Sunday, July 30, 2017

Denmark in the Euro 2017 semifinals!

Due to travels and the fact that it is not shown on TV everywhere I have not been able to fully follow the (women's) Euro 2017 in the Netherlands. But today I watched Denmark's huge upset against the defending champions of Germany, when Denmark won 2-1 in the quarterfinals. After being down 0-1 at halftime the Danes came back to upset the favourites in a dramatic and exciting match that has nothing to envy the guys. The Danish goals were scored by Theresa Nielsen and Nadia Nadim, and in particular the latter played such a great match that she should become the idol of a lot of up and coming footballers in Denmark (boy girls and boys). I am a fan and will be cheering for Denmark in the semifinal against Austria (who edged Spain on penalties), and just hope I will be able to watch it in my next destination!

Monday, July 03, 2017

Young wisdom against old naivety

I had really wanted Chile to win; I don't think I had been as much against a German victory since 1992. So Germany's victory in the Confederations Cup final hurt. That said, the young German team were clearly the smartest, far outweighing the Chilean experience, who attacked without bite, while the Germans defended patiently and struck when the (awful) Chilean central defense made another mistake.
It was not world champion style, but it showed that the current world champions, besides an amazing youth pool, can play on many strings. Their central defense was particularly strong, with an impressive performance of Antonio Rudiger and Matthias Ginter, who showed that the future defense of Germany is in sure hands.
Chile were disappointed.
I was disappointed.
But nobody can help but be impressed of the German youths.