| Calderyon |
08-07-2014 12:17 AM |
Brazil vs Germany -> Germany advances
Brazil has the loud home crowd support. Which means two things: They can and will give
strength and belief to the players to do good and they can very much influence the referees in their decisions gaining them free corners, free kicks and even penalty kicks and yellow/red card to the other team that they would not get normally. It also means that the ref might call an offside against the other team more often. Even though the refīs might be a little on their favor, they do have a world class goalie, a defense which can score and defend, good midfield and a fair offence.
The one thing that will affect their performance is Neymarīs tournament ending injury on their last game. Neymar was a triple threat: Goal scorer, who could decide matches, a play maker who could create lots of goal opportunities in terms of passing, runs and getting free kicks/penalty kicks, a team spirit creator to get his do their best and a solid kicker in free and corner kicks. A huge loss to the team, which will show on the field. Now someone else has to step up. Adding to that they also still have the ultimate pressure and stress as a host nation team to conquer.
What Brazil need to do is: they cannot let Germany control the ball, they need to be very aggressive (without going over) on every situation, get as many free kicks as possible and avoid counterattacks and control the pressure set by the home nation and their fans.
Germany has been efficient. They have a world class goal keeper who can win games for them in Neuer. They have solid midfield, almost impenetrable defense and a offense that can score all the necessary goals. They also have a superior ball control strategy, which we saw on their quarterfinal against France. They took the lead and then completely freezed the game and in the process Franceīs attacking power. The German team is looking to copy this strategy in this game too and if they succeed and keep their end fairly clean, they will win. A slower phased game benefit the Germans more.
Argentina vs Netherlands -> Netherlands advances
Argentinaīs offensive play has been bit of a disappointment. They have not scored so many goals that others might have predicted or being so dominating that some have thought. But in the process, their defensive play has been very solid resulting only 3 goals in their 5 matches in the tournament. If they can keep it up and prevent Netherlands from getting too much dangerous goal scoring opportunities and keep them away from the box, score at least the one winning goal, they might go and win it.
Netherlands has been very much relying on it impressive offensive power and Van Gaalīs tactical brilliance throughout the tournament and it has worked and they have reached this stage. I donīt think they need to change much, but just continue the same way as they have been against Argentina, but also remember to defend when necessarily. If they can continue the way they have, they have a good chance on advancing to final 4.
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