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Friday, July 07, 2006

Germany are the World Cup winners

Well, how has it been for you?
I had the feeling that as soon I wrote the lines: 'The World Cup has been sensational" after the fantastic Croatia v Australia group match, the tournament might bomb in the knockout stages and so it proved.
The only classic match I've seen in the second half of the tournament has been Tuesday's wonderful semi-final between Germany and Italy: the rest of the knockout games have ranged from good (Argentina v Mexico),reasonable (Italy v Ukraine) to absolutely dire (Switzerland v Ukraine, England v Ecuador, France v Portugal). But whoever gets their hands on the Jules Rimet Trophy on Sunday, the team which has 'won' this World Cup for me is Germany.
From the word go, Jurgen Klinsmann's team showed a refreshing commitment to attack- in a competiton when dull Portugalesque 4-5-1 formations have become far too common. Klinsmann's attitude has been a breath of fresh air at a time when far too many coaches (a certain bespectacled Swede springs readily to mind) have been terrified to take chances. Let's hope Klinsmann continues as Germany's coach and that more and more teams start to copy his country's exhilirating style of play. If they do, then the next World Cup really will be sensational- from start to finish.

2 comments:

Peter Nolan said...

This is about as accurate as every other prediction you make.

Neil Clark said...

Doh!! it wasn't a prediction Peter, just a comment that Germany were the moral victors of the World Cup.
If you see the date of the posting, it comes after they were knocked out!