BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Looking at Germany in the Brazil World Cup


This appears on philstar.com

Looking at Germany in the Brazil World Cup
by rick olivares pic by jamie squire/getty

It’s the knockout stages and I don’t expect any more blowouts such as the Dutch’s opening match shellacking of Spain or Germany’s dismantling of Portugal.

A total of 204 countries competed for the right to play in Brazil. And now, of the 31 who planed into host Brazil’s shores, there are 16 left. Well, there are actually 12 left as four have been ousted in the Round of 16.

Looking at the German national team, there are five holdovers from the 2006 squad that began this revival of Die Nationalmannschaft football: Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Philip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Per Mertesacker.

There are 11 from their South Africa unit – Klose, Podolski, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Mertesacker, Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, and Jerome Boateng.

Since there is a large contingent from the South Africa games and all who have seen action in Brazil, I looked at their scoring.

In 2010, they finished 2-0-1 in their group stage matches losing 1-nil to Serbia in their second outing. They scored five goals for a plus-four goal difference.

Once in the knockout stages, they hit their stride, killing England, 4-1, then Argentina, 4-0, before losing 1-nil to Spain in the semifinals.

This 2014, Germany finished 2-1-0 in their group and scored seven goals for a plus-five goal difference.

In their Round of 16 match, they sent off Algeria, 2-1.

Now let’s take a look at their statistics in their first four matches (other country’s stats on the left and Germany’s to the right).

Country
Attacks
Total Attempts
Deliveries in PK area
Clearances
Passes Completed
Portugal
36-42
14-13
6-9
8-11
391-483
Ghana
33-45
20-11
7-7
17-10
335-584
USA
17-53
4-13
2-13
19-12
363-725
Algeria
25-50
11-29
2-16
19-21
335-768

Attempts
Country
Total
On-target
Goals
Blocked
Saves
Off
target
Woodwork
Portugal
14-13
9-9
0-4
5-2
4-2
5-4
0-0
Ghana
20-11
10-6
2-2
2-2
5-2
10-5
0-0
USA
4-13
1-9
0-1
1-3
0-5
3-4
0-0
Algeria
11-29
7-22
1-2
2-9
4-11
4-7
0-0

Possession
Country
Possession
Portugal
46%-54%
Ghana
41%-59%
USA
37%-63%
Algeria
37%-63%

Attacking
Country
Attempts
Set pieces
Crosses
Corners
Offsides
Free Kicks
Portugal
14-13
4-3
21-17
6-4
1-2
10-12
Ghana
20-11
2-2
15-23
3-7
5-1
12-22
USA
4-13
0-0
7-27
2-3
2-7
16-17
Algeria
11-29
2-0
21-30
4-10
4-4
15-24

Defending
Country
Saves
Clearances
Recovered balls
Lost balls
Tackles won
Portugal
2-4
8-11
38-48
76-72
4-7
Ghana
2-5
17-10
50-40
70-85
1-1
USA
5-0
19-12
31-41
63-68
8-8
Algeria
11-4
19-21
65-68
115-120
12-7
Interestingly, in Germany’s Round of 16 match, they played the best defensive team in the tournament in Algeria. Les Fennecs, or “the Foxes” as Algeria is nicknamed, have totaled in four matches 97 tackles, 23 saves, and 15 blocks.

Passes
Country
Short
Medium
Long
Total
Completion rate
Portugal
113-138
307-361
71-89
491-588
80%-82%
Ghana
112-163
256-483
85-67
453-713
74%-82%
USA
131-207
261-545
66-67
458-819
79%-89%
Algeria
144-221
261-631
99-88
504-940
66%-82%
The Germans are tops so far in the tournament when it comes to passing with 2,560 passes completed for an 84% completion rate.

Goals
Country
1st half
2nd half
Last 15 minutes
1st extension
2nd extension
Portugal
0-3
0-1
0-1
NA
NA
Ghana
0-0
2-2
0-0
NA
NA
USA
0-0
0-1
0-0
NA
NA
Algeria
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-1
1-1

The summary in scoring thus far: Germany nine goals for and three goals against.

Looking at the Germans, their passing has been impressive and impeccable. The knock on them as they have become more attack-minded since 2006 is they are susceptible to counter-attacks. In Brazil, they have looked slower than their opponents.

They looked especially vulnerable to the Ghanaians and the Algerians.


In their last two World Cups, Germany kicked it up another level once they arrived in the knockout stages. So far, after that opening day bamboozling of Portugal, they haven’t exactly killed it just yet. Maybe in their next match, they’ll start to really roll.

1 comment:

  1. Per Mertesacker and Boateng were not of nimble legs even when they were younger, they compensate with really excellent defensive positioning and experience.

    The German defense is vulnerable to quick counters from fast strikers.

    ReplyDelete