Germany V Portugal World Cup 2014

Germany V Portugal Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

More winners please

Pregame bets:

Draw and both teams to score is 10/3
Bastian Schweinsteiger to score anytime 9/2
Ronaldo to score anytime is 11/10
over 2.5 goals 4/6
Draw at 13.5
2-2 is 11/1

Game died with the sending off, ruined the whole contest, but truth be told Germany were well on top even before Muller’s theatrics. Its very hard for Ronaldo to carry that Portugal team all the time, it really must be very physically demanding especially after his long season. Apart from the free kick Ronaldo didn’t have much of a chance of scoring a goal. Bad tipping there, I hold my hand up.

Full betting review here>http://thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-world-cup/

Beers: Group G of Beer World Cup:http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-group-g/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? SuperBock V Friedenfelser? 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!

SuperBock V Friedenfelser Pils Leicht: 0-1 Two very contrasting beers. SuperBock was a strong 5.2% Pale Lager while Friedenfelser is a Light Pils of about 2.8%., but Freidnfelser were controversially given the win with a late and surprising victory. Read here for full beer report.

PreGame:

Germany: Will they win it this year? I think they have a very strong chance. They have one of the strongest squads in the competition. The world cup games come quick and fast and teams have to rely on their fringe players to get them through to the end. Teams with strong solid squads will do well. Germany fits that bill.

Manuel Neuer is one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the moment. Playing regular top class football with Bayern Munich he has shown to be a solid keeper that makes few mistakes and he has the temperate and steadiness to give his back four full confidence to get on with their own game. Would also fancy him for a penalty shoot out. Top class keeper.

if there is a small weakness it is Germany’s defence. It can go without leave, and get disorientated. Philipp Lahm, the captain and one of Germany’s stars is great for bombing forward and getting the ball into the opposition box, but when he is up the field who is behind at the back? Per Mertesacker? Jérôme Boateng? or the rest? Germany have really struggled to get a central defender of the mold of Beckenbauer, someone who exudes confidence on the ball, sweeping out of central defence, controlling his area. Funny that this is a position that Germany is weak on considering the history of German teams and their usually rock solid defence. It remains to be seen if Joachim Löw has solved this problem.

Midfield is where German are strong. Bastian Schweinsteiger is about as good as you can get for a box to box player, who can ship in for a lot of goals. He has a long season with Munich so it remains to be seen how he will perform with Germany. Mesut Özil is another star of the German midfield, who was a key player from the last World Cup. But this season with Arsenal he has been out of sorts, has struggled and his confidence is very low. Heading into a world cup that’s not good. Thomas Müller is another who has had a mixed season, scoring 13 goals in the league, but under performing in the CL. But could the German stars be waiting for the world cup to correct their season?

Up front Miroslav Klose is back and itching to get Ronaldo’s top goal scoring record. He needs two to beat it. At 36 one would wonder if he can get it, but with Löw only bringing the one striker, now that Lukas Podolski seems to be more of an inside forward, he will get chances and game time to beat it. Klose was a world class player, but I am not so sure if he still has the legs and pace to get the goals he needs for the record. He still has a good head for a goal though, literally! It would not be the first time a team has won the world cup with few strikers and a team built around the midfield. France did it in 98, and Argentina did it in 86.

Germany have the ability to steam roll through teams. they are fast going forward and are physically strong. I see them coming first in their group. A tough group but I can’t see Germany losing any of those first round games.

Portugal and Ronaldo, the two are synonymous in Football. Without their star, Ronaldo, Portugal wouldn’t be half the team, and might struggle to qualify for so many top tournaments. Will this be the year that Ronaldo drags his nation to a world cup final? Well its a definite possibility.

Of course it would be prudish to exclude the rest of the squad in any analysis. Portugal have a decent enough team, strong in defence, creative in midfield, and Ronaldo up front. It is a good team. Going forward that is. They are a team that is great for counter attacking football, but their defence can so easily be caught at the other end.

They have good defenders in Fábio Coentrão, Bruno Alves, Pepe, and André Almeida. Decent enough but as a group they are liable for the odd mishap, and they also tend to give away silly free kicks around their box.

Midfield is also pretty decent. João Moutinho, Raul Meireles, and Manchester United’s Nani, three creative players who love getting forward at all times. its the tracking back that could be the problem here.

In the forward line Hugo Almeida and Hélder Postiga are the wrong side of 30 and I haven’t seen a whole lot from them previous World Cups to suggest they will trouble many defences this time around.

So it all lies on Portugal’s key player and inspirational captain Cristiano Ronaldo. He has had an amazing season, winning the Champions League, outscoring his nemesis Messi, and finishing the season scoring 31 goals from 30 games, sharing the European Golden Shoe with Liverpool striker Luis Suárez. What else can you say about that? Amazing season from an amazing player. He really has developed into one of the best player ever, as his all round game has also improved in the last few years. With Ronaldo in such sizzling form, Portugal will always have a chance against any team.

In group G Portugal have got one of the harder groups. Against Germany in the first game, Portugal will have to be at their very best. These kind of games are always tight and cagey. I predict a score draw.

A more detailed review on Germany here and on Portugal here

Well lets get right to it then. The sending off. One word for me. SHAME. Muller could have scored ten goals but it wouldn’t have mattered as all we will remember is his Rivaldoesque dive. I hate seeing players trying to get other professionals sent off, its a cancer of the game I love so much, but FIFA never seem to care. The sight of the German bench celebrating the sending off was also shameful, have they got no f-ing pride! SHAME

Now Pepe was a silly boy, but in the heat of the moment he really didn’t do a whole lot wrong. A yellow was what he should have got for showing anger at Muller’s theatrics. Its not like Pepe doesn’t love the odd roll along the grass himself, the fool. But it wasn’t a headbutt as I have seen reported, it was mild, and the authorities have to step back and let the men on the pitch sort it out, eh like men! Want an example, take Jermaine Jones in the USA game where he calmed the situation right down after a heavy collision with a Muntari who wanted to strangle him, he even had his arms on his neck. Jones relaxed the angry Ghanaian right down, shook hands and got on with the game. What would Muller have done? Its all about pride in oneself, and respect for the game and your opponent. SHAME And the German bench jumping around giving high fives after the red card, SHAME. Have some pride.

Anyway to the game. Ronaldo tried but its hard when it a one man team. Everything went through him, even if other players were in better positions. Arrogance? No, its a reality, the other Portuguese players are not as good, you have to get it to Ronaldo has fast as possible. Good try Ronnie but Germany were just too good this time round. One nil to Messi so far.

The second half was ruined by the sending off, game pretty much unwatchable as the contest was over early. With that I thought Low should have brought on Klose for the goal scoring record and give the striker some game time. Why bring him if you wont play him, tut tut no class from Low, as usual. The fans would have at least got some enjoyment in the last 20 minutes seeing Klose try his best for a goal.

Anyone else notice how every time the camera pans to Ronaldo he has a sneaky look up at the stadium screen. “Yeah, still looking good baby”

And Viera on ITV saying diving and cheating is part of our game and its acceptable. Not part of the game I used to play. Two words Patrick, F. O.

Will have calmed down by the weekend! SHAME!

Music to get you in the mood

Nena V Rui Da Silva