Spain vs Germany -by blackcrow

Going to stick with my original pick of Spain to win the tournament (and thus this game too) as i need them to win here to also pick up my quinella bet with Holland. While Germany are the form team after their demolition of Argentina, the question is, has this young team peaked too early? They have played very well so far but their form has been based aorund the play of Schweinsteiger, Ozil and Muller. Muller’s absence is a big loss as i would say of the three he has been the best player overall in the tournament for the Germans. Still believe that their defence besides Lahm has doubts about them while their forward line is still not that flashy even though they are getting the job done. But close down their midfield and they will find it hard then to create the same as they have done in previous games.

Spain has class all over the park. From the defence led by Casillas and Puyol and Pique in the middle, they do not give much away and expect them to close down Klose and co. Up front, Villa is arguably the best striker in the competition and if Torres can also rise up from his own poor form then he will carry them to victory. Believe the way that Mertsecker and Friedrich play are more like the centre backs he likes to play against, as he has the turn of speed to get around them. Another thing is that with the focus having shifted to Villa, then he may get a bit more room to play his game, rather than in the other games where he took away much of the pressure away from Villa and this allowed Villa to cause problems for opposition defences.

In the midfield is where the game will be decided, and like Busquets to be given the job of containing Ozil, while Schweinsteiger will look to restrict Xavi. With Xavi’s short passing and movement, doubt that he will be effective here, and look for Xavi to also team up with Iniesta, to get their passing game going.

Germany have succeeded because of their fast counter attacks but doubt that Spain will give them that luxury, as Del Bosque would have done his homework to nullify this threat. Also he would have seen that the Germans can be rattled, when teams like Serbia, can play a quick game themselves, so expect the ball to move much more forward and more quickly so that Torres and Villa can isolate the German backline.

While the best of Spain has not been seen yet, the argument here is that the teams they have played have resorted to much more defensive tactics and thus they have ensured they have plenty of numbers in defence. Germany is filled with confidence and belief, and doubt that they will be cautious in their approach. They will look to attack the Spanish so expect an open game, but while the midfield should be a great contest, i like the better Spanish defence and forward line against their opposition