The 2014 World Cup semi-finals were a strictly heavyweight affair.
It saw three previous winners – Brazil, Argentina and Germany – in action, and also Holland, a team that had made it to three previous finals and lost each one of them — always the bridesmaid and never the bride.
For the football connoisseur, it doesn’t really get any better than that.
South America played Europe in both games, and the contrast between the two was remarkable, showing two completely opposite ends of the football spectrum.
In 120 minutes of attritional warfare, Holland versus Argentina couldn’t be separated and Germany gave Brazil such a hiding that it’s hard to remember a better World Cup performance in history.
The hosts had harboured genuine hopes of progression to Fifa’s showpiece at the Estadio Maracana on Sunday.
What a shame then that injury would deny Neymar, one of the tournament’s stand-out players to this point, the chance to guide his Brazil side through to the final and potentially an unprecedented sixth title.
In his absence, Luis Felipe Scolari sprang a surprise. Most Brazilians expected Willian to step up, but the manager decided to plump for 21-year-old Bernard, a player who had been instrumental in Clube Atletico Mineiro winning their first Copa Libertadores at the same stadium a year ago, but who had started just eight games during the past season after a transfer to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Dante was drafted in to replace Thiago Silva in a like-for-like switch and he too would be making his first appearance of the finals.
Scolari needed a high-risk strategy to bring an appropriate reward, but within half an hour, Joachim Loew’s side had dismantled any notion of the Selecao returning to Rio in triumph.
An opening 10-minute period littered with mistakes from both sides gave no clue as to what would transpire over the following 20, by which time Germany had eased into a sensational 5-0 lead.
Brazil’s back four were incredibly naïve in their general play and given this was in a World Cup semi-final, there could be no excuse for their profligacy.
Fernandinho and Luis Gustavo offered no protection whatsoever, and the simple, intelligent and effective German game ensured that they found acres of space in behind Brazilian lines with ease.
It was a hugely embarrassing performance by the hosts who were booed off the pitch by those who had bothered to stay around.
Yes indeed, well before the half-time whistle, a large portion of the crowd had already seen enough and was on its way home.
Given how easily their own defence has been exposed at times during the tournament, Argentina will have viewed the opening half hour with particular interest.
Germany’s smooth transitions from back to front were in stark contrast to the nervous and wasteful build ups from the Selecao, and the compact, structured 4-3-3 from Loew was more than capable of containing Scolari’s ragged 4-2-3-1.
How do you even begin to explain why seven Brazilian defenders inside the six-yard box left Thomas Mueller completely unmarked for the opening goal?
A ‘headless chicken’ approach continued throughout, ruthless German efficiency brutally exposing every single one of the Brazilian’s shambolic shortcomings.
Up front, Brazil were completely toothless yet again, and the absence of Neymar was never more clearly defined. Between Oscar, Fred, Hulk and Bernard, they managed just a single shot on goal — the former’s 90th-minute consolation.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi was fit enough to lead his Argentina side against the Dutch in Sao Paulo, but in a game which saw very little in the way of goalmouth action, he was on the periphery throughout.
Nigel de Jong’s man-marking job ensured Messi’s impotency for the most part. The pressure on the Argentine captain to produce in the final will be immense, and Bastian Schweinsteiger will surely have noted the ease with which De Jong was able to carry out his duties.
In fact, both defensive midfielders were probably their team’s best players, with Javier Mascherano coming to the rescue of his defence more than once, including an impeccably timed last-ditch tackle on Arjen Robben in the 90th minute.
Barcelona’s converted central defender has surely done enough at this tournament to convince Luis Enrique that he belongs at the base of the midfield rather than the heart of defence.
As a spectacle, the second semi-final never really got going. Argentina simply sat off the Dutch for long periods, inviting them to try and open up the channels by using some vertical pressing.
When that didn’t work, Robben and Robin van Persie would peel off to the wings, making a more attacking 3-4-3, and long cross-field balls from the likes of Dirk Kuyt and Daley Blind became a regular feature.
The incisiveness and inventiveness which destroyed Spain in the opening match of this tournament was missing here, and whether their lack of nous was because of a superior Argentine performance or not, is a matter of conjecture.
Ezequiel Lavezzi and Pablo Zabaleta had Bruno Martins Indi on the Dutch left in their pocket all night, and it wasn’t a surprise when the latter was subbed. Should Alejandro Sabella try the same tactic in the final, he will likely garner some more success.
Benedikt Howedes is a German central defender masquerading as a left back, and as Ghana showed in their group game, he is the weakest link in an otherwise tidy German defence, albeit one that lacks a bit of pace.
In the event Argentina break through, there is still man-mountain and sweeper-keeper extraordinaire Manuel Neuer, the most ominous of shot stoppers to get past.
Expect Messi to continue in a deeper role behind Higuain but alongside the fit again Angel di Maria and Sergio Aguero; just about Argentina’s best four forwards.
Robben rarely threatened in the semi-final and whilst Mueller and Miroslav Klose are in good goal-scoring form for Germany, Ezequiel Garay and Martin Demichelis seem almost impenetrable as a pairing at the moment.
If Argentina’s winning 100% of their aerial duels and 95% pass accuracy is repeated, it will ensure that the Germans are made to work hard if they want to lift the trophy.
Greatness awaits; winner takes all.
The writer is a European football journalist
Published in The Express Tribune, July 11th, 2014.
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German will easily win the final.
Germans will easily win the final.