dortmund. But yeah, he is not a dribbler like Messi and Neymar, his style is more comparable to Ronaldo, a very fast and dangerous finisher. And since we have no real striker, he was our most important weapon going forward.

Why you always talking about messi vs ronaldo?

Typical fanboys always do.
 
What's with the Reus wankfest on this site? Not saying he's a bad player, he's obviously very good but he's a boring & economical player to watch. He isn't exactly a Hazard, Messi or Neymar type player that gets fans off their seats.

Boring & economical? He's an immensely skillful player, one of the best dribblers in the world when running at pace. In my view, he's exactly the sort of player who gets fans off their seats.
 
I think the only scare they've had since the Ireland game was him limping out of training with an icepack on his knee. But players play with various degrees of injury all the time, particularly at the end of the season, so I suspect a far few players have hobbled out of training this past fortnight without it having great significance.



Well if the camel say so, I don't see why the German team will bother showing up.
Tell me about it. I guess FIFA just doesn't allow them to miss the match, those money grabbing bastards.
 
I think we got that after the first dozen or so posts you made on the subject.

Have you seen his posts on Messi too last night? :lol: Really weird poster.
 
Well Netherlands looked more than impressive for me


They were hardly favorites to win it all...their squad is still pretty average aside of Robben, Van Persie, and Sneijder which is what makes the 5-1 even more incredible.

Brazil, Spain, Argentina, and Germany were the pre tournament favorites for most people...even after that Belgium wasn't the next team for the bookies.
 
Should be interesting. I think Germany have a fantastic team but you can't ignore the Ronaldo factor for Portugal. I have a feeling this may be the tournaments first draw, going for 2-2.
 
Hoping for a good match with attacking football, just like Dutch vs Spain but a closer result :)
 
Question for the forum, whose on Pens for Germany is it Ozil?

Probably will be Podolski if he's playing. Missed in 2010 but otherwise a constant penalty taker. Too bad Reus is out, he's incredible at taking penalties. Lahm/Schweinsteiger/Özil are probably the alternative with Özil being the one taking penalties in Podolski's absence recently. Don't think Müller will be the penalty taker, might give them to Klose if he's on and they aren't crucial.
 
I'm amazed by some of the reactions to the German team and its prospects. I knew Löw isn't highly rated, but it hadn't occurred to me just how bad people feel he is. Even to the point of accepting a heavy defeat as a reasonable price for his resignation/sacking. He sounds about as popular as Moyes.

I look back at Germany's young squad in 2010 and remember what a breath of fresh air they seemed to be, and I always assumed that he got some credit for that. Instead it sounds like people see that as an example or a symptom of his failure. I guess it's just that I'm not a fan so I'm not so sensitive or maybe because most England fans would be overjoyed to have that kind of team.

It's great for the forum to see these other angles on the international game.


Thing is, yes in 2010 our squad was young and inexperienced. The global media were all very surprised at the new names and didn't think the German team was anything special because they didn't know the players.
But Löw hardly took a risk and didn't really leave any good experienced players at home for the young guns. The whole country had been asking for these young players because they were simply a lot better than the shitty generation that came prior to them. Infact a lot of people would've liked to see even more young talented players. Neuer, Hummels, Höwedes, Marin, Kroos, Boateng, Müller, Özil, Gomez, Khedira were all amazing young players back then. Realistically they were probably all the best on their positions at the time and many of them had just won the u21 tournament without having conceded a single goal. I still remember the 4-0 over England in the final of that game. The German u21 played incredible football at the time.
So starting Klose, Friedrich, Mertesacker, and Podolski, and having Cacau as the first striker to be subbed in instead of Gomez or Kiessling at the time didn't even seem that drastic. If the team had been based solely on how all squad members had performed in that season the cut to the young generation would've probably been even crazier.

Löw basically gets a lot of hate because he always sticks with players like Podolski and Klose (yes they perform) when there are players of higher calibre available. He makes very weird squad decisions (this time 6 cbs but only 1 36 year old forward who's unfit) and his tactics aren't always spot on at all. Add to that the fact that he doesn't exactly have all that much charisma, despite wanting to rock that senior pretty boy look.
The 87 onwards generations have been incredible for us, so we feel that we stand a real chance. But lots of us believe that we're wasting this generation on Löw.
 
Probably will be Podolski if he's playing. Missed in 2010 but otherwise a constant penalty taker. Too bad Reus is out, he's incredible at taking penalties. Lahm/Schweinsteiger/Özil are probably the alternative with Özil being the one taking penalties in Podolski's absence recently. Don't think Müller will be the penalty taker, might give them to Klose if he's on and they aren't crucial.


I cant remember Lahm taking any penalties.

Müller is the penalty taker at bayern so i dont know why you rule him out.
 
Thanks guys sounds like I'm chucking Muller and Ozil into my team tonight to cover all bases. Let's hope the goal rush continues!
 
Some stats ahead of this afternoons big match! :)
If we're going on past history, Germany look good for the win!

Opta stats
  • Germany have only lost one of their last 18 games in the group stages of the World Cup, it was against Serbia on 18 June 2010 (0-1), winning 13 and drawing four.
  • Die Mannschaft have opened their last six World Cups with a victory; the last time they failed to win their opening game was back in 1986, when they drew 1-1 with Uruguay.
  • Portugal have only won one of their last seven games at the World Cup (7-0 v North Korea in 2010), drawing three and losing three.
  • Portugal have only won three of their 17 previous internationals against Germany (D5 L9), losing their last three at major tournaments (World Cup 2006, Euro 2012 and Euro 2008).
  • Cristiano Ronaldo has scored two goals from a total of 48 shots at the World Cup.
 
Thanks guys sounds like I'm chucking Muller and Ozil into my team tonight to cover all bases. Let's hope the goal rush continues!

Özil might not be on the pitch.
Latest news say this is the line up for today:

----------------------Müller-----------------
Schürrle/Poldi----------------------Götze/Schürrle
-------------Kroos---------Khedira-------
--------------------Lahm
Höwedes----Hummels----Mertesacker---Boateng
---------------------Neuer
 
From Sky Sport News HD



Neuer - Höwedes, Hummels, Mertesacker, Boateng - Kroos, Lahm, Khedira - Podolski, Müller, Schürrle
 
I cant remember Lahm taking any penalties.

Müller is the penalty taker at bayern so i dont know why you rule him out.

Lahm has taken penalties for Bayern in the Bundesliga before. He's the most important player of the team, arguably the most experienced and I think there is a good chance that he'll step up to take a penalty, especially when the situation is dire and the other two experienced potential penalty takers (Podolski, Schweinsteiger) aren't there. Müller has neither the standing in the national team that he has at Bayern nor the experience in taking important penalties. Plus he did miss this season. That's why I don't think that he'll be taking penalties for Germany. Also don't think that in a really important game he'd be taking the penalties for Bayern, most likely to be Schweinsteiger or Ribery in that case.
 
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