Today I happened to be in Madrid, Spain, and enjoyed a boring match that Spain won 3-0 over Austria. Mikel Oyarzabal scored two, Pedro Porto one, to give Spain an easy victory against an Austrian side that added nothing to the tournament; just another proof that 48 are too many teams.
We have not yet seen what Spain are capable of. Future champions usually pace themselves for the important matches; it would appear to be what Spain is doing.
There is a big difference between self-loathing and humility. Self-loathing is the result of a mixture of arrogance and inferiority complex. Humility is about being sure of your own abilities, but recognizing your limits, and especially admit when others are better. All things indicate that Joshua Kimmich lack humility: In an interview after Germany's elimination, Mr. Kimmich was full of self-loathing, saying that they had lost to teams that had no "world class".
I supported Germany against Paraguay and thought that they deserved to win until I heard Mr. Kimmich's arrogant comments. They sound particularly arrogant for a team that for two World Cups did not qualify beyond the group stages, and this world cup barely did, only to be defeated by a team that Mr. Kimmich ranks below his own "world class level".
From Mr. Kimmichs comments I now believe that Germany lost because of arrogance and lack of humility. Again and again we see that you cannot underestimate any team, but that is a lesson that Mr. Kimmich and Germany appear to ignore again and again. That is a lesson that will take years to learn, specially because they have players like Mr. Kimmich, who thinks that you can win games by name alone, instead of by the skills that they obviously lack.
After being disappointed at Germany's defeat, I must at least thank Mr. Kimmich for opening my eyes again as to why I should not be disappointed.
Mexico is in the last-16 after eliminating Ecuador 2-0, on two great goals by Julian Quiñones and Raul Jimenez. The first half of the team was fantastic. With their incredible home crowd in the legendary Azteca stadium the Mexicans look like one of the best teams of the tournament, and surely expectations are growing as they advance. Javier Aguirre's starting lineup was very offensive and seemed to take the Ecuatorians by surprise; it looked as if they home team would crush the South Americans, but second half they stood back comfortably as Ecuador made some feeble attacks.
There was never a doubt about who would win.
Mexico will face either England or DR Congo in what will be a huge hurdle for both sides. But it will also be Mexico's last match in the Azteca, as future games will move to the USA if Mexico advances. This will be interesting to see, but Mexico are celebrating that they are perhaps one fo the best teams in the world in their mighty home stadium.
For some time, Germany appeared to be going the same way as Italy; since they won their fourth World cup they have been awful!
In 2010 and 2014, following their famous 2006 victory, Italy failed to get past the group stages. The same has happened to Germany, who after winning in 2014, failed to get past the group stages in 2018 and 2022. So this is where Germany has improved compared to Italy.
The Italians have failed to qualify for all World Cups since 2014, while Germany in this World Cup improved markedly from their two previous World Cups in that they moved beyond the group stage and to the last-32. However, today this was the end for Germany, who lost on penalties to a difficult Paraguay side, after a tough 1-1 (Germany's first loss in World Cup penalty contest ever).
While some may say this is disappointing for Germany, I applaud them for getting out of the group stages and playing a good match against Paraguay; they were the better team but lacked speed and imagination against a South American side that played like they always do: organized, defensive, and counting on corners and free kicks. And with a strong goalkeeper in the San Lorenzo’s Orlando Gill, Paraguay proved too much for the German feeble attacks....
Germany are, like Italy, not at the level of former times; the players they produce are nowhere near the level of the players they used to produce and not only lack the skills and speed to defeat a team like Paraguay, but also lack a winning mentality that in the end might have been why they could not win on penalties. Paraguay are surely celebrating and will look forward to play another defensive and organized match in the last-16.
Congratulations to Paraguay but I will certainly not support them as I do not like how they play.
In the meantime, I congratulate Germany for getting through the group stages and hope they continue improving after having fallen so far from their 2014 pinnacle.
Japan-Brazil was bound to be an exciting match, but it was more disappointing: the disappointing thing were Japanese side. The Asians have been touted as a potential new world power in football, but were tepid to say the least against the Brazilians, who were the deserved winners.
Japan started the match defensively; they appeared nervous and were under pressure until after half an hour, when Danilo lost a ball to the Mainz´ player Kaisho Sano, who just rushed towards goal and shot flatly to the right of Alisson. 0-1 for Japan was completely against the match stats, but it was the result at halftime.
Second half was the same: if anything, Japan pulled back even more, relying on sporadic and lukewarm counterattacks, while Brazil pressed forward. Japan was rather lucky in some situations and finally relief came for all football fans when Casemiro headed the ball into the Japanese goal. If anything, the goal gave Brazil more confidence and Japan more nerves, but despite hitting the post and numerous approaches, Brazil was unable to score until the dying second of the match, when a bad defensive mistake by the Japanese put Arsenal´s Gabriel Martinelli in a free position, and he scored Brazil´s winner via the goalpost.
Thank football for Brazil being in the next round! They will face the winner of Norway-Cote d’Ivoire.
In the meantime Japan will not be missed, and confirm the dreadful tournament for Asian sides: of 9 teams, only two (Japan and Australia) qualified for the last-32, and now Japan has gotten (rightfully) eliminated. Next World Cup Asia should lose some qualification spots to Africa.
