Check and Mate

WELL, that was unsatisfying.

1. Sacré Bleus!
Whatever that game plan by the French was supposed to be, it needs to be ripped out of the book and thrown into the bay. In watching Germany’s 1:0 win over France, I kept wondering if the French staff had done even the slightest bit of research.

The Germans basically got blown up by Ghana in the second half. Ever since, they’ve played extraordinarily cautiously. They came out looking bright against the U.S., setting up a line across the face of the American box and looking to pick out a pass, but all it took was one counterattack by the Americans 20’ into the game – resulting in a near jail break and a yellow card on the German left back – to send the Germans into a defensive trench. They’ve been swarming to the ball, trying to trap opponents in their own half up against the touchlines, and the German offensive buildup has been extremely ponderous.

OK, so, if you’re the French, what do you do? First off, it should’ve taken about 3’ for the French to realize that playing four in the back v. the Germans was pointless – Özil is out of place up front on the left, the Germans have no real interest in running down the wings, and if your centre back can’t win a 1 v. 1 matchup with 67-year-old Klose, you’ve got even bigger problems. A 4th midfielder looking to win in midfield and spring the attack would’ve been far more useful for the French. The way to attack the Germans is through the middle with quick passing and linkup play. Theoretically, this should’ve played to France’s strengths, but instead, every touch from the French was too slow and they played their way into negative areas on the pitch. After getting the lead on the set piece goal, the Germans basically had to do nothing the rest of the way, since the French were too busy going about defeating themselves. Even as the French thought they found space down the Germans’ right side in the 2nd half, it was really where the Germans wanted them to go, in that the flow of play was constantly away from Pogba and Benzema, France’s two best players, neither of whom ever had the ball.

Perhaps it was simply a case of nerves and inexperience – the French had far too many jumpy touches in the final third, every ball seeming uncertain – but the French seemed to forget what got them to the quarterfinals in the first place. And this supposedly ‘new’ German style of play is looking more and more like the German style of old – methodical, disciplined, rigorous, a bit ugly, and damningly successful.

2. Head Games
Do all of you doubters of the home side understand now why it is they are still such a huge favourite in this tournament? To quote Johan Cruijff once again, football is a game that is played with the head. The Brazilians got into the Colombians’ heads from the get-go, scoring at 6’ on a sloppily played corner. In a lot of ways, the game felt somewhat over barely after it had begun.

Keep in mind that Colombia had beaten Brazil once in their history in a relevant game. With five World Cup titles comes a substantial amount of cred, and the Brazilians know how to play the mental game as well anybody. A good number of Seleção came into this game sitting on yellows, which meant another yellow would mean suspension – but they also knew it was as hostile an environment for the officials as for the opponents. And it became pretty clear early on that the Spanish referee wasn’t going to open his book, not when facing 74,000 hostile fans inside the stadium and another 199,000,000 hostile fans outside of it.

Knowing this, the Brazilians had carte blanche to do their best Paul Bunyan impersonations and chop down anything around them. They hit James pretty much every time he had the ball, and they were more than happy to slow down the Colombian attack and concede a free kick whenever possible. They were basically flaunting their superiority to the Colombians, knowing they could do just about anything and get away with it. It was only when Thiago Silva did something completely, mindnumbingly stupid as hit a goalkeeper that the ref showed a yellow, but the tone of the game had long since been sent.

It was pretty cynical stuff, really, and the Colombians’ response of simply fouling them back didn’t help matters. (The play on which Neymar was injured was atrocious. How that amounted to nothing more than a stoppage in play was a bit of a mystery. Perhaps the officials were less spooked and more incompetent, in retrospect.) The positivity which has been a hallmark of the Colombians disappeared for much of the game. They were still playing with pace, but it was wasted energy. It was only after Luiz made it 2-0 on the free kick that the Colombians found their focus. The Brazilians had won the psychological battle, and not even the ample talent and fight of the Colombians could overcome that.

The Colombians did pull one back on a penalty, a two-footed tackle by Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar that many argued merited a red card. By the letter of the law, maybe it should’ve been. But red cards are rarely given without deliberate intent detected – and it could be argued that the challenge was simply a bad play by the keeper in an attempt to defend. That call is rarely given against a goalkeeper to begin with, Luiz’s presence nearby took away some of the “last man standing” argument (deliberately blunting a likely score by breaking the rules), and the truth is that in this situation, that call was never going to be given. And everyone knew it, which is why the Colombians didn’t argue as strenuously as they could have.

Both of the games on Friday were triumphs over tactics over talent. Neither made for great viewing. Quite honestly, those were the sorts of games which make people dislike the sport. Too often in soccer, it seems as if the ‘better’ team doesn’t win because the ‘worse’ team is simply intent upon thwarting them throughout. I wouldn’t argue in either case that the better team lost, but in both cases, I think the more talented side didn’t figure out how to maximize their talent. At this point, you often have to think your way through the tournament, and the Germans and Brazilians have long been masters of playing chess on grass. Check and mate.