Todays' games 2016/17

Good save by Pickford, followed up by sloppy penalty by Abraham

 

Bollox

 

high quality from both teams

 

Well that was a stressful experience following on BBC Live Reporting at work:-

Close, but no cigar:-

England 2-2 Germany (3-4 on pens)

So, so gutting for England.

Germany beat England 4-3 on penalties

Penalties - Saved: England 3-4 Germany
Nathan Redmond for England

Saved by the keeper! A big pair of gloves beats it away. It was central from Redmond...

England have to score...

Penalties - Scored: England 3-4 Germany
Nadiem Amiri for Germany
Posted at15:43
Pickford gets a hand to it but not enough. Amiri wheels away with his finger to his lips.

Penalties - Scored: England 3-3 Germany
James Ward-Prowse for England
Posted at15:43

Penalties - Scored: England 2-3 Germany
Max Meyer for Germany
Posted at15:42
Pickford goes the wrong way this time. Meyer drives it home.

Penalties - Scored: England 2-2 Germany
Ben Chilwell for England
Posted at15:41
See ya later keeps. Chilwell sends him the wrong way, left foot right int the corner.

Penalties - Scored: England 1-2 Germany
Max Philipp for Germany
Posted at15:41
Philipp finds the net - high above Pickford's gloves, good pen. The keeper wasn't getting there.

Penalties - Saved: England 1-1 Germany
Tammy Abraham for England
Posted at15:40

Penalties - Saved: England 1-1 Germany
Yannick Gerhardt for Germany
Posted at15:40
Great save from Pickford! Diving to his right he fists it away.

Penalties - Scored: England 1-1 Germany
Lewis Baker for England
Posted at15:39
Nicely done, gave the keeper the eyes, sent him the wrong way, into the corner.

Penalties - Scored: England 0-1 Germany
Max Arnold for Germany
Posted at15:38
Blasted straight down the middle. Pickford went to his right.

England 2-2 Germany
Posted at15:37
It'll be Germany to take first. Max Arnold has the ball in his hands.
Here we go...

 

We just can't, can we.

 

Germany beat England in penalty shoot-out, shock horror, where have we heard that before? Cue the pizza adverts...

 

FFS!!

 

A young German team with some untested players getting their first real run-out at a big tournament dismantled an experienced Mexican side just as you would expect from Die Mannschaft, like clockwork without really breaking a sweat.
It was a pleasure to watch the Germans again showing how the game should be played, without egos and having total understating for each other in the squad and putting the game plan to work. Löw is a genius, there is no doubt.

The Final will also be a fascinating game against the older, even better and even more experienced Chile side who brushed aside Messi and Argentina last summer at the Copa America Centenario.

 

Good to see Harry's boys Vargas and Isla finally making it. The lads done good.

 

Dankeschön

 

Today's U-21 Final should be a cracker as well, with the future generation of Germans and Spanish going at it to establish themselves in the upcoming new world order of football, looking at the next decade or so.
For the Germans, with their deep, deep youthful prospects of their current experimental Senior squad at the Confed Cup, as well as this U21 side, have a very bright future ahead of them, and the world will pay attention with much jealousy and envy.
This U21 Spanish side will hope to shake up or even stop that tide before it happens, but the depth of the German footballing culture is a marvel to be seen, as the current aging Spanish senior squad is nowhere near as good as their squads that dominated the world almost a decade ago.

Reports to follow later!

 

Germany have reached both the Under 21s and Confederations Cup Finals with almost reserve teams in both competitions, their whole structure from top to bottom play the same way and have the same ethos so players slot in seamlessly throughout. The one thing their players have, and it is with co-operation from all Bundesliga clubs, is that young players are given their chance in their first teams and that shows in their development.

Until Premier League clubs start giving young English players a chance we'll never compete at the elite level and whilst they can buy success instantly from abroad we don't have a prayer...

 

Germany still dreaming of world domination>

 

U21 Euros
Germany 1 - Spain 0

Well, it turned out to be a rather standard affair for the Germans, as the Spanish sat back and looked for counters most of the match, and, as the highlights show, the looped header goal, though well taken and conceived, about summarized the match overall as the ball sailed over the keeper who was frozen on the spot watching the ball go into his right bottom corner. An opportunistic goal, and that said it all about the match.
Strangely enough the Germans had more of the ball, Spain lined up in ranks trying to repel Germans, as the Spanish counter-attacks all fizzled to not much as their creativity were also well stifled by the more than confident German defense.

For us QPR fans, the Cracovia Stadium may have looked somewhat familiar as its layout is very reminiscent of our beloved Loftus Road, albeit a newer version without pillars for better viewing, holding only 15,000 yet has a bit more space between the pitch and the stands. It even has a big TV hanging off one end of the pitch over the goal which looks very much like our own! So I chuckled every time I saw that TV, it seriously looked like we were at Loftus Road.

What a bright future Germany has. So much talent, so deep all the way into their teenage ranks. Incredible organization.

 

So who's looking forward to today's Final match up between Chile and Germany?

Me. I love International Football. More than ever. Especially since our own team has had its severe ups and downs and frustrations over the past few years or so, I have come to absolutely love international football.
Not that I wasn't ever entertained by it, of course, having become addicted to the World Cup since 1982 when Italy's Paolo Rossi stole the show.
Anyways I digress......

today's match up at the Confederation Cup is the South American champions in Chile, the oldest squad at the tournament, who have won Copa America for the past 2 years (unusual, yes, but last year's was a Centennial version taking place of course in the USA, with the pathetic USA invited as host guests - cue a load of puke in my mouth here ), versus the usually solid Germans with the youngest squad.

Here is a great summary of how it has gone down so far, as they were in the same group and drew 1-1 in the first game, and how it might do down tonight:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40464139

I for one have loved this aging Chile team, watching them over the past 6 or 7 years, even though their game style has changed from Jorge Sampaoli's winning tiki-taka game of 3 years ago and prior to the new, more stout, game-plan driven method of Juan Antonio Pizzi. They still won last year with Pizzi in charge against Argentina in the PK final of the Centennial. But the year before their tiki-taka flare was evident throughout as their players were all seen to be stand-outs as the majority of the squad now ply their trade in Europe thanks to their past performances over the past decade. The boundless energy of Vidal is astounding to watch, as he literally covers the entire pitch from corner to corner. Of course, their attractive play caught the attention of dear old Harry and we ended up with Isla and Vargas didn't we, even though neither of them showed their true selves while playing for us, but their energy and skill for their international team is on another level.

The Germans don't need any explanation, really, Löw is a genius coach, and he really brings out the best in his squads, and this young squad is another fine example. The fact that he sat out the WC winners of his Senior squad and picked this young experimental team says it all about what kind of balls that man has. Of course, this being a short tournament, one will never know whether a young side like this would truly hold up in a long-form tournament like the WC next year, but nonetheless, Die Mannschaft machine is a marvel to watch. What people under-estimate about the German teams of recent years is their close-quarters ball skills and how they have borrowed some of that tiki-taka and have blended it seamlessly into their wide, free-flowing moves we are used to seeing, and that is what catches the opponents off-guard, is how the Germans find space in and around the area and get deadly passes in, and score so well and easily.

I am excited for tonight's match.

I hope you are as well.

Cheers

 

Two ex QPR players in Confederations Cup final...Vargas and Isla.

Never seemed to do it for us.....whose fault was that then?

 

The Germans just done a Chile on Chile.

 

I still think Chile can nick this!!