The 2018 World Cup came to an end, and for many German and Argentine fans, it was both a frustrating and heartbreaking journey. They couldn't help but be reminded of the scene four years ago, when the two teams were battling it out in the final.
In honor of Germany and Argentina fans, let's take a look back at that classic matchup from four years ago.
Germany's road to the top
Germany in 2014 is at the tail end of its golden generation. Since the 2006 World Cup, veterans such as Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Klose and Mertesacker have served in the national team for many years and are ready to retire. They were the very pillars of Germany's golden generation. Subsequently, the new generation was joined by players such as Ozil, Khedira, Kroos, Boateng and Muller. This generation has been through major tournaments such as Europa League, World Cup and Europa League since 2008, and has always maintained a strong edge, but has always collapsed at the last hurdle. This German team undoubtedly rivals the German teams of the 90s, but in the 21st century has consistently been narrowly matched by Spain's golden generation and a resilient Italian team. They lost to Italy in 2006, Spain in 2008 and 2010, and Italy in 2012, two countries that almost completely shut down the chances of Germany's golden generation to win the title.
The four strongest players in this German team were coming out of retirement in 2014, and this was their last chance. Head coach Löw knew better than anyone that Löw, by then the premier tactician among many marquee players, needed a title to prove that his soccer theories could reign supreme on the world stage.
Löw has boldly adopted a new formation for this World Cup by moving captain Lahm from his ever-present right-back position to a central back. At Bayern, Lahm was already playing at the back as well. Despite being only 170 centimeters, Lahm's sweeping ability, mobility, and high level of physicality make him almost always the best defensive player in the German team. Putting Lahm into the back position is to use his flexible tactical vision and high speed to make up for the fatal weakness of Germany's defenders who are too slow to fill in and assist in defense all around. This also freed up Schweinsteiger, who was a powerful attacker, to go up and shoot freely. At that time, the new back Kroos and Khedira rotation, Kroos's passing and long passes are superior, Khedira sweeping force is strong but the state has declined, the two rotation is the best choice.
Up front, Löw really employs Müller and Ozil as attacking midfielders who move and distribute the ball very destructively. Muller's free running allows Ozil to have a live game with enough pieces at his disposal, and the other comes in as a rotation from time to time, with Klose, Schurrle, and Götze all being rotational players in that position. I believe Lefebvre would like to start Klose across the board if possible, as he's the ball-carrying assisting winger willing to make diagonal runs to destroy the offside line and do the hard work to allow his teammates to get up to the attack as described in my previous World Cup article, but Klose is already too old for Lefebvre to do anything more than use him as an ace substitute.
All the players in the midfield of this German team have the power to shoot from long range and are extremely good at stealing the ball. Ozil and Klose can hold the ball in front of the field and then pass it to a good position for their teammates to shoot, so this German team has become a central attacking team with a very strong central axis.
However, this can't really solve the problem of Germany's defense being slow and easily penetrated by the beaten side. Especially Lahm is not in the right back on the solid, the opponent can be arbitrary speed invasion of Germany's two sides. Löw can only take a gamble, the group of defenders can only take life to chase back. But this session of Germany's good luck, along the way to meet the opponents in fact the side of the attack did not play, and when the strong side of the country is also most of the eliminated. 2010 champions Spain in the group stage on the home, Italy has entered the talent drought period, the same group stage defeat. The Netherlands, with their sharp edges, were placed on the side of Argentina in the knockout rounds, while France, still in the process of reorganization, did their best to make it to the last eight. Finally met Brazil, the result of Brazil's side of the attack ace Neymar unexpectedly injured, the main center back Thiago Silva also can not play because of the card, Germany easily to 7-1 massacre Brazil, Klose also smoothly broke the highest goal record in the history of the World Cup, surpassing the big Luo.
In order to revitalize the German midfield, Lefebvre put Lahm into the central back, which was a very successful move, and then strengthened the defense and slowed down the opponents in the middle of the field, and tried not to let the back line face the opponent's charge. Germany was actually taking a risk, but they finally made it to the final.
Argentina's road to the top
Argentina was led by Lionel Messi, and the coach at the time, Sabella, went all out to create an attacking team with Messi as the main axis. Argentina had a lot of talent at the time, and Higuain, who was in his prime and had just moved from Real Madrid to Napoli, was always an ace goal scorer. Although the problem of missing at crucial moments has remained the same, his goal-scoring prowess was absolutely guaranteed. Aguero was just starting to enter the peak of his career, and was a striker with considerable breakthrough power. In the midfield, there was also Di Maria, who was at his peak at the time, able to cut, pass and shoot, and with a very high level of fitness and mobility. Argentina's front court is organized around Messi's breakthroughs with the ball.
