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Spain 1, Germany 0.

Spain: Puyol, 73
Germany Starting Lineup: (4-2-3-1)

1-Manuel Neuer;
16-Philipp Lahm, 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 20-Jerome Boateng;
6-Sami Khedira, 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger;
15-Piotr Trochowski, 8-Mesut Ozil, 10-Lukas Podolski;
11-Miroslav Klose.
Spain Starting Lineup: (4-2-1-3)

1-Iker Casillas;
15-Sergio Ramos, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 11-Joan Capdevila;
14-Xabi Alonso,  16-Sergio Busquets;
8-Xavi;

18-Pedro, 7-David Villa, 6-Andres Iniesta.
Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).

This World Cup, while not outstanding in terms of quality and number
of goals, has been every sportswriter’s dream because it has been a
groundbreaking tournament in many ways. We saw some football
superpowers exit from the back door; we saw upsets and drama galore;
we witnessed a 44-year old injustice reversed; and, perhaps most
impressively, we saw longstanding clichés absolutely smashed.

“Those Germans are pretty bloody boring; their football is horribly
unattractive; they somehow keep winning over and over again – you wonder
how on earth their luck does not run out at some point; yeah, they
are born winners and brutally efficient but they are the hardest team
to get behind, hands down.”

Well the Germans have indeed been brutally effective in this World Cup, but
all the other negative tags that have been historically (albeit not
always fairly: Germany played some wonderful football in the
1970 World Cup) engraved on the Mannschaft were removed
in South Africa. Jogi Loew’s well-oiled machine produced some
swashbuckling attacking football to tear apart England and Argentina,
inflicting on two of their most bitter rivals (okay, Germany vs.
England is not much of a rivalry because the head-to-head is too
one-sided in favour of Germany) back-to-back four-goal humiliations.
They demonstrated a rare tactical awareness for such a young team,
they overcame the absence of their captain Michael Ballack in flying
colours, they have been ruthless in front of goal, and even their iffy
defence has held together quite nicely. Moreover, this young and
talented side has been a breath of fresh air as the Germany squad is
made up of a delicious and eclectic blend of culturally and ethnically
diverse backgrounds from Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia, Spain, Turkey,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland, and Brazil.

Standing in Germany’s way to a record-breaking eighth World Cup
final were first-time semi-finalists Spain, the very team who
outclassed them in the European Championships final two years ago.
The World Cup record of both teams couldn’t have been more
contrasting. While this was Germany’s 12th trip to the World Cup
semi-finals – more than any other country – Spain were playing in the
semifinals for the very first time in their history.

Spain has a reputation of perennial underachievers and near-men who
succumb under the pressure of the occasion. This reputation is usually
enhanced by the bunker, excuse-making and ‘us against the world’
mentality of the Spanish media. La Furia Roja broke a major mental
block by winning Euro 2008, their first major trophy in 44 years. And
despite struggling to find the back of the net and not getting
anywhere near their scintillating Euro 2008 form, they approached this
semi-final clash against Germany with a sense of destiny. Luck,
something they complained of desperately lacking in the past, has been
smiling at them in this tournament and this was perfectly illustrated
in the quarter-final win over Paraguay.

The only change Vicente del Bosque made to the team that started
against Paraguay was replacing struggling striker Fernando Torres with
young winger Pedro, who had a major impact when he came on against
Paraguay. Loew, meanwhile, was forced to bring on Trochowski for the
suspended Thomas Mueller, who has been a key man for Germany in this
World Cup.
As so many of the hyped-up blockbusters are, this was a slow burner.
Indeed, the first half was largely lacklustre with Spain tiki-taka-ing
their way around the German area without being able to create major
goalmouth actions. Just like the Euro 2008 final, Germany struggled to
get hold on the ball with revelation Mesut Ozil running on empty and being
neutralised by the consistently and silently impressive Sergio
Busquets. Xavi and Xabi Alonso ran the midfield, making it incredibly
difficult for Schweinsteiger and Khedira, who have been fantastic all
tournament, to control the tempo of the game. When Germany did get the
ball, however, they either gave it away right back under pressure from
Spain or couldn’t do much with it. Their counter-attacking tactics,
which were so devastatingly effective against both Argentina and
England, did not work well against a team like Spain with two
rock-solid centre backs – Piqué and Puyol – and a skilled and
uncompromising midfield.

Spain’s first chance came in the seventh minute when Pedro rolled a
lovely ball into the box from the right channel. Germany keeper Neuer
came off his line to claim the ball but David Villa was quicker,
getting a toe on the ball, forcing Neuer to save with his chest.
Germany barely touched the ball in the first 10 minutes but they
mounted a bit of pressure on the Spanish goal in the 11th minute.
Spain shot-stopper Iker Casillas was almost stripped of the ball by
World Cup goal-machine Miroslav Klose. Moments later, Ozil was
released free down the right flank and had his sight on goal from 30
yards, but the flag was waved for offside.

Carles Puyol was given a rare chance to score a goal for La Selección
in the 14th minute. Andrés Iniesta whipped a cross in the six-yard box
but the Barcelona captain sent his diving header miles over the bar.

Germany registered their first corner of the contest in the 16th
minute which Ozil swung into the six-yard box but Casillas flapped the
ball for another corner. This corner, swung from the left by
Trochowski, sailed directly out of play. Moments later, Alonso, Capdevila, and Pedro

combined beautifully to set up Iniesta on the left, and the latter won a corner kick when

the ball bounced off Mertesacker, but the corner did not yield any danger.
Germany tried to launch a trademark counter-attack but the move
suffered a premature hijacking after a poor pass to Ozil.

In the 24th minute, Piqué produced a goal-saving interception when he
whipped the ball off Klose’s toe and out of the danger zone. Klose,
who entered the match one goal shy of becoming the joint all-time top scorer in the
World Cup (with Ronaldo), would have almost certainly put Germany in front had it not
been for Piqué’s last-ditch clearance.

Xabi Alonso had a go at goal from 25 yards out in the 30th minute but
his shot was well wide. The Spanish pulse must have raced in the 33rd
minute after some uncertainty from Casillas. The Real Madrid
keeper could only turn a Trochowki shot away for a corner and from the
subsequent corner, he again flapped the ball instead of grasping it,
but Puyol was there to the rescue heading the ball to safety.
From that minute to the last minute of the first half, nothing
terribly noteworthy took place. The first half did end with a bit of
action when Sergio Ramos clipped Ozil on the edge of the area but the
ref waved play on. Pedro had the last kick of the first half when he
lashed a low shot straight into Neuer.

Spain started the second half with an increased sense of urgency and
conviction. In the 49th minute, Pedro danced his way into the area
from the right wing and laid the ball to Alonso, but the latter pulled
his shot just wide. Just a minute later, Alonso had another chance:
Xavi received a pass from Ramos on the right and set up Alonso with a
delightfully deft ball pass but the Basque crushed his 20-yard shot
off the post. Loew, seeing that Spain were exploiting Germany’s left side, replaced
left-back Boateng by Jansen in the 52nd minute to try and calm matters
down a bit.

Pedro tried to surprise Neuer from distance after some neat play by
Spain in the 59th minute. Soon afterwards, Iniesta received a little
backflick from Alonso but the angle was tight; he decided to whip
the ball across the face of goal.  Villa, who had been very calm hitherto, slid to get the ball but he
just failed to toe-tap the ball into the net.

A minute later, Jansen found Klose with a fine cross. The Bayern
Munich, with his back to goal, shot just over. In the 63rd minute, Spain appealed for a penalty

after both Ramos and Podolski bundled in the German penalty area but the ref correctly gave
nothing. Spain was upping the ante in the second half after a cagey affair in the
first, but one had the sense that Germany, though chasing shadows for
most of the half, would definitely create clear-cut chances every now
and then. This was proven true just before the 70th minute.

Germany demonstrated how dangerous they can be on the break when Klose’s cross

was met with a first-time volley from substitute Tony Kroos in open space on the right

side of the penalty area, but the 19-year old midfielder’s shot was well saved by a lunging Casillas.

Ironically, for all of their tiki-taka and delightful passing, it was
an old-fashioned English goal that broke the deadlock and put Spain
one step closer to an encounter with history. Iniesta won a corner in
the 73rd minute after some good work on the left flank. Playmaker Xavi
snapped a perfectly-weighted cross to the six–yard box and talismanic
defender Carles ‘Tarzan’ Puyol rose like a phoenix to thunder an
unstoppable header into the top-right corner of the net. The blast possessed quality of which even
his opponent Klose, who has scored a record seven headers in three World Cups,
would be proud.  This header by Puyol was almost a carbon copy of the
vital header he scored against Real Madrid in May 2009, and if anyone
to deserved to write his name into the history books, it would be this
Catalan warrior who always wears his heart on his sleeves and who,
alongside Piqué, has been a stud in defence for club and country.

Germany, though shell-shocked by the goal, knew they needed to react
which led to some tasty end-to-end stuff in the final 17 minutes. Villa lurked dangerously in
the German area in the 76th minute but Friedrich cleared, and in a
blink of an eye, Kroos sent two good balls into the danger zone but
Puyol showed his defensive skill and courage, clearing twice with his
forehead.

Pedro’s decision making and lack of experience prevented Spain from
putting this match to bed in the 82nd minute. The 22-year old, who was
starting his first ever competitive match for Spain, created space on
the right. Two teammates, including Torres – who had replaced Villa two
minutes earlier – were free; all Pedro needed to do was roll the ball back for
Torres but instead he tried to beat Friedrich and ended up losing the
ball. If Germany had drawn level, people would have looked to this
instance as the moment Spain let the match slip away.

Casillas was forced into action in the 86th minute when Lahm robbed
the ball in the Spanish area with three German shirts there.
Spain’s unrivalled ability to keep the ball didn’t allow Germany to
stage a late raid on the Spanish goal and it was Spain that were
closer to a second. They had to contend for one goal, though, and it sufficed. Spain were
just too strong for Germany and just like the Euro 2008 final, it was
Spain’s superior quality in midfield that set the tone.

Germany will be understandably disappointed, for though Spain
dominated, Germany did have their moments and had Muller played, the
complexion of the match might very well have changed. When all is
said and done, though, Germany can take away numerous positives from
this tournament. They are an incredibly talented young side that can
only get better with time and experience.
It’s Spain’s grand day, however, and they deserve all the credit for
another hard-fought win. This was – by far – their best
performance in the tournament and their patience and superiority
eventually paid dividends in the most unexpected – and probably
fitting – way:

Through a headed goal! From a corner! By a central
defender!

Budour Hassan
DFN Sports Staff Writer