World Cup Final: Germany 0:0 (1:0aet) Argentina

Germany - Argentina 0:0 (0:0),1:0 after extra time, Maracana, Rio de Janeiro

Germany suffered a blow in the warm up as Sami Khedira picked up an injury. Christopher Kramer took his place and he was the only change to the starting XI that humiliated Brazil in the semi-final.

Di Maria was still injured and Sergio Aguero, who returned in the semi-final, was only at the bench again. Alejandro Sabella named exact same XI that started against the Netherlands in the previous round. The only change was that Lavezzi played on the right and Enzo Perez from the left from the beginning. 

Starting XIs

Everything down the right

The game´s pattern was as expected in the first half. Germany dominated possession and Argentina tried to counter. They were quiet successful to get behind the Dutch through long balls towards right channel and Argentineans targeted that left back area here as well. It made sense considering Germany´s left side isn´t as good as right with Howedes playing out of position, Ozil, who doesn´t contribute much defensively (he hasn´t had much impact offensively either in this game) and Hummels, the left sided centerback, doesn´t have as much pace as Boateng on the other side. Lavezzi started on that side right from the start and Messi always positioned himself towards that flank and Argentina created couple of promising moments down that side, especially before Schurlle´s introduction after half an hour.

Argentina - attacking third passes, 1st half

Germany looked to work the ball down their right too. They were trying to get Muller/Lahm isolated, switch the ball to one of them and get other players into that area quickly to combine. Even without support, the duo combined well, managing 26 passes between them, even thought Muller played down the middle or left in the extra time. They got into to good crossing positions repeatedly down that side and some of them were really dangerous. 

Germany - crosses, 1st half

Second half and extra time

Alejandro Sabella took off Lavezzi and brought on Aguero for the second period. It might have been due to injury, but whatever the reason was, it changed Argentina´s shape into more of a 4-3-1-2 with Mascerano as a deepest midfielder, Biglia and Perez bit further up and Messi just behind the striker duo. Argentina played very directly in the opening minutes of the second half and caused Germany real problems with front trio making good runs behind their high line. It is worth to say that both, Hummels and Boateng have been superb at the back and the later made some fantastic tackles and clearances when needed. 

Boateng - clearances, whole match

It also helped to solve Argentina´s problem in the middle. In the first half, they allowed Schweinsteiger too much space and time and he dictated the play without being challenged. After the formation switch, the front three were closing the passing angles towards him, Biglia and Perez were pushing on to Kroos and Ozil (who moved in after Kramer´s departure) and centerbacks were forced to pass wide, rather than forward. Look at Schweinsteiger´s passing in the first half and the rest of the match. He completed 57 out of 60 attempted passes in the first 45 minutes and only 37 out of 44 during the remainder of the match. Consequently, Germany´s possession fell from 63% in the first half to 53% in the second half.

Schweinsteiger - passes, 1st half

Schweinsteiger - passes, 2nd half and extra time

As the game went on and teams tired, Germany started to dominate again. Most of their play was down the right, but there were some promising attacks down the left too. The decisive goal came from that side after Schurlle´s good run and cross, which Gotze managed to convert beautifully, although many would say that Romero should have done better in that situation.

Apart of the half time switch by Sabella, the substitutions didn´t change much. Palacio came on for Higuain and Gago replaced Perez for Argentina. Joachim Low had to take Kramer off after he took a heavy knock from Garay. Gotze came on for Klose for the extra time and Mertesacker replaced Ozil to help defence deal with long balls in the final minutes. 

Argentina chances

The game was decided by a superb goal by Gotze and it should be pointed out that his position was much more difficult compared to three glorious chances wasted by Argentina. They haven´t managed a single shot on target in the whole match and their shooting was dreadful. 

Argentina - shots , whole match

Howedes hit the post with a header from corner when you would expect him to score and Schurlle had couple of decent chances for Germany, but the biggest chances fell to Argentina and they should only blame themselves for not taking the lead and maybe going on to win the game.
Firstly, Higuain was given a gift by Kroos, who headed ball towards his own goal without looking and Higuain didn´t even hit the target on the volley when he had all the time in the world to beat Neuer. Messi had great 1 v 1 after great ball from Biglia, but sent his shot just wide of the post. Although it wasn´t the best angle, you would expect him to score from there. Lastly, Palacio got into 1 v 1 against Neuer after Hummels misjudged Rojo´s cross, but he didn´t control the ball properly and his chip over goalkeeper went wide.  

Conclusion

The game was as expected from the beginning with Germans dominating and Argentineans looking to counter. Both teams focused their play down their right, but none of the teams managed to create a clear chance from that side at the end. Germany deserve a credit for the way they were able to shuffle their side despite Khedira´s injury in the warm up and Kramer´s early departure. It showed how flexible their attacking players are and how well they know their game. Schurlle had a big impact as an early substitute again (similar to Champions League quarter final second leg), offering pace and danger down the left, ultimately providing assist for Gotze´s winning goal.
Sabella made a clever change during half time and Germany´s dominance wasn´t so obvious in the second half, but they were in charge in the extra time again as Argentina´s fitness levels dropped. Remember, Germany played their semi final game a day earlier and only had to play for 30 minutes, while Argentina went all the way against the Dutch.
As ever, Messi was a major talking point before the game, but similarly to the semi final, he faded away in the later stages. He was lively in the first half, causing problems with his dribbling and had a big chance early in the second half, but he simply wasn´t at his best.
Di Maria´s absence was a huge blow and it is much more difficult for Argentina to replace him than for Germany to replace any of their players.
It wasn´t the most spectacular game we´ve seen at this World Cup, but both teams created enough chances to win in after 90 minutes and Argentina could have go ahead before going behind for the first time in the whole tournament. After the goal, there wasn´t enough time and energy to find an equalizer.

The World Cup Trophy is probably in the right hands as Germany were surely the best team, especially after Lahm´s switch to his favoured right back position. They destroyed Portugal in the opening game, beat France comfortably in the quarter final, completely humiliated hosts in the semi final and their match against Ghana was one of the most entertaining games of the tournament. Their only questionable performance came in the second round against Algeria, where Manuel Neuer had to show he is not fantastic only in the box, but also outside, sweeping behind the high defensive line. They made it at least to the semi finals for the fourth consecutive World Cup and they fully deserve to finally lift the trophy! 

Highlighs: Germany 1:0aet Argentina

Argentina 0:0 (4:2p) Netherlands

Argentina - Netherlands 0:0 (0:0), 4:2pen, 09/07/14, Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador

An absence of Angel Di Maria was huge setback for Argentina as there isn´t any similar player in the side. As expected, Enzo Perez was brought in to play on the right with Lavezzi starting left. Alejandro Sabella welcomed back Marcos Rojo, but Sergio Aguero was fit only for the bench. At the back, Demichelis started rather than Fernandez, while Biglia was picked ahead of Gago in the middle.

Louis van Gaal was happy to have full squad available with both Ron Vlaar and Nigel de Jong getting fit on time, although the later probably wasn´t 100% fit. Depay made way for Wijnaldum as the Dutch changed their shape a little and played with midfield three and two strikers.  

Stating XIs

Argentina´s gameplan

The game was played at slow tempo and both teams were very cautious in the early stages. However, Argentina were much more effective with their gameplan. They were really solid defensively with two banks of for and two in front, sometimes sitting deeper and sometimes pressing higher up and making life difficult for the Dutch centerbacks. Mascerano and Biglia were impressive in the middle, pressing Wijnaldum and Sneijder with great energy and both of them had trouble finding the space and receive the ball. It took Sneijder 60 minutes to collect the ball between the lines for the first time and there wasn´t many similar situations when he managed to do that. Argentina´s good shape and pressing often forced the Dutch to go all the way back to Sillessen as they simply couldn´t find the space to play passes into attacking players and most of their possession came from passing between centerbacks, wingbacks and de Jong.
When having the ball, Argentina had a clear attacking plan. Dutch centerbacks were marking tightly throughout the tournament and it wasn´t any different here. They played high line and it wasn´t surprising to see any of them following the player they were marking into deep positions and this of course, created gaps in defence. Argentina´s forward were trying to drag them out of position, creating space for other players to run into and simply knocked the ball over the defenders for runner to chase. Perez played few through balls towards Higuain, but most of the time the ball was played over defenders head, targeting the right channel. Many of them came from Mascerano, who was dropping between centerbacks and had the most freedom from midfield players. The most promising balls came when Lavezzi and Perez swapped sides and the former made good runs into that zone.

Argentina - Long Passes, 1st half

When they were unable to get behind with long ball, they were trying to work the ball towards the right flank, overloading Indi Martins and Blind. 

Argentina - Attacking third pases, 1st half

The problem was that there wasn´t enough support once they broke behind and got into crossing position. Higuain was often only player in the box as Messi was making things happen on the right side, Lavezzi being the player who got behind and attended the cross and Perez isn´t the kind of midfielder who finds himself in the opposition box too often. 

The Dutch approach

It was difficult to see any clear idea behind the way the Dutch played in the first half. It seemed like they were trying to let Argentina dictate the play and looking for a chance to counter attack, but Argentina very rarely lost the ball without leaving their defence exposed and they always managed to recover the ball quickly, but as mention earlier, they were hitting long balls into the right channel and even if they lost the ball, they had plenty of time to get back into positions. Argentina´s defensive organization was superb and the Dutch attacking players couldn´t get into the game. Sneijder was very quiet, van Persie received the ball with his back to goal most of the time and their inability to find their forwards was most obvious in the case of Robben. 

Robben - passes received, 1st half

Argentina´s good pressing and organization often forced them to go long, but neither van Persie, nor Robben could get the better of Argentina´s centerbacks and it´s hard to remember them winning a header or holding the ball effectively.

Netherlands - long passes

Defensively, they were much better. Argentina caused them problems with their long balls and attacks down the right, but they always managed to cover the box and clear the ball or block the cross. Ron Vlaar was absolutely superb at the back, winning headers, making 4 tackles, 6 interceptions and 12 clearances. 

Vlaar - Clearances

De Jong did a good job on Messi, who had to go deeper than usual to get on the ball and most of his passes were short ones. Look at the difference between his influence in this game and the previous game against Switzerland. He was pressed by Inler and Behrami, but the Swiss defence was much deeper so he was still able to get on the ball, ultimately providing assist for Di Maria´s goal. In this game, there was much less space in the middle and between the lines and Argentina looked to play long balls over the top, skipping 

Messi. 

Messi - attempted passes

To compare his positioning from previous game.

Messi - passes received

Screen from the game against Switzerland

Messi - passes received , Argentina vs Switzerland

However, when he got a chance, he was always trying to make things happen, dribbling past players, but he simply wasn´t as influential as we have seen in the previous games. 

Messi - take-ons

Subs

Surprisingly, managers haven´t made little tactical changes during the match with Huntelaar replacing van Persie in the extra time probably changing the most as he is pure number 9 compared to van Persie who comes towards the ball and combines with midfielders. Janmaat came on for Martins Indi. He played down the right, Blind dropped into back three and Kuyt switched sides. Clasie replaced de Jong after 60 minutes and played in his role, although he contributed more offensively.

Sabella made his first two changes after 80 minute mark and he gradually brought on Palacio for Perez, Aguero for Higuain and Maxi Rodriguez for Lavezzi. 

Second half and extra time

As the game went on and players tired, Argentina´s pressing dropped and Dutch started to find some space in the middle. They had more of the ball, but only put some serious pressure on Argentina´s defence in the last 10 minutes, with Robben getting behind the defence after he combines nicely with Kuyt and Sneijder only to have his shot blocked by fantastic last ditch tackle by Mascerano.

In the extra time, the game became really stretchy at times, but both teams looked to defend well rather than to go for a goal. The Dutch still had more of the ball, but it was Argentina who managed to create couple of promising chances and Palacio got into 1 v 1 against Sillessen, but couldn´t control the ball properly and his header was weak at the end. Messi came into life in the second period of extra time after being really quiet for long time and made a fantastic run towards the right, beating Vlaar twice, send in a good cross, but Maxi Rodriguez didn´t hit the ball properly. 

Conclusion

There haven´t been any clear cut chances in the game, with Garay´s header from corner and Robben´s blocked shot in the stoppage time probably the most promising moments. This was due to very good defensive organization of both teams. All centerbacks were solid, but the one that really stood out was Ron Vlaar, who was surely a man of the match despite of missing the penalty in the shoot-out.
Argentina pressed well and caused the Dutch problems with those long balls towards the right channel, but they couldn´t find the finishing touch. Considering the way the Dutch defended and the absence of Di Maria, it was probably the right approach.
The Dutch on the other hand, didn´t have a clear strategy how to break down Argentina´s defence, but their high defensive line and tight marking forced Messi into very deep positions and he wasn´t able to influence the game as much as usual. Their defensive approach invited long balls over the top, but they were happy to defend those situations and always had the box covered when the crosses came in.
It wasn´t surprise to see the game go all the way to the penalties as there wasn´t much between the teams and the mangers changed very little during the game. Louis van Gaal might regret that he used all of his substitutions and couldn´t bring Tim Krul on again as he might have done better than Sillessen, but with Ron Vlaar taking the first penalty, you would feel that something wasn´t right and Argentineans took full charge once he missed and will now face Germany in the final. Van Gaal later revealed that two players refused to take the first penalty!

Highlights: Argentina - Netherlands 0:0, 4:2pen

Brazil 2:1 Colombia

Brazil - Colombia 2:1 (1:0), 04/07/14, Estadio Placido Aderaldo Castelo, Fortaleza

Both managers made surprising changes in their starting Xls so Maicon played his first game at tournament the with Alves only at the bench. The main question for Scolari lied in the middle of the pitch as Luiz Gustavo was suspended. Fernandinho was always likely to start and Paulinho got the other spot in favour of Hernanes or Ramires. Hulk played on the left, Oscar on the right.
Pekerman brought Ibarbo back into the side in the place of Martinez so Colombian attack was same as in the first crucial group games. Surprisingly, Guarin started ahead of Aguilar alongside Sanchez.

Starting XIs

High tempo start

The game´s tempo was set right from the kick off – Colombia played a long ball towards Gutierez right away. Both teams committed numbers when going forward and Brazil was on top for the first half an hour and they could have been more than 1-0 up by then. The game settled down after 22 minutes when Colombia wasted a 4 v 2 counter and Brazil realised that they need to be more careful.
Brazil´s goal came after good corner from Neymar and poor marking by Sanchez who was caught ball watching and Silva managed to guide the ball into the net at far post. Colombia were a bit unlucky though, as two of their players went for a header and none of them connected with it and the ball fell into the path of Silva.
Brazil put some serious pressure on Colombia´s back line with some good passing and long diagonals towards Hulk with Marcelo supporting him. Hulk had couple of decent chances during that period, but his shooting was poor and Ospina made a great save to keep out his only dangerous effort. 

Hulk - shots, 1st half

Stopping James

Brazil´s plan to stop Colombia´s star player was obvious. Fernandinho sat in front of the back four and closed him down as soon as the ball was played into him. He made couple of bookable fouls on James, but none of them were awarded with a yellow card - we will get to that later. 

Fernandinho - fouls committed

Fernandinho - tackles

Despite being tightly marked and fouled 4! times in the first half, he managed to create a couple of promising moments for Colombia, the 4 v 2 counter attack, when he managed to turn around and avoid two challenges before playing Cuadrado into the box, the best moment. However, Colombia couldn´t get him on the ball as often as usual and their best attacking moments came down the flanks with Guarin and Armero sending in few dangerous crosses.

James - passes received 1st half

James - fouls suffered 1st half

Second half and subs

Jose Pekerman made a clever change going into the second half with Ramos coming on for ineffective Ibarbo. He went upfront alongside Gutierez and James moved to the left, where he got more room than in the middle and Colombia looked more like a 4-2-2-2.
However, second half started much slower than the first one and it took about 15 minutes until things started to happen again. Colombia had a goal disallowed for offside before Luiz stuck in beautiful free kick from range. Carlos Bacca replaced Gutierez up front right away and James started to be more central again. Brazil´s last chance of the game fell to Neymar, who found a little space on the edge of the box and curled his left footed shot just wide of the post.
Brazil became incredibly nervous after going 2-0 up. There were panicking at times and simply kicking the ball out as far as possible. With 20 minutes still to go, they surely didn´t look like Brazil and Colombia could feel, that there is still a chance if they can find a contact goal from somewhere. It came from a penalty and James recorded his 6^th goal of the tournament. Spit kick was awarded for a foul by Cesar on Bacca who was sent through by who else than James Rodriguez?
Cuadrado who had a rather poor game was replaced by Quintero and he played in few good free kicks, but Brazil managed to clear them.
As mentioned before, Brazil were really nervous and couldn´t get their passes together and it was surprising to see that Scolari waited until 82^nd minute to make his first change. He made other two within the next five minutes to try to kill the game and introduced more defensive player every time. Ramires came on for Hulk, Hernanes for Paulinho and Henrique for Neymar, who was in some serious pain after Zuniga´s strong tackle.
Brazil were 4-5-1 for the last minutes of the game with Oscar and Ramires on the sides and Hernanes, Fernandinho and Henrique in the middle and prevented Colombia finding a way for that last chance to level the score line.

Referee

There have been some bad refereeing at this World Cup, with red cards being or not being shown at the right time, penalties being awarded for clear dives, but this game was completely out of the line. There have been 54! fouls and only 4 yellow cards. Cesar was booked when he took Bacca down in the box and you wouldn´t be surprised if that was a red card. Thiago Silva got book for a silly block on Ospina when he tried to start the counter after set-piece. James was booked for a slide tackle when he barely touched Hulk – Luiz scored from that free kick and Colombia´s captain Yepes was booked for protests afterwards. It is incredible to see considering the number of fouls and some of them were really worth of a yellow card. Sometimes it is good to see that referee doesn´t want to influence the game by unnecessary bookings early on etc, but in this case it would perhaps help the game and couple of booking wouldn´t even be unnecessary. Brazil was more dangerous down the left with Hulk and Marcelo combining well and Neymar´s usual runs towards the left wing. Scolari wouldn´t be happy for the attacking contribution of Fred, Oscar and Paulinho as all of them had minimum impact and they will need to improve significantly in the game against Germany if they are to play the final. Colombia had a very good tournament and especially James Rodriguez made his name. 

Conclusion

The game was very open in the early stages and Brazil took the lead through corner. Colombia were on the back foot in the first half and they should regret wasting that 4 v 2 break that could have put them level. Brazil´s plan to stop James worked from them as he wasn´t involved as much, but it would have been interesting to see how much space he would have if Fernandinho was book for one of his challenges and would have to more careful. Cuadrado had a poor game and he was losing a ball very often and Pekerman might have taken him off earlier. Colombia improved in the second half with introduction of Ramos and moving to two striker system.

Highlights: Brazil 2:1 Colombia

Argentina 0:0 (1:0 aet) Switzerland

Argentina - Switzerland 0:0 (0:0) , 1:0 aet, 01/07/14, Arena Corinthians, Sao Paolo

Sergio Aguero is out with injury so Lavezzi was brought in with rest of the side as expected. Schar was preferred to Senderos at the back in the absence of von Bergen. Ottmar Hitzfeld decided to stick with same attacking set up as against Honduras, which meant Xhaka played on right and Shaqiri in the number 10 role.

Starting XIs

Unconvincing Argentina

The game started really slowly, but the pattern of the game was clear from the start. Argentina had plenty of possession and tried to get Messi on the ball as much as possible while Switzerland sat deeper and looked to counter and create chances from set-pieces.

With Lavezzi in the side, Messi was much more central than in the previous games. Lavezzi played down the right, while Di Maria started on the left, rather than alongside Gago in the middle. They switched flanks midway through the first half, which demonstrated that Argentina were more of a 4-2-3-1 in this game. Messi couldn´t find much space and was dropping deeper to get on the ball, but he was closed down immediately by at least two players, usually both central midfielders as there wasn´t anyone else in that area. 

Messi passes received

Argentina seemed really dependable on Messi and there wasn´t any other source of creativity. Their only real treat came from crosses and set-pieces and Garay was whisker away from meeting great by Di Maria from the corner.

Switzerland were more dangerous side in the first half, despite having only 40% of the possession. First  of their two big chances came after short corner and great piece of skills by Shaqiri, who beat Rojo and played a good ball to Xhaka in the box, but his shot went right at the goalkeeper. Other big chance came on the counter and Shaqiri played Drmic through, but he failed to chip Romero who went out of his goal, then decided to come back in the last moment and he was lucky that a chip shot went right into his hands.

Second half and extra time

Argentina became even more dominant in the second half, recording 66% of possession and really held Switzerland in their own half for long periods. There wasn´t much invention though and game plan was still the same – give ball to Messi or go down the flanks. They increased the pressure as the game went on, but the end product was often poor. Best example was Di Maria´s rabona cross after 60 minutes, when he managed to beat Rodriguez for the first time on the right side and wasted a good chance to find one of the 5 teammates waiting for a cross inside the box.

Switzerland couldn´t get on the ball properly and it was all about Argentina trying to find a goal. Messi had couple of decent efforts, but most promising chances came after crosses from Rojo, Di Maria or Zabaleta, however the score line remained 0:0 after 90 minutes. 

Rojo crosses

Di Maria crosses

Game continued in the same patter in the extra time and both managers eventually used all of their substitutions, but all of them were rather strait swops and none of them seemed to change anything regarding tactics until Biglia replaced Gago for the second period of extra time. Argentina played as a 4-2-4 now with Messi right next to Higuain, Di Maria on the left and Palacio, who came on for Lavezzi earlier on the right. It all looked like there will be yet another penalty shoot-out when Palacio won the ball of Lichtsteiner on the half way line, he found Messi who avoided challenge from Schar before passing the ball to Di Maria who finished brilliantly to the far post. With 3 minutes added in the extra time there was still hope for Switzerland and Dzemaili had a golden chance to equalise from Shaqiri´s cross  following the corner, but the ball hit the post and bounced just wide of him on the rebound. The last kick of the ball was a Shaqiri´s free kick from a great area, but he shot strait into the wall. 

Conclusion

Arguably the least enjoyable game of the knock-out stage so far as Argentina failed to create clear cut chances against very solid Swiss side, who sat deep and denied space in the middle of the pitch very well. Inler and Behrami have been fantastic against Messi, closing him down quickly and forcing him to drop deep to received the ball. However, Switzerland didn´t create a real chance in the second half and extra time apart of Dzemaili´s header in the 121^st minute. Argentina deserve credit for taking the risk in the second period of extra time and playing 4 attackers high up, but the star players apart of Messi haven´t been impressive at all. Di Maria had rather disappointing game, but his persistence paid off as one of his 12 shots found the net. His energy has been absolutely fantastic, but he was wasteful when in dangerous positions and really redeemed himself by that late goal. The game proved again how important Messi is for this team and that there isn´t much creativity from other players despite real star names in the team. They will really have to step up if Argentina is to go further in this tournament!

Highlights: Argentina - Switzerland 1:0 aet