Brazil V Germany World Cup 2014

Brazil V Germany Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Semi Finals Beer World Cup:

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-semi-finals/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Nomade from Chile has made it to the last four beating beers from Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain and Japan. Nomade now goes up against a trio of tough German beers, Friedenfelser, Lowenbrau and Karlskrone, who have made mince meat of their competitors so far. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

Nomade Scotch Ale V Friedenfelser Pils 1-2 to the German Pils. The Bavarian beer wins in this close contest. The pils isn’t much to look at but more than makes up for that with its good aroma and great smooth taste. An appearance of a golden yellow colour on pour with a thin white head that doesn’t last, but the aroma, on the other hand, is lovely and it smells like a true German style Pils that you can’t wait to start on. The aroma has notes of bread, grain, malt and grass with some citric hop notes. A good smell. The taste was nice and balanced, with flavours which had a light sweetness and notes of malt, bread, straw, with a hint of citric hops and the bitter finish is moderate. It’s a very good Pilsener, with a light body and one that I could drink all night. Another top beer from the Friedenfelser collection. In opposition, Nomade Scotch Ale, was good and had a gorgeous aroma that smelt of fruit and malts, and a taste that was also very smooth and full of great flavours. The taste was a sweet malty flavour with notes of grapes and smoked malts. It also had a small bitter aftertaste that wasn’t overwhelming. One disappointment was that the colour didn’t appeal, looked a little flat, but overall a solid ale that I found quite strong to drink with a kick in the end of each mouthful that did the business. Both brews I enjoyed, the ale was more flavourful, while the Pils was smoother, so I just gave the victory to the Pils for the fact that it was the brew I wanted to continue watching the game in extra time with, but only just. A tight victory.

PreGame:

Germany is like a machine when it comes to playing in the World Cup. This is their 13th appearance at this stage of the competition. They only had three shots against France, scored and shut up shop, limiting the French to speculative efforts that never looked like going in. I can see them easily doing the same tonight against the Brazilians. Score from a set piece, contain the Brazilian midfield in the centre of the pitch, and watch Fred and the Hulk from afar.

To beat the Germans you have to run at their defence. Both Ghana and Algeria showed that they can be beaten if attacked down the wings, with pace. But then if you do manage to get that far, there is also Neuer in the nets to worry about. He has had a great World Cup so far, stopping shots nonchalantly and with ease.

Schweinsteiger, the general dogsbody of the team, is back to form from his niggly injury and if Lahm is starting in his old true position of left back, he will also be worth looking out for tonight.

The big advantage for Germany is the quality of their squad. If something isn’t working out they can spring Shurle, Kroos, Gotze or Klose, depending on who is starting, from the bench. That might come into play if the game is at a stalemate near the end, or if extra time is required, where a fresh player with quality can have a huge impact on the game.

Germany really should beat Brazil tonight, they have the players, and the self belief, but lets see anyway.

Brazil are without Neymar, their top scorer and figurehead, and without the suspended Thiago Silva. These two players are a huge loss to the team. Neymar has done a Messi here, and dragged Brazil this far in the competition, scoring four goals and getting things going for the team when the chips are down. Silva is a decent defender that has solidified the Brazilian back four and is the inspirational captain of the team. Two huge losses for the team. Can they cope with out them? I don’t think so. Take two good players out of that team and it looks very bare. Sure David Luiz stepped up in the last game, and Hulk and Marcello show some moments of great skill and creativity, but the team looks weak without Neymar especially, and I worry that Brazil’s World Cup dream might come crashing down tonight.

Germany, in my opinion, are the first real test that Brazil will have in this tournament. Gone are the South American teams that play to a predictable pace and are manageable. Lets see how Brazil do against a German team that can boss the midfield, and will be more than a physical match for any shenanigans that Scolari might have in mind (Muller n Mertesacker excepted). But lets have a good look and see tonight what exactly Fred brings to this Brazilian team!

Where do we start in what was an amazing annihilation of Brazil by a German team who put seven goals past them in a match that saw several records smashed. Klose finally got Ronaldo’s record, Brazil suffered their biggest World Cup defeat of all time, and their first competitive home defeat in 39 years. This defeat is as equal if not more damaging to Brazil than the infamous 1950 World Cup Final defeat by Uruguay in Rio. Some of the Brazilian players might not ever appear in the famous yellow Brazil shirt again, and it could take some time for the nation to recover.

Pre game the players held up Neymar’s shirt in a display of mourning and remembrance, but in reality it was the absence of their captain Thiago Silva that was a bigger loss as nobody took command and control of the back four who were playing without much idea of what they were meant to be doing, i.e how to defend!

Still the Germans were brilliant and were 5 goals up after half an hour, without working up too much of a sweat. Amazing. It was all too easy for them. Thomas Muller, unmarked, gave them an early goal from a Kroos’ corner, stepping up to put the ball in the back of the net, with a smart finish. You could have heard a pin drop such was the shock from all around the stadium. But it was about to get worse, a lot worse. Klose scored at the second attempt to set a new World Cup record of 16 goals, and go down in history as the best penalty box player of all time, or goal hanger as we say! Still, take nothing away from his achievement, its truly a great record to have.

And as we were about to digest all this record breaking, Toni Kroos scored not one goal but two in the space of 179 seconds, and just before half time Khedira, who had a cracking game, strolled up, and from a lovely lay off by Ozil, calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner to make it five nil.

Brazil came out at the break a little more livelier but when they did finally get behind the German defence the man mountain Manuel Neuer was equal to their efforts, pulling off two quick saves to keep the Brazilians at bay.

Super sub Shurrle came off the bench and promptly added two more goals to the Germany tally. One of his goals was a real cracker, in off the near post from a tight angle.

Was a little disappointed to see a good few of the German team trying to get Maicon carded for a dive, as if cheating is alien to that German squad. Just look at Muller shouting and raving at the ref ever ten minutes. He will never be a top superstar, because he is quite simply a cunt. Pity because he is probably is a decent skin off the pitch.

Ozil had a great chance to make it 8 nil but he fluffed the chance from a one on one with the goalie. From the resulting clearance Brazil pulled a goal back from Oscar. It was quite comical to see Neuer get angry after letting in a goal. Now that’s dedication and professionalism!

At the end the Brazilian team were roundly booed off the pitch as you would expect and Fred, in particular, got a good bit of abuse as he was walking off. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Fred. I mean its not liked he even moved or worked up much of a sweat in any of the games I have seen, but surely Scolari must also accept some blame for assembling such a rubbish squad of Brazilian players. Surely down on Copacabana beach there would be a better 11?

As for the Germans they get an extra day off and will have not used up too much energy while they rest and can look forward to playing Argentina in the final of the World Cup on Sunday, while Brazil hope to restore some teeny bit of pride against the Dutch for the 3/4th place play off. Fred probably wont be seen for that game, or ever again in a Brazilian shirt. Pity for him.

Music to get you in the mood

Kraftklub V Thiago Thomé