Germans are always expected to do well at world cup but at times this is a noose around their necks. Expectations are always high, but they come into this world cup with the bulk of their 2014 winners gone. Burden is now on young shoulders chiefly Jamal Musiala. Not a bad player at all to burden but we sometimes forget he is only 19 in his first tournament. At the center of their poor showing this year has been the selection of players by Hansie Flick. The former Bayern coach kept faith with Thomas Muller as his number 9 against Costa Rica in a match he had to win despite the impressive form of Niclas Fullkrug. This came back to bite him as chance after chance was wasted(my God Germany could have won this one even by 9 goals). Costa Rica's win against the Japanese on match day 2 gave them hope of making it to the last 16. For a while it looked like fairy tales do come true. A freak own goal by Neuer had the Costa Ricans hope. Its been the feature of Die Mannschaft this year, defensive lapses against inferior opponents.
With Spain all but assured a place in the last 16, one couldn't blame them for fielding a much changed side. The Japanese took the lead early in the second half in controversial circumstances from Tanaka(ball from naked eye crossed the byline before put back into play). That woke up the Germans (most importantly Flick) as they brought on the heavy hitters in Goetze, Fullkrug and Harvetz. The last two scoring the extra three goals to see the Germans through to the win but they left it to other people hands in as far as the long term picture is concerned. There will be heavy inquests from the German soccer loving population. So who is to blame this time(for once no Joachim Low to hand that honor)? Hansie Flick's starting selection left a lot to be desired. Manuel Neuer is now one foot into the retirement room and so is Muller. Neuer's errors nearly cost Germany the game here. The sequence of promoting assistant coaches hasn't worked this time for me, I would like to see Jurgen Klopp have a goal at the national side. The Costa Ricans can be proud of the way they are clinical in front of goal. So clinical that they scored two goals with only 31% possession. The eleven goals they conceded in three goals shows where their real issues are. Ironically the 4-2 score line was the same score line when these two last met in the world cup in 2006.
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