Quater Finals - Day 2

Hay everybody, Commenting on the last post, As I predicted Germany came through England, but I expected a penalty shootout because I expected England to be better in their defense and referees didn't help England either with their decisions.

While everyone predicting Brazil to win their quarter final against Netherlands, I over and over mentioned both in this blog and in face-book this is a totally unpredictable and Netherlands proved my point yesterday.

Argentina VS Germany.

This is also a very competitive fixture. So lets breakdown this and analyze.

1)History

They have met 18 times. 8 Won by Argentina. 5 Won by Germany. 5 draw.

But as I have mentioned even before, Germany performs well in world cups. So in the world cups they've met 5 times, Germany won 2. Argentina won only 1.

So in world cup history Germany is the better team.

2) Form and Moral

Both teams are in good form. Germans defeat against Serbia makes a little edge to Argentina as they have never defeated in the tournament. But surely they are meeting a top quality team for the 1st time in this tournament, so their never beaten fact doesn't make a big sense. Germany on the other hand, played a really good counter attacking football against England (is a real deal even they are inform) and that must have surely up Germans moral, which is a big factor in this level of football.

Therefore considering statistical form and moral Germany is edging.

3) Squad Analysis

Argentina

Defense : 90.0
Mid Field: 92.3
Attack : 95.0

Germany

Defense : 91.7
Mid Field: 91.5
Attack : 90.25

Argentina Attack Germany

Argentinian attacking power is 3.3% powerful than German defense. Therefore Germans may not be able to stop these world class strikers from scoring unless their midfield helped the defenders.

Germany Attack Argentina

German attack is 0.25% powerful than Argentinian defense. But if Argentinian midfielders came to help their defense, it'll not be easy for Germans to break that. But Germans have young quick legs to do the attacking before advanced Argentinian midfielders set back.

Midfield

Argentinian midfield is 0.8% better than German. Remember I said German midfield has to help their defense too. So Schweinsteiger and Khedira can't advance much and help their attackers much. So Argentinians expected to be keep the possession more than Germans.

Tactics

Germany have only one option. Do what they did against England. Their set Schweinsteiger and Khedira back. Defend well. Steal the ball from Argentina. Use Podolski, Ozil, Muller and Klose in counter attack.

Argentina should play their passing game. They have to keep the possession. But must not loose the ball in advanced positions. Mascherano (Or who ever the defensive midfielder they play) has to be in deep in order to help their defenders in the case of German counter attacks. Otherwise Argentinian defenders are not quality enough to take those lethal counter attacks alone them selves.

Players to watch

Argentina

Carlos Tavez

Gonzalo Higuain

Lionel Messi

Germany

Miroslav Klose

Thomas Muller

Bastian Schweinsteiger


Paraguay vs Spain

Just adding a quick note since this is the minor fixture in the day,

Do not under estimate Paraguay. Why?

Paraguay finished 3rd in qualifiers in South American region defeating Argentina 1-0 in their qualifiers fixture.

Paraguay yet to be defeated in the tournament.

In their previous encounters against Spain, they have been able to draw twice and only loose once and If they play defensive and push the game towards penalty shootout, any thing can happen. Actually any thing can happen at any stage like Switzerland have already done against European champions.