The Semi-Finals

I rather enjoyed the game today, although I imagine many marginal soccer fans would consider 120 minutes of 0-0 boring. The quality of the game was high, in particular the defensive organization and tackling. It was the first game where Messi and Robben were both ineffective and essentially taken out of the game by the other team. Argentina has impressed me in the last two games. They seem incredibly disciplined and stingy in the back and patient in the attack. They are content to let their skill players up front come up with magic. They miss Di Maria, probably their most skillful player up front other than Messi, so we'll see how they do against Germany.

My impression of Germany-Brazil was that of a defensive and organizational letdown as opposed to a crushing defeat imposed by Germany. The first goal was a joke - Mueller was completely unmarked. The second goal was a nice play, but it was essentially 2 on 4 and they made a criss cross run and Klose got loose. Again, sloppy defending. In fact, most of the goals and much of the game was just completely wide open for Germany. It was strange to see a letdown at such a high level, but clearly Brazil was playing above themselves for the tournament and didn't have the talent of the other three final teams.

As for the final, I root for both Messi and Ozil. Ozil has had a lousy tournament and it would be sweet for him to have a heroic moment. But it would also be nice for Messi to get a World Cup to add to his resume and make the greatest of all-time debate more fun.