Argentina isn’t backing down to the German machine, and they have had the better chances, but a big miss from Gonzalo Higuain means the teams enter halftime scoreless.
Germany has had plenty of possession and showed their passing prowess, but as they have all tournament Argentina defended well to shut down passing lanes late and make some stellar tackles.
The game was wide open early, and despite teams realizing they’d like to shut down a little to minimize risk, there are still chances to come.
Moments are there to be made in the World Cup final!
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GOALS:
None.
Other key moments:
21′ – Higuain will remember this miss for the rest of his life. Toni Kroos mistakenly gifted the Napoli striker a header behind the Germany defense, but Higuain scuffed his shot wide one-on-one with Neuer. It wasn’t even close. Argentina should easily be one-up but it remains scoreless.
29′ – On an Argentinian break, Bastian Schweinsteiger brought down Eziquiel Lavezzi
30′ – Higuain thought he put the Argentinians ahead, but after taking a brilliant ball from Lionel Messi and putting it in the back of the net, the assistant’s flag raised to rule out the goal. Replays showed the striker was clearly offsides, timing his run poorly and unable to give Messi a good opportunity to send him through.
32′ – Christoph Kramer, already on in replace of the late Sami Khedira scratch, is substituted off with a head injury. He took a thumping elbow to the head from Ezequiel Garay in the 18th minute, but continued on despite looking clearly woozy. He looked even worse when he finally came off, replaced by Andre Schurrle.
45+1′ – Now the Germans have a bad miss to think about. On a corner as the first half came to a close, Benedict Howedes made a great run from the back of the pack and got his head to a free header. With the goal gaping, it hit the post and blasted back out to Thomas Muller in an offsides position.
LINEUPS
Germany: Neuer; Lahm, Hummels, Boateng, Höwedes; Schweinsteiger, Kramer (Schurrle 32′); Müller, Kroos, Özil; Klose
Argentina: Romero, Garay, Zabaleta, Biglia, Perez, Higuain, Messi, Mascherano, Demichelis, Rojo, Lavezzi
Numbers to know:
57 – Completed passes by Bastian Schweinsteiger in the midfield, as he looks to quarterback the buildups for the Germans. Argentina only completed 97 as a whole team. He was a supremely important player for Germany in the first half, who struggled to get many dangerous chances.
16 – Passes received for Lionel Messi. As he has been so far in the knockout stages, teams are double-teaming him and triple-teaming him to shut his magic down. It’s still opened things up for his teammates, as Lavezzi and Higuain have had opportunities.
Questions for the second half:
1. Can Germany break through this Argentinian back line? It would appear Argentina is succeptible on set-pieces, but then again who isn’t. They look brilliant in open play, and Germany has to do much more work to slice it open.
2. Will Argentina recover from the pair of missed chances? Soccer is all about confidence, and while they could be considered the better side int he first half, Higuain’s confidence has to be shattered after blowing a pair of golden opportunities to be deservedly up. That could be a serious factor in the second half.
3. Will Germany’s early yellow cards come back to haunt him? Schweinsteiger and Howedes both picked up first-half cautions, and that could play into the second half narrative if Argentina looks to run at them.
