The Tribune

By Cameron Hepple

World Cup expert eye

TO Germany - congratulations on winning their fourth World Cup. To the other countries - time to go back to the drawing board and look at their youth systems and find what they need to do differently, especially Brazil.

This has been a very entertaining World Cup with 171 goals and unsung heroes made names for themselves like James Rodriquez, for Colombia, or Costa Rica making it to the quarter-finals. Football is growing and ever evolving; in the next World Cup you will see an entirely different type of football, new top players, new styles of plays and fitter and stronger players.

I look forward to Russia in 2018, qualification for which begins in two years and I suspect a lot of new teams will make it to the finals. Thank you for following my thoughts and views about the World Cup in The Tribune this past month.

I hope the excitement of the world’s biggest football event will spill over into our community and more parents will push their children to play the game. For further thoughts on that please see Insight on the back page of the Business section today.

Germany 1 Argentina 0

(after extra time)

Man of the Match: Mario Gotze – classy finish, scoring the goal to win the World Cup. Legendary status achieved by a player you least expected.

Shocker of the Match: Lionel Messi – big matches make big players. Unfortunately, with all the pressure on the magical Messi he could not deliver. He has legendary status at club level but for country he will have to remember how close he came yesterday.

Analysis

In the first half both teams pressed high, not allowing each other to get into a rhythm and denying possession in the midfield. You could see how precise Germany’s passing was, always looking to get the ball into the forwards, sucking the Argentines closer together then switching and finding a wide player for a cross or finding a through ball.

The Argentines depended on their front line to break by dribbling instead of passing their way out of pressure. There were few clear chances.

Pressure built through the second-half as no one wanted to take risks and make a mistake which cost them the game. I was frustrated with Messi: I felt he should have searched for the ball more and provide the release that Argentina needed in attack. A few times Mascherano had to resort to knocking long balls to a tall German centre back – definitely not the Argentine game. I can understand why, as Messi is the danger man and the Germans had to make sure he was completely marked. If you watched closely, when four or five Germans were defending him he always looked for a pass to free up space for his teammate. The Germans passing was mesmerising, there was always movement off the ball. They play ultimate football, team football, and it is brilliant to see the synergy they have. Mascherano again impressed for the Argentines, completely controlling the midfield in attack and defence.

Bad decision making for Argentina cost them in extra time. They had a few opportunities they should have capitalised on, especially with the Germans being dangerous every time they attacked.

The match became more physical as the players tired and the pressure mounted, with the term “win or perish” in every mind. The golden goal from Gotze was absolute quality and the Germans knew they had won, killing the game off and make sure they did not concede.

World Cup fact

Over 1 billion people watched the final yesterday, making it the most watched sporting event in the world.

Cameron Hepple is a Bahamian international, ex-professional footballer now forging a career in coaching. He has been providing insight on the World Cup for The Tribune.