Finally the Argies got a dose of karma. Maradona and his big mouth once again.

Wonderful football by ze Germans. With Brazil being knocked out yest, wouldn't be surprised to see a German vs Holland final but we'll probably see Spain knock out Paraguay tonight and beating Germany in the semi-finals.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Germany Bundle Out Argentina?
GERMANY has reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup after an emphatic 4-0 victory over Argentina in their quarter-final on Saturday in Cape Town.

Have your say.

I'd be worried if I were Spain or Paraguay tbh. The harder side of the draw just got harder for whoever plays Germany.

The German's were fantastic. They gave the Argentinians a real lesson in counter-attacking football. Ozil has been an absolute revelation in this tournament.

Argentina were shocking. That first goal - what was the 'keeper doing? Woeful defending let in two really soft goals in the second half. All credit to Germany though, they are playing incredible football at the moment.

Brilliant game by the Germans. Just goes to show that Germany beating Australia 4-0 and australia having 10 men was no disgrace to Australia. The Aussies faired better than Argentina and England. Australia aren't that bad. It's simply that Germany are that good. I also think it will be a Germany V Holland grand final. But you can never count Spain out with their excellent posession game. It depends whether Spain can be decisive in the third quarter.

4 - 0 to Germany, Argentina with 11 men on the field for the whole game. Should Argentina have attacked them more & played for the shirt? Bullocks Fozzie.
It puts our first game into perspective.
This German team are really good & can make other teams look bad.
The test is when they let in the 1st goal of the game.
They rely on getting the 1st goal, then when team have to attack them they can cut them up on the counter attack.

It certainly does put our first game into proper perspective Damo. It also shows that Pim knew what the Aussie team were up against and he called on Australia to defend like never before but it failed miserably. It wasn't Pim's fault the team wasn't up to the huge task. But as you can see neither were England or Argentina. I think everyone who bagged Pim now need to pull their heads in and realise that Pim was already ahead of the match. It was the players who couldnt stop the German juggernaut even if Pim played with 11 defenders.

How could it not be Pim's fault. What kind of idiot plays counter attacking football but holds a high line and plays the offside trap at the same time. It just smacked of tactical naivety and Pim just got it horribly wrong.

What was clearly shown Sydneycroatia58 was that Australias defence was too old and too slow. Pim tried to bolster the Aussie defence by playing defensive midfielders to support the old defence legs. Pim got it right and I would go as far as saying that Pims tactics stopped Australia being trounced 7 or 8 nil. The tactic by Pim was obvious. Hold the Germans out then if sucessfull start to go forward. His intention was to bring on Kewell but Cahills head explosion stuffed that up. Nope I disagree with you. Pim got it right.

Surely I can't be the only one that believes that second german goal was clearly offside - nobody else seems to be mentioning it at all.

damn the 4-1 against England and now 4-0 Argentina...keeps making our 4-0 defeat look not as bad...Jeez Argentina were horrendous. Germany had all the space in the world. Kedira was absolutely fantastic aswell. Number of times he nicked the ball off tevez.

So it was the players idea to play the offside trap not Pim's, because that's what killed us. Which then means we either have players who won't listen to their coach or a coach who couldn't make the players follow his instructions.

Sydneycroatia58, Your under some delusion Australia could have won that match or made it a closer game. Pim knew the German team very well. The Nederlanders and Germans are very similar. Germany play decisive effective football. The Dutch play a tactical game and have been fierce rivals for generations. You can't deny the evidence and the fact Australia only lost 4-0 to Germany with 10 men for the majority of the game is now clearly shown to be a very tactically correct approach. What would the german score be with England and Argentina having 10 men. Also If Pim had run with the same tactics he used previously? I think it would have been much more embarrassing for Australia if he did. I's Also like to know if you were the Aussie coach what would you have done V Germany?

Yes, indeed.

I just got home, and I'm a little baked, but I don't think the Germans have massacred anyone as efficiently as that since the Jews.

My fucking lord that was just incredible to watch. Argentina were systematically dismantled on every part of the pitch. Messi had a reasonable game, too, he wasn't anonymous - he just could not be effective against this team.

It really is them with the clear form to win.

Aussierus... you are a goober mate... the high line offside trap was the worst idea ever against a young quick Germany, combine that with sending out 3 DM's and no recgonised striker and you have an unmitigated coaching disaster. Nothing Pim did was right, nothing. We were never going to get beaten 8-0 you clown. A tactically naive Frank Farina got us 4-3 result against Germany.

As Kevin Airs put in his blog the other day

9. Stop living in the past

You know what? We're not the rank outsiders any more. We're not the underdogs. We're not the battlers trying hard in the face of apparently invincible might. The rest of the world and our own media like to portray us that way - even those who should know better - and even Pim thought of us that way. (He was genuinely scared of Germany). We're not. We're a top 25 ranked team in the world and have been for a long time now. It's not just a blip, it's a fact. We shouldn't be scared of playing anyone. Not just because we're Australian, but because we've earned that right with a series of excellent results against excellent opposition. No, we're not world-beaters yet. We don't have the depth of talent and skill in the squad to go all the way through a competition like the World Cup. But - and this is the important part - on our day, we DO have the depth of talent and skill that can beat ANY team. There is no reason why a Top 20 team cannot take on a top five team with a realistic expectation of pulling off a win. It would be an upset, of course. But it would not be a HUGE upset. We have moved on. We're not the little minnow on the world stage anymore. it's time to stop selling ourselves short by pretending (or worse still, believing) we are.

Aussierus... stop living in the past ... pull ya head in

Serbia managed to beat Germany, are Serbia some amazingly quality team that just got bad luck against Ghana and Australia? Pim fucked up. It's that simple.

Aussierus... how do you explain Germany 1 - Ghana 0 ????

how come it wasn't Germany 4 - Ghana 0 ???

you have no idea

Pim trained these guys to play a certain way through out 14 qualifiers over 2 years... and then first game in the World Cup he throws that game plan out the window and you think the resulting 4-0 ass whooping is not his fault?

I'm not saying we should have won but the mentality, tactics and team sheet that Pim sent out against Germany was disgusting. The 4-0 result was flattering to us... Germany should have got 7 or 8... rewind the tape mate and watch Klose miss a sitter, Neill clear Oezil's chip off the line ... etc etc etc...

England scored 2 (1) goals and could have had more and Argentina at time exposed Germany in defence. We had a half snap shot smothered in the first 2 minutes.

Are you suggesting that is all Australia at peak form/tactics/mindset is capable of against this Germany team??

Football_Wunderkind, Your a tad confused matey. On one hand your saying Australia would never have lost 8-0. Then in your following post you say Germany should have got 7 or 8? If you remove those 3 DM players you are left with even less defence. Correct?

So which is it?

How do I explain Germany 1 Ghana 0. Simple, Do not compare the Australian way of playing football with the Ghana style of Football. Its like comparing apples and oranges

You also say don't live in the past yet you comment on Germany 4 Australia 3 under Frank Farina? What world cup are you watching?

Put the emotion aside fellas and give Australia the credit they deserve playing against Germany with 10 men under the coaching of Pim Verbeek. They both did very well considering the circumstances.

WTF are they feeding the German guy's, clearly wheatbix ain't what its cracked up to be.

Yep, contentious for sure but the ball carrier was past the second last man meaning Klose only had to stay behind the ball.

Just watched it again, and it was good the goal. Klose stayed level with the ball(probably a bit behind it even) when it was played in therefore he was onside.

Germany clearly have a great counterattack going on but I think they are beatable and I think we could have beaten them. Starting an effective defender at LB would have been good. Not standing around appealing for an offside that's never gonna come would have been very useful. Not starting 2 midfielders as strikers in an unfamiliar 442 would have been essential. Plenty of other Pim mistakes left us easy meat for an aggressive German team. I think us, England and Argentina were all shaken by the German attack but Holland will have their number and may end with a clean sheet. The tragedy is that the team was, apart from that match, a lot more talented than Pim gave them credit for. Playing with 10 men for a third of the tournament and still almost qualifying. And on our side, we'd have faced the beatable US, Uruguay and Holland up to the final... looking forward to a second-prize chance at the Asian Cup.

Not a shock result at all. Much like Brazil, this was the first hard team Argentina faced and they got shown up!! Maradona is a git and should stick to cheerleading rather than coaching.

Regardless of there result agains the hapless Argies this does nothing to placate my opinion of Pim's tactics against Germany that cost us 4 goals. Naive and unforgiveable!!

I'm just enjoying the Germans belting the fuck out of some pretty good teams, would really like to see them and the Dutch play in the final. Can you believe that Australia was the last team to beat the Dutch? I also believe it shows again how strong our group was but also we should never ever take a backward step to any fucking team we play again.

I agree
never never ever take a backward step to any these over rated teams we might play again.

The Germans are great to watch. I hope they beat Spain and end up playing the Dutch in the final.

I think I can safely sum it up by saying what the fuck? Did not see that coming at all, two days two shocks.

Germany are a very very good side. If this tournament is anything to go by they are going to be winning alot with this team in the next 10 years. Very Impressive.

not one team that I like left in the tourney now...

How could it have been the ball went between defender and keeper from a pullback to Klose who just moved onto it like he was a Sunday morning jogger.

But, fair enough, you saw it differently from me, the linesman, all the cameras and all the media who would be only too willing to slag off Germany