Possession Wins Over Defense Yet Again

I didn't post on separate days for the semifinals for a couple reasons. The first is that I just thought it would be better to deal with both games at once and therefore be able to sum up with thoughts on the championship game. The second is that we came home from watching the Holland vs Uruguay match to find that we had lost power in the middle of this awful heat wave. No electricity kind of makes the whole "writing on a computer and using the internet" thing pretty hard, so an executive decision was made to go to an air conditioned bar to deal with the situation properly. I think it was the right call.

Where that leaves us is discussing both semifinal games in the same post, starting with the Holland vs Uruguay match. Holland was the odds-on favorite and almost every soccer commentators' pick, which wasn't terribly surprising since they were fresh off a victory over tournament favorites Brazil. Holland has been playing very solid possession soccer, but they've added another dimension with the full time return of Arjen Robben, who is an absolute menace down the right wing. His willingness to attack defenders on the dribble unfortunately comes with a conviction to attack the grass as well, mercilessly diving over any light touch he receives, not to mention some that he doesn't. Ugh. It makes it harder to appreciate him, but he gave good reason in this match to win some positive attention back. This wasn't going to be a complete walkover for Holland though, as Uruguay had been playing fantastic soccer with tight defense and highly skilled attacks from the pairing of Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan. However, Suarez was suspended for this match due to his red card in last round's match vs Ghana when he batted the ball out of goal with his hands. Could Uruguay find offense from other players, or would the lack of the other half of the South American side's dynamic duo doom them?


Uruguay vs Holland

Holland started off the match with a great chance before the game settled into its predictable tentativeness. In the 4th, Robben put a nice cross into the middle that Fernando Muslera did well to punch away. However, the ball still fell to Dirk Kuyt at the back post, who collected it and promptly put it over the crossbar. After this wasted chance, the game went into "let's see how good you are and where you might be weak" mode which Holland had more possession during, but no real chances. In fact, it stayed that way all the way up through the 18th minute when Holland was just passing the ball around outside of the 18. The ball came to defender Giovanni Van Bronckhorst out wider than the penalty area and probably thirty-five yards from goal, and he might as well have shrugged his shoulders and said "what the hell" before he struck it. What came next was unbelievable. Remarkable. Confounding. I didn't even know what happened at first, to be honest. It just didn't seem possible. Van Bronckhorst hit what may be one of the most perfect strikes I have ever seen, picking out the back post upper ninety. From thirty-five yards out. Just barely in from the sideline. Sublime or magnificent does not do this shot justice. It was absolutely astounding and has to be front-runner for goal of the tournament. Unbelievable.

Holland was able to control the ball after this goal as well, working it around and keeping the Uruguay attack from getting into any kind of rhythm while never opening themselves up for the counter. As the half went on, Uruguay managed to work their way into more possession, but never really put together dangerous chances in the box. Luckily for Uruguay, Forlan took it upon himself to get them back in the game, continuing his excellent World Cup with a high quality strike from distance in the 41st. He first did well to turn inside away from the defensive pressure and then ripped a left footed shot that swerved back to the right as it approached the keeper, fooling Maarten Stekelenburg and bringing Uruguay level.

Coming out of the break, neither team really got much in the way of chances for quite a while. Holland possessed the ball largely, of course, but couldn't get anything around the net that would trouble Muslera. The first really good chance of the half actually went to Forlan in the 67th when he got a free kick up and over the wall and then dipping sharply down to the left post. It might have been going wide anyway, but Stekelenburg did well to get over to a well taken kick and push it aside. I don't know if Holland just then realized how close they were to giving up a go-ahead goal and being in serious danger of going home, but they turned it on immediately. Robin Van Persie held the ball well despite being harassed by two Uruguayan defenders on the left wing, then split the defenders with a pass to substitute Rafael Van der Vaart who put a curling shot to the back post. Muslera did well to cover the shot but the rebound fell right to Robben. He didn't do enough with it though as he awkwardly tried to put the ball back on goal with his off-foot instead of playing an easy square ball to Wesley Sneijder who was open in the box. Just two minutes later, the Dutch broke through despite the previous wasted chances, when Sneijder lined up a shot that took a nasty deflection off a defender and changed direction completely to spin toward the back post. Van Persie may have been in an offside position when he took a late swipe at the ball, but the flag stayed down and his involvement was enough to delay the keeper's dive for the ball, which found its way inside the back post. It was a lucky goal, but it was what the Dutch needed to finally get back on the scoreboard and take control of the match.

The Dutch lead grew just three minutes later when Kuyt put a nice ball in from the left that was still a little behind Robben, his target. Despite the degree of difficulty, Robben managed to hang in the air, reach his head back and snap a header off the left post and in that left Muslera flat-footed with no chance. Amazing header, simply amazing. To get that much power on a ball that's delivered behind you and to place it so perfectly as well is a serious feat of skill and is what we'd all be talking about right now if it wasn't for Van Bronckhorst's goal earlier. It's a bit of a shame because Robben's header deserves its own attention, but doesn't stand a chance due to the earlier magic. With a 3-1 lead, Holland seemed destined for the final but Uruguay made them sweat a little with a goal in the 91st minute by Maxi Pereira off of a short free kick restart. They couldn't get the miracle goal to come all the back however, and Holland closed out the game to win a chance to play for the World Cup.

Holland 3 - 2 Uruguay


Spain vs Germany

Despite the amazing goals and high drama of the Holland vs Uruguay match, this was the one that everyone was waiting for. Germany had been many people's pick for "most fun side to watch" during the tournament thus far, mostly due to their aggressive attacking style and huge offensive output. However, they were up against a Spain side that maintains the majority of possession and doesn't recklessly attack resulting in opportunities to counter for their opponents. Germany put up four goals apiece versus the more open attacks of England and Argentina, but it was difficult to see that happening against a side that dominated the ball so much. Still, we had to play the match to find out if this was true.

Early on, Spain had a couple of chances to break up an otherwise super cautious first half with not too many thrills. Sniper David Villa was played through into the box in the 6th minute, but keeper Manuel Neuer did an excellent job coming off his line to close out the angle on Villa's shot. The better chance was in the 14th when defender Carlos Puyol got free for a header in the box off of one of Spain's preferred short corners, but somehow contrived to put it over the crossbar from six yards out. This was a pretty brutal miscue by Puyol and consider how thin the chances were in the game, could have proved quite fatal for Spain. The rest of the half was actually pretty blah, with Spain dominating the ball but never really opening up the German defense. Central defenders Arne Friedrich and Per Mertesacker were good all game, especially in the air, and Spain seemed to think they had to make extra passes all the time and were then dispossessed, lacking the final touch on goal. The price for this defense from Germany was the openness of their beautiful offensive attack, however. It was obvious from the start that Germany was content to let Spain knock the ball around but keep them on the perimeter and look for the counter since they are so skilled at that. But despite the threat of the counter, Germany had always been most impressive and dangerous when flying down the wings and connecting quick passes to get the attack moving forward. Philipp Lahm was an offensive non-factor almost all game and Spain controlled the wings, especially with Sergio Ramos coming down the right. Germany perhaps made the smart coaching move because no team can really hope to outpossess the Spanish, but it made for a duller brand of German soccer, which was a real shame.

Complaints about the pace of the first half aside, the second half was much, much more exciting. Spain seemed to find a little extra room or perhaps kick their attack up a gear. Either way, they truly got their chances this half and made it look for a while like it was only a matter of time until they broke through. The first chances were shots by Xabi Alonso from roughly the top of 18, once in the 48th on a lay off from Pedro and again in the 5oth. Both shots found their way wide, however, to the left on the first and to the right on the second. Spain looked even more dangerous in the 58th when Pedro took a good shot that forced a diving save from Neuer, but Spain kept possession with the rebound. Alonso freed Andres Iniesta for a run into the box with a nice backheel and Iniesta went as far as the end line before putting a sharp cross across the face of goal intended for Villa. Villa had slowed his run, however, and tried to drift from his defender to be open for a pass at the top of the six rather than crashing the back post hard. As a result, he wasn't able to catch up to Iniesta's cross and Spain was left wanting again.

Germany was able to soak up the Spanish pressure despite some close calls and got some decent chances of their own on the counter. The best came in the 69th when Podolski floated a lovely ball in from the left that sailed over the head of Miroslav Klose but found the foot of Toni Kroos at the back post. Kroos one timed the volley, but went near post instead of a more open back post and forced Iker Casillas to make a quick reaction save. Germany was able to push forward more in general and looked like they might completely weather the Spanish storm, until the 73rd minute when Spain scored surprisingly off of a corner kick, surprising because the Germans had dominated the air all game long. Puyol made a late run right up the middle, stepped into Xavi's cross with a head of steam and absolutely buried the header inside the right post, making up for his poor effort earlier in the game. Neuer was furious with his defenders for their poor marking, and rightfully so as Puyol got a free run into the box and was completely unimpeded on the header. Germany was forced to scramble for a tying goal over the last twenty minutes and was almost counter by the Spanish counter on more than one occasion. Spain couldn't convert their chances but neither could Germany and Spain took yet another 1-0 triumph over a defensive-minded side (at least on this day).

Spain 1 - 0 Germany


So now we have Spain vs Holland in the final, assuring that one of these great soccer nations will win their first World Cup. High drama indeed. Though I'm rooting for Spain, I can appreciate the plight of Holland as well and we should have a fantastic final match. I will post full previews of both the final and the third-place games before they start, so for now, let's just enjoy the great semifinals that we saw and let the drama build until Sunday.