FIFA World Cup 2014: France 0-1 Germany: 5 talking points

On the 60th anniversary of the Miracle of Bern, two surviving European heavyweights, Germany and France met for the fourth time in  World Cup history at the Maracana in Brazil to battle for a place in the semi-finals of the tournament. France came into this game already surpassing many expectations while Germany, one of the favourites as always, were looking to make it into their fourth consecutive semi-final.The game commenced as Germany took control of proceedings from the first whistle. France were happy to sit back and let the Germans attack which clearly portrayed Les Blues’ tactics to hit on the counter. But those plans were altered in the 15th minute as Matt Hummels’ header gave Germany the lead as he made the most out of a well taken set piece by Toni Kroos.France barely threatened goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the first half  as both teams headed down the tunnel. Didier Deschamps men started the second half as the brighter of the two sides as they looked more dangerous in the first ten minutes than the entire first half. Neuer was called into action on a few occasions, but the Bayern Munich goalkeeper managed to block their chances. Germany had two good chances at the death, but they were denied by an equally brilliant Hugo Lloris who somehow kept his team in the hunt for an equaliser.France very nearly had their moment to level the scoreline in the dying minutes of stoppage time when Benzema found space to shoot inside the 18-yard area. But Neuer was brilliant with his reflexes again as Germany held on to their lead and became the first team to secure a semi-final berth establishing their status as the most consistent team in the competition’s history. So where did it go wrong for France? Were Germany the better of the two teams? Here, are the five talking points from the game.

#1 Low\'s tactics successful yet unconvincing

Even before kick-off, the team sheet of the starting lineup looked surprising as coach Low went with two defensive midfielders, one centre midfielder in attacking position while Ozil was drifted towards the left flank from his usual central role behind the striker. Klose started and Muller was shifted towards the right. It was clear that the team was setup to distribute the play more through the centre.

That was exactly how Germany approached the game although that did give them more security in the middle. With Schweinsteiger and Khedira, Kroos roamed around freely distributing the passes while his two compatriots did the hard work of tracking back and hindering France from breaking on the counter. It was a plan well set up by Low to maintain balance but in doing that he sacrificed the pace that Germans themselves needed to score more goals and kill the game off.

While Muller and Ozil are experts in finding spaces, they aren’t the quickest in the world. Klose is well past his age to be beating defenders with his runs which may prompt many to ask why Andre Schurrle wasn’t used from the start. Or even Mario Gotze for that matter, who has the capability to take on defenders and beat them. For the next game, this may come back to hurt Germany specially if they require the legs to make an opportunity on the counter.