Friday, June 09, 2006

Thoughts on Germany-Costa Rica

Jurgen Klinsmann has taken lots of criticism for his attacking style and his decision to continue to live in California while managing the national team. . While the critics may continue to persist, Klinsmann's Germany side scored 4 goals today and beat Coast Rica 4-2. Miroslav Klose picked up where he left off in the last World Cup with 2 goals. I was also very impressed with Torsten Frings, not only for his rocket goal but for his command of the midfield with Michael Ballack missing. However, Costa Rica looked dangerous going forward and Klinsmann must consider making adjustments at the back to contain speedy strikers that the Germans may face in the future.

Paulo Wanchope scored twice and was just offsides a few other times where he easily got behind the German defense. I had made the mistake in the Group A preview of a few weeks back of saying that Wanchope had lost some speed and his best days were behind him. Clearly based on today's performance I was wrong and Costa Rica despite dropping the opener has a decent shot of advancing through the group stage. Douglas Sequeira who plays in MLS for Real Salt Lake had a good game for Costa Rica as he took Lukas Podolski, the Germany wonderkid out of the match almost entirely. Jose Porras made two goalkeeping errors for Costa Rica one of which resulted in a devastating second half goal by Klose, which ultimately changed the game. The World Cup as we all know can turn on a dime or one minor goalkeeping error.

Both teams played well, and Costa Rica certainly has enough offensive firepower to feel good about their chances in the final two games. Germany is obviously one of the world's elite teams and they showed it again today.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Germany plays defense like they did today if England plays them, then Rooney and Crouch will both have hat tricks. Germany clearly doesn't have the cohesion or disipline at the back to be a real factor down the roads.

Anonymous said...

Ecuador looks really good. They'll scorte a bundle against Germany also.

Anonymous said...

Good performance from Ecuador. Poland once again in this world cup looks like road kill. Didn't our esteemed author pick them to advance to the 2nd round?

Kartik said...

Right on anonymous, I did not realize Poland would come out totally flat for the second straight finals. I did think about Ecuador more than most sicne I actually said in my preview I thought they had a shot to surprise. Most "experts" had dismissed them as one of the weakest sides in the cup because of a lack of european experience. Ecuador's victory is a good sign for the USA and Mexico that they can be very successful on the European continent without European based players. I'm not sure if ECU has any european based players, but they really took it to the Poles, dominating until the last 8 minutes or so.

Anonymous said...

Kahn in Lehman out for Germany!

Anonymous said...

Kahn in Lehman out for Germany!

Anonymous said...

Just wait until this afternoon when we really launch this world cup. I am so confident with Rooney now back that I have placed 1,000 big ones on us winning the cup. Only Brazil can come close to us, but they are aging and weak at the back, and Rooney, Crouch, Owen and Garrard will have a field day on them.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I have a different view on the Germany v. Costa Rica match. Most people on here are saying that both sides played well.

While it was a good game (I won't take that away from the teams), I think the goals that both teams needed to accomplish at the end of this match were not met.

Yes, Germany beat Costa Rica. Yes, it was 4-2. But two things I have to point out. One, Germany should have had more than 4 goals against the Ticos. Second, Germany shouldn't have let the Ticos score two goals. I think that Germany really needed a clean sheet or a one goal game, while they would have to score five or more themselves. They fell short of this goal. They didn't make a statement, like they did in 2002 with their 8-0 win over the Saudis.

I think that Costa Rica almost accomplished what they needed to, but they allowed one goal too many. If the game would have been 3-2 or 2-1, then they might have been in a better position.

I don't see Costa Rica winning another game. As far as Germany, they will advance, but can't play like they did today against a top tier team, or they will be killed.