Germany's impressive book of World Cup Records continues with their 4th win

Germany deservedly won their 4th title in the most thrilling World Cup of recent times. In a World cup which no team dominated, many matches produced excitement& goals, and knockout rounds were close, tense & at times tediously defensive, Germany stood out by defeating no fewer than Portugal & past winners France & Argentina as well as the favourites, the hosts Brazil.

In doing so, Germany controlled all of their 7 matches & only for a brief period vs Ghana looked vulnerable. And by beating the hosts Brazil in a thrilling 7-1 semi finals, Germany will ultimately be remembered as one of the most entertaining winners of all time.

But it is not just their 7-1 thrashing of Brazil which should remembered in this World Cup. Germany continued to set more records and/or improve on their already impressive World Cup standing during this, the 20th FIFA World Cup. Here are some of the records or significant facts about Germany following their win in Brazil 2014:

- Germany have appeared in a record 8 World Cup Finals, one more than Brazil & 2 more than Italy.

- They have reached a record 13 World Cup Semi Finals.

-  In those 13 semi finals, they have won the world Cup 4 times, finished second 4 times, third 4 times & fourth once (a record again)

- They have finished in Top 8 in 17 out of the 18 tournaments they have participated in.

- Germany have played a record 106 World Cup matches. Whilst Germany have participated in 18 of the 20 World Cups, this is 2 matches more than Brazil, despite the fact that Brazil have participated in all 20 World Cups.

- Germany are the all time highest scoring team in World Cup history. Following their victory in 2014, they have scored 224 World Cup goals. Brazil are second with 221 goals.

- Miroslav Klose, became the all time leading World Cup goalscorer in Brazil with 16 goals, and one of the only 3 players to have scored in 4 World Cups. He also became the first player to have played in 4 World Cup Semi Finals. He holds the record for most World Cup wins (17), most knockout phase matches played (14) & most World Cup medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze). Meanwhile Lotthar Matthaus, the 1990 World Cup winning Germany Captain holds the record for most World Cup matches played (25 in a joint record 5 World Cup tournaments)

- Germany are the only country to have won the FIFA World Cup Trophy 3 times (1974,1990, 2014), the trophy which replaced the original Jules Rimes Cup which Brazil won 3 times (and kept following their 3rd win 1970 World Cup)

- Since readmitted to FIFA following their ban from the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, Germany have participated in all 16 World Cup finals & have progressed to the 2nd round in all their 16 attempts (a record)

- Germany hold the record for the highest scoring Champions (25 goals in 1954) & joint record for highest goal difference achieved by a Championship winning team with Brazil (+14, 2014)

- Germany hold the record for Most Consecutive Top Scoring Team, having scored the most goals in 2006, 2010 & 2014 World Cup Finals.

- Fastest brace ever scored in World Cup history is 69 seconds when Germany's Tony Kroos scored twice in the 7-1 vs Brazil in 2014. The 7-1 incidentally is the highest all time semi final score.

- Germany's Franz Beckenbauer remains the only person who has won the World Cup both as a Captain (1974) & as a coach (1990), AND has lost World Cup finals both as a player (1966) and as a coach (1986)!

- No other coach has coached more games (25) & won more games (17) than Germany's 1970 World Cup winning coach Helmut Schon.

- Germany are the only team to have a 100% win record in their World Cup penalty shootouts! (4/4)

All in all, Germany are most notable & impressive tournament team of all time, considering their 6 European Championship final appearances on top of their 8 World Cup finals!

Germany vs Argentina: FIFA World Cup Final will be watched by an estimated 1 billion fans

Brazil 2014, arguably the most exciting World Cup in recent times, has reached its final stage.

Football, the beautiful game, the World Game, has its problems, players cheat to get penalties, the FIFA has corruption allegations hanging over its head & some games were tedious, tight  & defensive during the knockout stage, and then there is the highly emotionally charged & yet unsatisfactory penalty shoot out lottery............

Despite all of that, the Beautiful Game unarguably continues to maintain its at times hard to understand universal MAGICAL attraction. The worldwide appeal of football is simply unmatched by any other sport, team or individual.

Football is played, loved or followed regularly by an estimated 4-5 billion people around the world. It generates revenues unimagined or unheard of in most other sports, and even beats the Olympics in the cumulative TV audience as the most successful single event in the world.

........so when two nations play the WC Final, as Argentina vs Germany will do tomorrow morning at 5am EST, an estimated ONE BILLION people around the world will be watching and another few hundred million will watch the replay and/or highlights later on!

The sponsorship money is staggering & the total revenue generated from the tournament will be in excess of $2bUS.
FIFA will pay each of the Football Federations of the unsuccessful teams in the group stage will each receive $9mUS each & the winning finalist's Federation will receive $37m....despite corruptions & disputes, most of this money goes to players & grassroots development of the game amongst mostly disadvantaged kids in many poor areas of towns & cities around the world........so FIFA World Cup as a phenomenon has a global effect like no other....in its reach, in its cultural diversity & in its positive unifying influence.

Scolari & Van Gaal main failure was to abandon their teams' core tactical values.

The Brazil FIFA World Cup 2014 will be the battle of South America vs Europe for world supremacy, but the teams are not what most experts predicted as the World Champions Spain & hosts Brazil failed to reach the final.

Brazil 2014 has produced one of the closest & most exciting World Cups of all time. Nevertheless, most of the knockout stage battles have been very tight & the tournament has produced a not all too impressive SEVEN penalty shootouts (most since 8 in 1990) & the first ever 0-0 semi final in the World Cup history.

At the same time, we have witnessed defending World Champions Spain losing 5-1 in their opening match, Germany handing over Brazil their heaviest defeat in World Cup by beating them 7-1 in a record semi final score with German striker scoring his record breaking 16th World Cup goal in the match, and both Germany & Brazil surpassing 100 World Cup matches.

Undoubtedly Brazil 2014 will forever be remembered for Brazil's total capitulation in their humiliating 7-1 defeat to Germany. Brazilians had carried the pain of the 2-1 defeat in the World Cup in 1950 for 64 years. Brazil 2014 was meant to wipe that painful memory but instead has replaced it with the 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany.

And whilst many expert commentators have analysed both semifinals, one simple fact is clear: Both Van Gaal & Scolari failed to reach the final because they abandoned their teams' core strengths. 

In case of Brazil, hometown advantage turned to intense pressure & panic for the players. But that was not the only reason Brazil collapsed. Nether was it the absence of Neymar & even Thiago Silva. The fact is Brazil are back to their ugly playing days of World Cup 1994 when they won the final in a penalty shoot out after a drab 0-0 vs Italy. Jogo Bonito or the Beautiful Game has been dead under Dunga & now Scolari & the team lacks true leadership. Following Germany's first goal in the 10th minute, David Luiz, who as it turned out was clearly a poor choice as the Captain, & the rest of the team started playing as if they had 5 minutes left to equalise! They abandoned all discipline & all systems! Germany, who like Spain & Italy, are renowned for following core systems in their style of play, clearly saw the chaotic defence & lack of visionary leadership as a great opportunity & took full advantage scoring 4 goals in 6 minutes to finish the first half at 5-0! By the middle of second half it almost looked as if the Germans were too embarrassed for Brazil to try to score in case they hit double figures!

I said in a post before the World Cup that in my opinion the weakest link for Brazil was Scolari's lack of true genius tactical ability (as proven by Portugal's home defeat in final of Euro 2004 to Greece). As it turned out, Scolari once again froze & was unable to alter the course of the the reckless brain freeze by David Luiz, Marcello, Fernandinho & co! Brazil must now regroup & go back to rebuilding with players who can deliver on the Brazilian footballing culture by 2018 & not the disappointing rubbish we have witnessed from Scolari's team.

But as much as Scolari is a nice father figure & not a tactical genius, Luis Van Gaal is the exact opposite! The truth is Van Gaal in fact overachieved with this otherwise young inexperienced Holland team with a clear lack of world class talent (at this stage of its development) save RVP, Robben & Sneijder. The 5-1 opening thrashing of a totally out of sorts belied the difficulties in beating a brave Australia 3-2, and the 2-0 win vs Chile scarcely hid the major short comings of this developing team in subsequent poor display: 2-1 win vs Mexico with a 88th minute lifesaver & a questionable 93rd minute penalty, and two subsequent 0-0 penalty shootouts. Van Gaal however has a lot to answer for & must take the lion share of the blame here because he should have taken both games to Costa Rica & Argentina & could have potentially won bot. Instead he resorted to super cautious defensive tactics, rough physical ploys & man marking Messi, none of which are true to Holland's core style & footballing culture.

Germany vs Argentina:

Argentina have generally displayed a very solid defensive style (except in the 3-2 wobble vs Nigeria)
& have had 4 clean sheets in 6 matches, although in those 4 matches they have scored a miserly 3 goals.

With Di Maria still doubtful & Aguero not fully fit, and most worrying Messi looking injured or not fully fit in the semi finals, Argentina will not be able to trouble a disciplined & highly confident German side. Germans are familiar with Argentinian defensive weaknesses, which arguably no team (except Nigeria) has so far managed to expose. But at the same time, it is clear that without Messi at the top of his game, Argentina can not score easily.

Germany on the other hand, need Hummels to be fully fit & Lahm to stay as right back if they are to avoid a narrow 1-0 loss to Argentina. Argentina will try to attack Howedes on the left hand side but the great defensive wall of Schweinsteiger & Khedira should be able to deal with Argentina whilst if Kroos & Muller replicate their semi final form they will cause Argentine's defense plenty of problems.

Most commentators are predicting a very tight match due to Argentine's record at this World Cup. I tend to be more encouraged by Germany's record & predict a win by a 2 goal margin by Germany.

And then there were Four: Brazil 2014 semi finals: Clash of Football Titans!

And then there were four! 

The semi final pairings have been decided. Following 4 tight quarter finals & a penalty shoot out elimination of the gallant romantic minnows Costa Rica, the final four are footballing World Cup royalties.

When the World Cup draw was made, a quick calculation suggested a classic semi final draw of past winners Brazil vs Germany & Argentina vs Spain.

And despite Brazil 2014 producing many exhilarating displays, goals, attacking football, surprising results & excitement in the likes of Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Belgium & Algeria, the semi finals pairings are close to classic predictions.

The only difference was Netherlands thrashed World Champions Spain 5-1 in the group stage to revenge the World Cup 2010 Final defeat. The four finalists have appeared in a total of 21 finals between them. They have won a total of 12 World Cups between them with only Holland having lost in all their previous 3 final appearances.

However, in true form of Brazil 2014, none of the four teams have been fully dominant on their way to the semi finals & all have shown frailties.

Brazil vs Germany:

Alongside Italy, Germany & Brazil are statistically the two most successful nations in the World Cup history. Amazingly however, these two giants of the game have only previously met once before in the World Cup: The Final of the 2002 World Cup when Big Phil & Ronaldo led Brazil to a 2-0 World Cup victory.

Brazil & Germany are the only two nations that have played more than 100 world Cup matches(following Brazil 2014). each have reached the final 7 times up to now & have won the World Cup 8 times between them (Brazil 5 times, Germany 3).

This semi final has all the ingredients to be a classic: Home page advantage for Brazil, absence of star Neymar, Germany's class of 2006 & 2010 semi finalists finally coming of age in only the second ever meeting between the two.

Brazil will have a huge a home hometown advantage in their semi final clash with Germany. 

They were once again ineffective up front against Colombia & without Neymar & their Captain Thiago Silva to lead from the back they will have to regroup. However, in Bayern Munchen's defender Dante they have a ready made replacement for Thiago, whilst Bernard & Willian can step up in place of Neymar & give Oscar a more creative role. Brazil will also have Luiz Gustavo back to sure up their defensive midfield.

Germany on the other hand produced something unique vs France, a first ever in the Loew: A missing ingredient in their impressive & yet ultimately unsuccessful semi final/final appearances in the last 4 major tournaments: (Last two World Cup semi finalists, and Euro 2008 finalists & Euro 2012 semi finalists):

They stopped playing the attractive & yet at times easy to break down football introduced by Klinsman/Loew since 2006 & instead for the first time in Loew's years displayed the tough classic match winning German mentality that this undoubtedly talented group of players have been accused of failing to produce at crucial times in the past.

Loew finally reverted back to their trusted 4-2-3-1 formation against a fast & attack minded France, with Lahm at his best in the right back position & Schweinsteiger/Khedira defensive pairing produced the classic non spectacular yet steely German display which had so often won Germany titles in the past. The pairing of Boeteng & Hummels in central midfield also paid off handsomely as the faster Boeteng replaced the slow to turn Mertesacker & backed the more attack minded (Man of the Match) Hummels.

If Neymar's absence does not tempt Loew to revert Lahm back to a midfield position, and the newly found steely German mentality continues to be present, Germany can & will beat Brazil without their key man Neymar.

Argentina vs Holland:

Many sycophant commentators have tried & tried to justify Argentina's semi final presence in the World Cup. But despite Messi's undoubted great work to take Argentina this far, they are the least deserving team amongst the 4 semi finalists. To design an entire team to feed to Messi, and in the process stifle the brilliant talents of the likes of Di Maria is simply an act of desperation which has produced less than scintillating displays & at times less than exciting matches. nevertheless, Argentina remain a threat because of the one & only Messi.

Netherlands on the other hand have also been a pragmatic team under Van Gaal. Whilst they have a much less impressive fool of talent at their disposal in Brazil, they have been a free scoring team (at least until they met Costa Rica). Holland are the first team with a truly tactically gifted coach facing Argentina in this World Cup & are more than capable of beating Argentina for their 4th World Cup final appearance (and to revenge the 1978 final loss to Argentina!)

And 40 years later, history may repeat one of the greatest & most talked about World Cup finals of all time: The rematch of the 1974 Final between Germany vs Holland ....and at last a European team will claim the World Cup in South America!

Quater Final Time & still hard to predict any results in the World Cup

Following an exciting Group stage, the 8 round of 16 matches have now been completed & the quarter final pairings determined......and yet, it is still difficult to confidently predict the outcome of the quarter finals.
In an amazing round of 16:
- ALL 8 Group winners won their matches through to the quarter finals
- 5 out of 8 matches went to extra time, with only two penalty shootouts out of the 6 & the rest of the results determined in extra time.
- Only Colombia won comfortably in regulation time whilst Netherlands only scored an equaliser in the 88th minute & won their match vs Mexico with a questionable penalty in the 92nd minute & France struggled to score until 77th minute.
- Hosts Brazil struggled & were ultimately lucky to win their penalty shootout vs one of the 3 dark horses of the tournament Chile
- Netherlands, Germany, France & Argentina all struggled to beat their opponents whilst Costa Rica continued their impressive fairytale march to the quarter finals on penalties.
Colombia led by James Rodriguez comfortably continued to enjoy their pre tournament Dark Horse tag whilst Belgium found Tim Howard in the USA goals in impressive form & the USA players' courage & fitness almost impossible to stop at the end. Algeria meanwhile displayed fast attractive counter attacking football & were unlucky to fall to the formidable albeit somewhat puzzlingly fragile Germans

And hence, both commentators & fans are none the wiser as all teams displayed frailties in some areas & impressed in others:

There are however several observations that can be made following the round of 16 matches:

- First & fore mostly, as a friend pointed out to me, it is almost ridiculous for Les Murray & Craig Foster to fool heartedly praise the Socceroos after three defeats & constantly praise the South American style of the likes of Chile as a role model Australia should aspire to.

Australian players are generally less tactically gifted & as sporting culture in Australia dictates (as opposed to the football culture of South America), our players are more physical than tactically gifted. Therefore, FFA & the likes of Craig Foster should look to what Klinsman has done with the USA team. That is what the Socceroos should aspire to, and we can achieve, a highly competitive, physically fit team with a mix of tactical & technical capability.

- Brazil are almost impotent upfront with Fred & Jo & rely too much on Neymar for goals (as do Argentina with Messi). I mentioned in my pre World Cup post, I am not a fan of Big Phil Scolari & think he can be tactically naive at times. He is not using Oscar very well & there's too much gap between Oscar & Neymar. But most crucially, as the players broke down following their penalty shoot out win vs Chile, it is quite clear that the weight of hometown expectation is bearing heavily on the players. Most crucially, Luiz Gustavo, the ever present holding midfielder is suspended following a 2nd yellow card. With David Luiz as the only natural replacement in that position, Big Phil will have a major headache to deal with, one that Colombia look towards exploiting.

- This pressure represents the perfect scenario for Colombia, arguably the only consistent team in the tournament so far. James Rodriguez and co are capable of crossing the cultural barriers that rule the status quo in South American football (having only ever beaten Brazil twice).

I tip Colombia to beat Brazil 2-1.

France have no doubt been the other surprising team besides Colombia. I predicted in a post that they were a quarter final side & that is where the tournament will end for them as they fall to Germany again. As Oliver Kahn said today, if Germany cut the supply from midfield to Benzema, France are almost void of a Plan B to compensate for that. On another point, like Argentina, France have so far had a relatively easy route & will face their first serious challenge in Germany.

Germany on the other hand, have shown frailties in the defence with 4 fullbacks filling the positions whilst the best right back in the world, their Captain Philip Lahm is deployed as a holding midfielder! Germany coach seems hell bent in again using Lahm in midfield vs France even though against Algeria, once the hapless Mustafi was injured & Khedira replaced him (in Lahm's position & Lahm moved to right back in place of Mustafi). Much has been said about the slow turning Mertesacker but when paired with Hummels, Germany defence should cope with the impressive French attack.

This match will have goals & Germany will win by 1-2 goal margin

The other half of the draw sees Netherlands bring Costa Rica's gallant & at times entertaining journey to a credible end. Holland will not underestimate Costa Rica like Italy, Uruguay, England & Greece did & their 3-5-2 formation will cause Costa Rica & their brilliant goalkeeper Navas plenty of headaches. Holland will win a fast entertaining encounter.

And finally to Argentina & Belgium. Both teams have at times struggled & Argentina in particular have found it hard to breakdown teams defending with 11 men to neutralise Messi. Like France, both teams are also reached the quarter finals through a relatively easier schedule than the likes of Brazil, Germany & Netherlands. Many commentators suggest Argentina will show their real quality against a more attack minded Belgium than their previous more defensive opponents.
The surprise package may be Aguero. If he's finally fit to compliment Messi the way Higuain never can, then Argentina will win. If Aguero remains sidelined, Belgium have enough quality across the field to beat Argentina unless Messi magic strikes again!

This has been a high scoring exciting World Cup & the quarter final pairings will continue to make it one of teh best ever!