Top Stories

Spain vs. Germany: A Look Ahead

GermanySpain

One finalist is known, the other is to be decided in a matter of hours. A rematch of the Euro 2008 final in Vienna touches down in Durban as Spain faces Germany.

Germany has been the most impressive side in the tournament, scoring 13 goals on the road to the semifinals, taking down England and Argentina on the way. They've mixed national team veterans liked Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Philipp Lahm with the youthful exuberance of Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil to produce the outstanding results.

Standing in the way of the Germans and an eighth final appearance is Spain, one of the pre-tournament favorites. La Furia Roja have reached this stage without seeming to click on all cylinders, riding a stout defense and the scoring touch of David Villa to its first ever semifinal appearance.

Here's a question for SBI readers: Which team do you see winning today's semifinal? Cast your vote below:

Who did you vote for? What are your predictions? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Thanks, Mason. Missed your message but we ended up stopping for an extended road lunch in Sturbridge at the Picadilly Pub, which had the game on several screens and was fine.

    Reply
  2. No, I don’t make it sound that way. YOU assume I mean that. I said that people are swayed by big scorelines, which Germany have been putting up.

    Anyone who watched the GER-ARG game knows that 4-0 was quite flattering to the Germans, with two quite late goals as ARG got caught on the counter as they pushed. It was a great victory, but they weren’t THAT much better. They posted a convincing win over AUS, generally accepted to be a junk team like you said.

    Their win over England was fairly comprehensive.

    I’m just tired of the dismissing of Spain. Spain has the same group of players, essentially minus Senna and Torres. This team can win, and has won in the past.

    Reply
  3. You make it sound like Germany has been running up scores against junk teams while Spain has been cruising against tough ones.

    The reality is that this German team has been soundly beating strong opponents, while this Spanish team has been struggling against mediocre foes. History is just statistics, the fact that a Spain with a healthy, on-form Torres beat a much slower, less dynamic Germany a couple years ago is meaningless today.

    Reply
  4. I hope Spain go with the same line up that finished against Paraguay, which was more a 4-3-3:
    Fabregas-Busquets-Xavi
    Pedro-Villa-Iniesta

    For gods sake though, Torres isn’t right, drop him and play Fabregas. If they go with the usual starting line up, I think Germany takes the lead and doesn’t give it back. No matter what the octopus says.

    Reply
  5. yeah, i really didn’t understand why he went in for that tackle knowing the ref was handing out cards left and right.

    and i agree, that game seemed to snap them into the form they have had since.

    Reply

Leave a Comment