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Argentina vs. Germany: Match Day Commentary

Argentina CrestGermany Crest

Two of the best and most entertaining teams in the World Cup square off today in Cape Town as high-flying Argentina takes on young and dangerous Germany for a place in the World Cup semifinals.

Lionel Messi and Mezut Oezil will square off to see which of them can create the most magic, while Miroslav Klose and Gonzalo Higuain battle to see who can challenge for the tournament Golden Boot.

Here is my preview of today's match for Fox Soccer.

I am in Cape Town today for this high-profile tilt and will be providing commentary throughout the day. Please feel free to follow along here, and as always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions on the match in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

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FINAL– That's all for me. Please feel free to share your post-match thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for following along and enjoy the rest of your day (and be sure to take part in the commentary on Spain-Paraguay, here on SBI.

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FINAL– The Germans showed what can be done when a team is committed to movement, passing, disciplined defending and giving every bit of energy to the cause. They're World Cup favorites now. No doubt about it.

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FINAL– Germany 4, Argentina 0. And the young and dynamic Germans put on a clinic, destroying Maradona's Argentina.

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90th Minute– Thoroughly beautiful stuff from Germany. Sad and pitiful stuff from Argentina.

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86th Minute– GOAL GERMANY!!!!! And it's Klose AGAIN. What a demolition job by Germany. Told you they'd pour numbers and go for the jugular.

Germany 4, Argentina 0. WOWWWW

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85th Minute– Messi shot right at Neuer. At this point it looks as though Messi will finish the tournament without a goal.

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82nd Minute– Mueller comes off to loud applause. He's the Man of the Match today. No question about it. Shame that he'll miss the semifinal on a questionable yellow card.

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81st Minute– Bad turnover by Messi, who has clearly checked out of this match mentally.

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80th Minute– Looking ahead to the semifinal. You have to think a Spain-Germany semifinal would be a dream to watch. Not to sleep on Paraguay, but they'll be heavy underdogs tonight.

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77th Minute– Mascherano yellow. Professional foul there. Poor guy. He deserved better from his teammates today.

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76th Minute– Toni Kroos comes in for Khedira. Another young prospect for Germany.

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75th Minute– Sergio Aguero is in the match now. A little late, don't you think Diego?

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74th Minute- GOAL GERMANY!!! And it's Arne Friedrich with the finish off a nice move by Schweinsteiger, dribbles past Argentina's defense to set up the veteran defender.

Germany 3, Argentina 0.WOW.

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73rd Minute– German fans with their own version of Ole as they pass it around. Argentina looks deflated.

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71st Minute– It might sound counter-intuitive but look for Germany to start taking more chances now and pushing numbers into the attack.

Marcell Jansen comes in for Boateng, who had a solid day today.

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70th Minute– What a pass by Mueller on the Klose goal, delivers the incisive pass from the ground. Great game for the youngster.

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69th Minute– Javier Pastore comes on for Otamendi. Too little, too late. And where on earth is Milito or Aguero?

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68th Minute- GOAL GERMANY!!! And it's Klose, who finishes off an easy set-up to make it 2-0. Germany rips ARgentina apart yet again with its passing as Podolski delivers the final one to set up Klose. WOW.

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66th Minute– It's a crime that Javier Zanetti isn't on this Argentina team.

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65th Minute– Argentina keeps settling for shots from outside the box. Neuer isn't giving up any soft goals today so they need to stop settling.

Otamendi with ANOTHER foul and another free kick in a good spot. He's been atrocious.

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63rd Minute– Argentina corner off a nice move by Messi. They're feeling it, but still no goal.

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61st Minute– Tevez takes a wasteful shot from distance. Was he hoping for a Robert Green moment? Neuer is slightly better than Green.

And he showed it again with the stop on Higuain.

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60th Minute– Argentina with a counter that falls one pass short. Better half from the South Americans.

Germany with a free kick about 30 yards from goal. Otamendi again. He's been bad today.

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58th Minute– While you're at it, you can tell Miroslav Klose he can stop hiding. Haven't seen him since that miss in the first half.

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57th Minute– Anybody seen Maxi Rodriguez? I could have sworn he was in this game.

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56th Minute– Close call on that Offside call. Argentina is getting closer.

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54th Minute– Argentina is stepping it up and you wonder what's up with Germany now.

By the way, ARgentina needs to give up on taking crossed corners. Take them short because you aren't winning balls in the air and Germany's counter is deadly off corners.

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52nd Minute– Germany hasn't had much of the ball yet this half. Argentina has stepped up the defensive effort. Now if only they could get the offside situation figured out they might be able to build something.

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50th Minute– Mascherano has been everywhere for Argentina. He's really kept them in this with his work in the middle.

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49th Minute– DiMaria goes WIDE!!! He was close on that one. Better from Argentina.

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47th Minute– Argentina with some possession now. They look a bit more energized. Messi is starting to find the ball.

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46th Minute– We're back.

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HALFTIME– No changes for either side. I wonder what Maradona's first move will be in the second half. His coaching ability will be tested now.

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HALFTIME– Germany 1, Argentina 0. The score could be much more in Germany's favor right now and Argentina can count itself lucky.

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45th Minute– One minute of stoppage time.

Messi wiggles free, but his shot from 30 yards out goes high. That shows you the lack of activity and lost confidence when Messi is settling for a shot like that.

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44th Minute– More good passing from Germany, but Mueller tries to squeeze one through the opponent's legs, earning a corner. Romero punches away the corner.

Maradona with a touch on the sidelines. I bet he'd make some off the ball runs if he was out there.

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41st Minute– Yes, I'm aware of the irony of South American teams being frustrated by diving.

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40th Minute– Argentina draws a second corner, too bad they don't do much with these.

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39th Minute– Podolski goes close with a blast, but it Jabulanis the wrong way.

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38th Minute– For the second straight day we're seeing South American frustrations at what they consider diving by Europeans.

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37th Minute– Argentine goal waived off for offside. The whole team was offside so they can't complain.

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36th Minute– Mueller handball and gets a card. He'll miss the semi if Germany wins. That's big.

Dangerous free kick for Argentina.

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35th Minute– SAVE NEUER! Higuain with a nice turn and near-post attempt, but Neuer is on it.

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32nd Minute– Better from ARgentina as DiMaria races down the right to collect a pass before hitting a weak shot. Argentina can create chances, they just need to move. Odd to have to say that about an Argentina team.

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31st Minute– Celeb sighting. Leo DiCaprio is in the house.

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30th Minute– Messi's shot goes well over. He couldn't get the Jabulani to, well, Jabulani.

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29th Minute– Tevez earns a dangerous free kick for Argentina. Can Messi hit this well?

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26th Minute– Messi beats three defenders but his cross goes out. His teammates need to run off the ball. It's even more glaring how little running off the ball Argentina is doing when compared to Germany.

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25th Minute– Germany is keeping close tabs on Messi,w ith Schweinsteiger doing a good job of shadowing him.

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23rd Minute– Klose MISSES!!! What a chance in front of goal set up by Mueller, but Klose's shot from near the penalty area goes over. Argentina lucks out there.

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19th Minute– Argentina's fans are singing, trying to urge their team on. Not helping yet.

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17th Minute– Argentina earns a corner. Their passing looks pedestrian by comparison, but you have to hope Germany's play inspires Argentina to kick it up a notch.

Corner headed clear.

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16th Minute– Pass-Run, Pass-Run, Pass-Run. The German movement in possession is just a joy to watch.

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13th Minute– The way Germany is playing right now you'd favor them against anybody. We'll see what Messi can do about that. He can't do it alone though.

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12th Minute– Otamendi gets a deserved yellow. He is struggling today. Will we see Jonas Gutierrez before long?

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11th Minute– Not sure about Maradona's lineup today. He went with an attack-minded lineup, but Mascherano is the only midfielder with good defensive qualities. It's showing.

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10th Minute– Messi sparked a nice counter, but the long pass to Higuain was too long, killing the possibilities. Argentina will have chances today. The question is can they slow down Germany.

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9th Minute– Germany corner after another smooth build-up. Argentina doesn't have an answer for Germany's dynamic runs in midfield.

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7th Minute– Argentina's fans are trying to urge their team on, but Germany is bossing the game right now.

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5th Minute– Germany is knocking it around at will, making great runs off the ball and leaving ARgentina scrambling. Wow, good stuff from them early.

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3rd Minute– GOAL GERMANY!!!!! And the set piece is headed home by Mueller. He was kept onside at the near-post by Otamendi.

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3rd Minute– Germany with good movement, switching the field and finding Podolski on Otamendi, who commits a foul, setting up a good free kick.

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2nd Minute– Germany with the first good passing sequence. They're not wasting time.

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1st Minute– And we're off.

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PRE-GAME– My pick before this match was Argentina, but I'm feeling a little less confident about that pick with Samuel out.

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PRE-GAME– It's a sunny day in Cape Town, but the field is covered by the shade of the overhang here, so heat and glare won't be an issue.

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PRE-GAME– Not a lot of love between these teams. There were no pre-game hugs and acknowledgements in the tunnel.

Captains are giving a speech about racism. Mascherano is in full Argentine accent (not Liverpudlian) and Phillip Lahm followed up by calling Argentine's crybabies (okay, he didn't, but he's talked enough trash leading up to this match).

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PRE-GAME– No Walter Samuel today for Argentina. He must still not be fully recovered from his hamstring injury. That's a big blow for Argentina as they try to slow down Klose.

Germany's lineup is unchanged. 

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PRE-GAME– Here are today's lineups:

ARGENTINA

————-Tevez————Higuain———–

———————-Messi————————

–DiMaria——Mascherano——–Rodriguez–

Heinze—Burdisso—DeMichelis—–Otamendi

——————-Romero———————–

GERMANY

———————–Klose————————-

-Podolski————Oezil————-Mueller—

——Schweinsteiger—–Khedira————-

Boateng—-Friedrich—–Mertesacker—-Lahm

———————Neuer————————

Comments

  1. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t a bad pick… I just don’t think South Africa is truly indicative of Africa as a whole. It’s still a lot of travel and different climate conditions.

    Reply
  2. No its a Mexican network owned by a Mexican owner. Which is why they have all these Televisa productions on the network. Univision is straight up Mexican. And the two main commentators are Mexican the second group is Mexican and Chilavert. The last one were the Argentinians.

    Reply
  3. I loved how Ives tried to school me on why Messi was so great.

    Its different when you have a whole team supply you for goals and its different when you are told to supply them. Messi did neither on this really bad selected team.

    (SBI-Sorry Manny but if you think Messi is “useless” then I can’t help but thinking you’re an idiot blinded by your Real Madrid love. Doesn’t matter how great a player you are, if you’re on a bad or poorly-constructed team, or your facing a very good and well coached team you can struggle. No player can overcome that. Not Messi. Not Ronaldo. Nobody.)

    Reply
  4. If anything this proves how useless Messi is without a Barca player around him. Higuain showed all tournament how to put goals away when given something to work with. Messi is supposed to be the playmaker and didn’t do any of it. I don’t count deflected shots as assists. Tevez and Higuain should be the starting forwards with Messi as a “winger.”

    Further proof that Messi isn’t what everyone wants him to be. A number 10.

    Reply
  5. Agreed, Tim, on the defender issue.

    We’ve come close to having some decent defenders. While the arc between guys like John Doyle to present day players like Boca and Cherundolo is there, more improvement has to come if we are to hold our own consistently.

    Reply
  6. Oh I agree, the U.S. team has made HUGE amounts of progress. Despite a few “stumbles” along the way in this WCQ cycle, we still own CONCACAF. In the early 90’s, that was not the case. However, overall, CONCACAF is a relatively weak region. It lags behind Europe and CONMEBOL, and probably is on par with Africa.

    The bright spots I refer to now are Dempsey, Bradley, Donovan, and Howard. These are probably our four true world class players. More troubling, we have NO world class defenders, maybe Oneywu with more recovery and training. Other guys are good, but not as good, and wouldn’t come anywhere near the pitch for the likes of Germany or Holland. When the day comes that we have a field full of Dempsey’s and Donovan’s, then we’ll be there as legitimate contenders. Again, 2-3 WC cycles.

    Reply
  7. Wild if true. Germany looks as though it’s the Brazil we’ve come to expect, but in German uniforms. Been watching for ages and don’t remember this joyous creativity in their game. Truly the revelation of the tournament.

    Reply
  8. Tim, I keep saying to people, if you watched as far back as 1990 or earlier we were truly awful. We struggled to not lose by boatloads of goals to Mexico. Our progress, particularly since 1998, has been stunning. Slow going at times, but now we’re not happy with simply getting out of the group phase. That’s progress!

    Reply
  9. I told people going into this tourney that Holland and Germany were my favorites, despite all of the discussion centering around Spain and Brazil. Holland and Germany are two exceedingly disciplined sides that are very skilled on the ball. Sadly, though they are exciting to watch, it makes you realize just how far behind the U.S. lags in depth and talent before we will ever be true WC contenders…we have a few bright spots, but as a team, we’re probably 2-3 WC cycles away.

    Reply
  10. It has. And did I hear it wrong or did the ESPN talking heads really say Germany’s style “isn’t the most pretty thing to watch”? Are you serious?! No team has come remotely close to their quality and the joy of watching it.

    Reply
  11. Beautiful! Could not have asked for a more enjoyable, schadenfreude-esque thrashing then Germany exposing the Argentine frauds. Germany is as good as Argentina is overrated.

    And to move on from the losers, who thank God lost to spare of 100 more shots of that dumbf&ck Maradona on the sidelines…how unbelievably good is Germany? Impenetrable defense, lethal counterattack and offense that finishes. Where did this team come from? I almost pulled the trigger on like 20/1 for Germany to score the most goals as a team, which they are a virtual lock to do. And they were 16/1 to win before it all started. Far and away, they have been the best team in the tournament — and I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if they gave Spain a nice thrashing. Uruguay-Germany final ftw!

    Reply
  12. What a game. Is there any way it won’t be Netherlands v Germany in the final? Germany looks unstoppable.

    Can we extrapolate and say that the Bundesliga (where all of them play, I believe: mostly München, Bremen and Hamburg) is a hugely underrated league? Or is the right conclusion to say that German tactics and coaching are underrated? Both? Curious about what y’all think.

    Reply
  13. Yeah, I remember Chilavert — yet another knucklehead Latin American keeper who wanted to be a forward. Always loved it when those guys got burned (see Jorge Campos, Rene Higuita).

    Didn’t realize Univision considered itself a network for all Latinoamerica. Still wondering how you think Spain can be considered an American team though.

    Whatever. Peace

    Reply
  14. Dutch vs Deutsch.

    Donny Deutsch can do color commentary.

    …and men and women will watch the game at the pub, and split the bill evenly.

    🙂

    Reply
  15. Where we watching the same match? I think every single one of Argentina’s players dove more than Özil.

    Reply
  16. Ives and the rest of the Journos…

    What about all the talk of African teams doing well just because the World Cup was in Africa?

    Germany – Netherlands is the final.

    Reply
  17. Innovative, creative, efficient, accurate, well-coached, disciplined, composed…Must I go on?

    The Ger-Eng and Ger-Arg games have been really fun to watch, beautiful stuff by the Germans.

    Reply
  18. Ives is a Journalist that does not make him any smarter than us about the game of soccer. thats the problem with some of us we see guys writing on the net and think the know more than us when they really dont. they have better grammar but not better knowledge of the game.

    (SBI-So if I don’t really know anything then why are you on this site? You should spend your time sharing your vast soccer knowledge with the masses. Start a website. If you know half as much as you think you do it just might be a success.)

    Reply
  19. Sometimes your ignorance is just TOO MUCH! The main guy who appears on screen at halftime and after games is Fernando Fiore who’s ARGENTINIAN! The two guys who narrated the game one is Mexican and the other is “special guest” Jose Luis Chilavert of Paraguay! Anyway if you don’t know who Chilavert is, ypu probably shouldn’t be giving opinions in this forum!!!

    Reply
  20. you should consider that the german FA spends 20mio € per year for youth programms and the clubs in the 3 german pro leagues another 120mio € for their youth academys.. so there is coming some serious talend up the pipeline but it is not for the cheap

    that makes the trainer job a little easier and i don’t really think klinsmann would have done a better job then bradley (löw was 2006 the brain behind klinsmann look how klinsmann crashed and burned at bayern munich)

    Reply

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