FIFA World cup 2010 Semi Final- Is it Barcelona Vs Bayern Munich
Half the Spanish side plays for Barcelona. Likewise, half the german team plays for Bayern. Is that a reason why these two countries are doing so well at the world cup?
AS EUROPEAN champions Spain take on runners-up Germany in a repeat of their Euro 2008 final tonight, looking at the lineups of both teams, one might well be forgiven for thinking it's almost Barcelona vs Bayern. Especially if you look at the respective "engines" of both teams, which have carried them through to the last four.
Nearly half the Spanish starting 11 is made up of footballers who ply their trade for Barcelona (not counting the latest Barca signing, David Villa). These are Spain's Barca men -
Defence:
Carles Puyol
Gerard Pique
Midfield:
Xavi Hernandez
Andres Iniesta
Sergio Busquets
Germany's Bayern Munich influence is equally strong -
Defence:
Philipp Lahm
Midfield:
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Attack:
Thomas Muller
Miroslav Klose, and not to mention, Lukas Podolski, who played three seasons with Bayern and shifted to FC Koln only last season.
Spain and Germany, with hugely contrasting styles of play, have both successfully made it within sniffing distance of the trophy. In doing so, they have also managed to look the two best teams of the tournament. Where other, more fancied teams like England, Brazil and Argentina have faltered, not to mention last time's finalists Italy and France, what do these teams have that the fallen ones don't? One possible answer is that their backbones are built with men who play for the same club.
Spain's backbone, as we all know, is it's midfield, which can write coaching manuals on deft short passing and possession play. And surely the fact that Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets play for the same club must account for the co-ordination and understanding needed to pull off such a game.
Similarly, if you look at the German way in this World Cup, it has been all about soaking in the pressure from the opponents with their historically tight defence, and then launch lightning-quick counter-attacks which have been enough to inflict fatal damage on the opposition. And save for Mesut Ozil, it's the Bayern (and ex-Bayern) men, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Podolski and Klose, going forward in mostly that order which have orchestrated the bulk of those Blitzkriegs which have taken Germany this far.
Is there a lesson for coaches hidden somewhere here? Possibly. With international matches few and far between, except for competitions like Euro/Copa America and the World Cup, it is the club-mates who spend the most time with each other on the field.
Defence:
Carles Puyol
Gerard Pique
Midfield:
Xavi Hernandez
Andres Iniesta
Sergio Busquets
Germany's Bayern Munich influence is equally strong -
Defence:
Philipp Lahm
Midfield:
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Attack:
Thomas Muller
Miroslav Klose, and not to mention, Lukas Podolski, who played three seasons with Bayern and shifted to FC Koln only last season.
Spain and Germany, with hugely contrasting styles of play, have both successfully made it within sniffing distance of the trophy. In doing so, they have also managed to look the two best teams of the tournament. Where other, more fancied teams like England, Brazil and Argentina have faltered, not to mention last time's finalists Italy and France, what do these teams have that the fallen ones don't? One possible answer is that their backbones are built with men who play for the same club.
Spain's backbone, as we all know, is it's midfield, which can write coaching manuals on deft short passing and possession play. And surely the fact that Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets play for the same club must account for the co-ordination and understanding needed to pull off such a game.
Similarly, if you look at the German way in this World Cup, it has been all about soaking in the pressure from the opponents with their historically tight defence, and then launch lightning-quick counter-attacks which have been enough to inflict fatal damage on the opposition. And save for Mesut Ozil, it's the Bayern (and ex-Bayern) men, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Podolski and Klose, going forward in mostly that order which have orchestrated the bulk of those Blitzkriegs which have taken Germany this far.
Is there a lesson for coaches hidden somewhere here? Possibly. With international matches few and far between, except for competitions like Euro/Copa America and the World Cup, it is the club-mates who spend the most time with each other on the field.
The co-ordination, the understanding, the attitude of playing together as a team, is much more likely to be formed and nurtured when players spend most of their time together. Is it any wonder then, that traditional torch-bearers of the beautiful game like Brazil and Argentina were far from their imperious best, and most of the time, looked like a bunch of disparate individuals rather than a well-oiled team, which Spain and Germany do look like.
If you look at the line-ups of Brazil and Argentina, for example, most of their members are spread out all over Europe and some over South America; you'll hardly find two of them playing together for the same team at both club and national level. Is this the reason that the co-ordination, the deft passing and silken smooth team moves we've come to expect from them were seen only in rare flashes at this World Cup, and that too, mostly against lesser mortals?
Maybe it is something for future national team coaches to think about. Maybe it might even influence fringe selections in the future, if there's a neck and neck battle for the same spot between a player, who plays for a club whose members form the bulk of the national team, against someone whose club is not that well represented!
Maybe it is something for future national team coaches to think about. Maybe it might even influence fringe selections in the future, if there's a neck and neck battle for the same spot between a player, who plays for a club whose members form the bulk of the national team, against someone whose club is not that well represented!
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