Germany were magnificent against Argentina and played a brand of free-flowing, simple pass and move football that was as effective as it was good to watch.
Horrible
That’s eleven semi-finals in the last fifteen World Cups for Germany. How on earth do they do that? They went into this tournament with Podolski and Klose in horrible form for their clubs. They had both scored less goals all season than Emile Heskey. Yet they arrive at the tournament and suddenly become world class players once again. I don’t know how that happens when English players do the exact opposite.
All season long the argument about who is the best player in the world has been raging. Is it Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? Even Wayne Rooney was beginning to get a mention. I would say that to be the best player in the world you have to produce it at the very highest level.
Abysmal
Wayne Rooney was abysmal as we all know. Cristiano Ronaldo produced a couple of pieces of magic but was largely ineffective. Lionel Messi looked great but failed to influence the games and despite having more shots than anyone else in the tournament, failed to find the net once.
For Holland, Wesley Sneijder has probed and pushed and explored the defensive qualities of all of Holland’s opponents and demanded the ball and dictated the games. For Germany, Bastian Schweinsteiger has done exactly the same thing. These two have been the players of the tournament so far, along with David Villa and maybe they deserve the accolades usually reserved for Messi and Ronaldo.
Exceptional
The twenty-six year old Sneijder has played for Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter. He has eighteen goals in his sixty-six international appearances for Holland and he is a play maker of exceptional ability. This season he played a crucial role in his side winning the European Champions League and has now led his side to the World Cup semi-final.
Twenty-five year old Schweinsteiger has played his whole senior career at Bayern Munich and has scored over twenty goals in his eighty game international career. He has transformed from a clever wide player into a creative, hard working, play making midfielder. This season he played a crucial role in his side making it to the final of the European Champions League and has now led his side to the World Cup semi-final.
Creative
Both of these players are hard working and creative. They touch the ball probably more times than any other player on the pitch and they are at the heart of everything their team does. They have achieved great success as individual players and have been the architects of the highest possible success for their teams at domestic and international level.
Maybe we need to stop idolising players who show bursts of fantastic individual skill and breath-taking tricks and start to idolise the players who actually make their teams tick and lie at the heart of great success.
Effective
Don’t get me wrong, I’d still like to have Ronaldo and Messi playing in the wide positions for my team! I just think they might be a whole lot more effective if they had the brilliant vision and talent of Schweinsteiger and Sneijder to give them the service they need.
These two players deserve to be regarded as being right up their with the top players in the world and I hope they get the recognition that their performances and success deserve.
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