Germany 4 Argentina 0
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals
Saturday 3 July 2010 | Cape Town Stadium | Cape Town, South Africa
Germany's squad came into this World Cup as boys. They now go forth to the semi-finals as men.
The Argentinians went the way of the English, exposed as being not good enough for this stage of the biggest tournament in the world. The Germans sliced and carved apart Maradona's Men in the second half by defending like a steel wall and then sending waves of black-shirted jungen toward goal.
♦♦♦♦♦
When Thomas Muller scored in just the third minute of the game on a header from a free kick, it was just what this match needed to make sure it didn't turn into a cagey affair bereft of wide open play that both Germany and Argentina can provide to entertain. It was a moment of payback for Muller who was the target of Diego Maradona's disrespect after a friendly match in Berlin months ago when the Argentinian coach refused to share the podium with Muller, referring to him as a ballboy.
The match settled a bit midway through the first period, but eventually it got heated in the last 10 minutes of the half when Argentinian feistiness manifested to make you think that the second half would be one to remember.
It was one that Argentina will want to forget.
The sky blue and white could not get anything going. They stuck to playing their offense through the middle of the field, and the Germans just clogged the middle and stifled any semblance of an Argentinian attack. A poingnant moment was on 58', Lionel Messi received the ball near the top of the penalty area and was relegated to turning circles with the ball - not given any space by the German defense.
On the other hand, the Germans exhibited beautiful space across the entire pitch and were able to distribute the ball to wherever it needed to go. Their counterattacks off of a pressing Argentina offense were breathtaking. On 68' when Lukas Podolski's pass to Miroslav Klose resulted in an almost embarrassing tap-in by Klose into an undefended goalmouth to widen the gap to 2-0, it gave the Germans license to pour it on further and extract their pound of flesh.
And that's exactly what Joachim Low's boys/men did. On 74' Arne Friedrich scored from somewhere within a wave of German black shirts that crested right in front of the Argentinian goalmouth. The Argentina players had that look on their faces that elicited sincere pity from the viewer. On the sidelines, Maradona looked like a defeated man. The destruction became complete when on 89' the Germans broke on one of their patented counterattacks. Klose received a pass in the penalty area from the left and volleyed the ball just past a defender and the goalkeeper that effectively rubbed Argentina's nose in their own mess of a slow and broken defensive unit.
♦♦♦♦♦
We had perhaps just learned to love Maradona again. His appointment as manager of Argentina was met with almost universal derision by the world as some kind of South American madness. When his team had problems in the qualification stage of this World Cup, the thought of Argentina not bringing a team to South Africa was a juicy morsel that his critics chewed on with delight.
It all came to a head when Bolivia defeated Argentina 6-1 on April Fools' Day 2009, a game Maradona was criticized for dismissing by not preparing his squad for the altitude of La Paz. Losing their next 3 of 4 had the nation ready to lynch Diego. But Maradona's Men won their last two, including a 2-1 win at Uruguay in the rain, sealing Argentina's trip to South Africa.
We are grateful that Argentina made it, because they exhibited an unbridled enthusiasm for the event and the game itself, fueled by Diego Maradona's outward exuberance and genuine affection for his players. At times he looked like a man that was chained to a tree to prevent him form participating in what gives him life - playing with a soccer ball on an open expanse of green grass. But the lasting memory from Argentina's presence in this World Cup, besides the pasting of their football team at the hands of the Germans, will be the joy they brought to this competition.
However on Saturday, Argentina's joy was surpassed by an organized, disciplined, and supremely talented group of young Germans for whom the sky is the limit. Germany exhibited their own joy, Deutsche Freude, in the most dominant performance of the knock-out stage so far.
♦♦♦♦♦
PHOTOS:
Schweinsteiger, Podolski, and Muller celebrate Germany's victory over Argentina (Reuters/BBC.com)
Diego Maradona (Top News Sports)
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