Day 23 - CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Europe’s best are rising to the top as Germany & Spain defeat their South American foes on Saturday.

July 3, 2010
by Dan Krier


Germany 4 - Argentina 0

Please cry for me, Argentina. This game was as close as the score indicates.

Call it “The Beat Down in Cape Town”, because at no point in the entire 90-minute span of play were Argentina in control against their well-known German opponents, with whom they’d shared more than a few memorable World Cup matches. In fact, this game could be classified as a total washout, a 100% house-cleaning that solidly puts the young German team down as a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

What happened, you ask? Well…do you like early goals? Germany does. Just three minutes after kick off, the score was 1-0 on a fantastic in-swinging free kick by Bastian Schweinsteiger that was calmly headed in by 20 year-old sensation Thomas Mueller, his fourth goal of the World Cup in just his seventh ever game for his country.

After the first score, things did not change in the least. Germany maintained most of the possession, were able to keep Argentina out of anything resembling a valid scoring opportunity, and most importantly of all, shackled Lionel Messi with a blanketing team defense which made you wonder why he wasn’t doing more to help him team. Because he couldn’t. The Germans were too much to handle.

But the score remained just 1-0 at the half, so the Argentinians and coach Diego Maradona had to have hope. Unfortunately, the action after the break was the same as before, with Germany showing the ability to push forward as a full unit with blind speed whenever they desired.

Then more goals came and all hope for Argentina was extinguished.

First it was Lukas Podolski up the left wing cutting into the box in the 68th minute. A fake and a mini-cross to Miroslav Klose, and the score was 2-0, Klose netting his 13th career World Cup goal, surpassing Pele for third-most all-time. Then it was Schweinsteiger again in the 74th minute, copying Podolski with another run in from the left, his cross finding the foot of a falling Arne Freidrich for his first-ever international goal for Germany in 77 career games, and a 3-0 insurmountable lead. Not a bad way to put the nail in the coffin.

Just for icing on the German chocolate cake, in the 89th minute with the Argentinians ready to hit Cape Town International Airport, midfielder Mesut Oezil made another dashing run up the field, dropping a nifty pass over to Klose, who kicked in his 14th-career World Cup goal, and second of the match, for a 4-0 lead.

Klose is now tied for 2nd-most World Cup goals all-time with the great German striker Gerd Mueller.

So goodbye, Argentina…and hello to a new & improved German machine that will face Spain for the right to play in the 2010 World Cup Final. Who wins that game is anyone’s guess, but being that the German performance on Saturday was just as dominating as the display against England last Sunday, I fully expect the men in red, yellow, & black to be playing for their 4th Championship Trophy on July 11th. Sehr gut!

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Spain 1 - Paraguay 0

Spain did what its fans were waiting so long for on Saturday night, moving for the first time ever into the semi-final stage of the World Cup with an extremely tense 1-0 win over Paraguay in Johannesburg.

Call it jitters, or call it pressure, but the second half is where the action got crazy, leaving two players to wonder if they were going to be the scapegoat for the next four year. Luckily for the now-off-the-hook Xabi Alonso, the poison memories are going to Paraguay’s Oscar Cardozo.

In the 58th minute, with the game tied 0-0 and goals clearly hard to come by, a Paraguay counterattack led them up the field to where a looping corner kick sailed into a melee of congestion in the box. Two separate Paraguayan players were pulled down by their jerseys, and to the horror of the Spanish, the team in striped red & white was awarded a penalty kick that would surely give them the decisive lead.

So up stepped Cardozo, hero of the PK shootout versus Japan last Tuesday, when he ended things by calmly sending home the fifth and final penalty shot for his team. Today it was nerves galore for Cardozo, because his left-foot kick failed to move much to the right and was smothered by Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Shock for Paraguay.

In fact, the shock was so great, Paraguay’s defense somehow forgot to mark superstar David Villa, who was allowed to make a clear run down the field just seconds later, only to be tripped up at the last moment inside the opposing penalty box for YET ANOTHER penalty kick…this time for Spain.

Up stepped Xabi Alonso to give Spain the lead, most likely because Villa had missed his PK when he had the chance for a hat-trick against Honduras. Good strategy too, because Alonso’s shot rang out with conviction, banging into the left side of the net for the 1-0 Spanish lead. NO WAIT…HOLD ON! Head referee Carlos Batres blew his whistle for a re-kick, saying Spain’s other players had crossed into the box too early before the kick was taken. Replays showed this to be true. Wow.

No problem, though…right? Wrong. On the second Alonoso kick, nerves struck the Spanard and his shot was weak and to the right, easily saved by Paraguay keeper Justo Villar, keeping the score tied 0-0. It was the first time a game had seen two missed penalty kicks in World Cup play since 1930. Probably’ll be another 80 years before it happens again.

Surely this game was slated for it’s own run into extra time and then more penalty kicks. It’s really the only way to decide things.

Except that David Villa was still on the field. The man with the magic touch connected for the game’s only goal in the 83rd minute after a dazzling run up the middle of the field by Spain’s Andres Iniesta, who shuttled a pass right to new substitute Pedro, whose right-footer plowed into the left post, the carom bouncing directly to Villa, who decided to knock his shot off the RIGHT post, the ball taking a bounce into the back of the net for the real 1-0 lead, Villa’s Cup-leading fifth goal of the tournament. T’was all over at that point.

Great run for Paraguay, who were determined to win the World Cup on the hopes of four straight scoreless penalty kick wins. Thankfully that won’t be the case.

Spain crawls forward by the slimmest of margins yet again, feeling relieved more than elated I’m sure. No Red Fury to be found on Saturday, so clearly some sort of spark will be necessary when they take on Germany July 7th in order to get to their first-ever Final. Efforts like this today won’t cut it if they’re going to go for glory.

What a World Cup!

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