Generally speaking nobody cares too much about the August early season friendly, but this was Argentina – and Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena would be packed to the rafters to see Joachim Löw’s side take on the Albiceleste in what was their first
After the endless discussions about the starting lineup at Euro 2012, we kick things off again with this season’s opening friendly international against Argentina: a friendly with that touch of importance, a game against a “big” country rather than a
So, no return to the Ukraine after what was planned to be a two-week break in Poland. Poor tactics, mental collapse, another defeat to bogey side Italy, and it’s all over. Just like that. I’ll save the post mortem for
When the last eight teams slotted into place and Germany then beat Greece to make the semi-finals, we all knew a classic encounter would be coming up next. We would either see England – a team that has provided a
So here we are: another fine team performance, and yet another major tournament semi-final. Fifteen competitive victories in a row, and two away from a record-extending fourth European Championship title. The worst thing now will be the waiting.
Following the Nationalmannschaft’s third group phase victory against Denmark, there would be much talk about the eleven would start the quarter-final against Greece. Most of us expected the same team that had taken to the field against both Portugal and
Three games, three times the same line up – Jérôme Boateng’s one match suspension aside – and everyone expecting more of the same for this evening’s quarter-final against Greece.
Three wins from three and maximum points in a European Championship group phase for the first time – easy. Or not, given that this was yet another tough match that could very easily have swung in the opposite direction.
After the lovely refreshing glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice on Wednesday, we can now add to that a rather nice Danish pastry – though at times it did taste a little half-baked.
It’s just three days to go until Germany take on Portugal in L’viv, and there’s time for at least a couple more pre-tournament posts before we finally get going with the real stuff. I will be keeping myself busy during
After Saturday’s failed experiment in Basel, yesterday’s final pre-tournament friendly in Leipzig against Israel could best be described as a workmanlike effort against obdurate opposition – a victory without frills.
Now that everyone has had time to discuss yesterday’s experiment/disaster/wake up call in Basel, it’s time for my analysis of the match, the players and where everything stands – or in my view should stand – with the selection of