USA 0-1 Germany: Both Klinsmann and Löw got plenty of work to do

   Needless to mention the weather, the USA-Germany clash was terribly subject to the Portugal-Ghana, in which the stronger side, the Portuguese, needed a massive amount of goals to prompt any sense of urgency between Americans and Germans. The contest was effectively finished by Thomas Müller's awesome curled goal.

This match, however, raises a few important questions to both Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw before the round of 16. In the case of the former it is no secret that Michael Bradley has so far been disappointing (although today he attempted a couple of dangerous over-the-top balls towards Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey in the first half). And Klinsmann’s natural wingers (Zusi, Bedoya, and Davies) have equally underperformed being the case that DeAndre Yedlin, a makeshift winger, has turned more incisive in his minutes on the pitch than any of those three put together.

In the case of the latter, Germany still struggles between adopting a Guardiolesque-Kloppean style of play or a pure counter-attacking one: Löw favors Philipp Lahm as the holding midfielder flanked by two box-to-box midfielders and, as happened against Ghana, Germany often loses control of the match since some members of the front trio are not sympathetic to high-line pressure and tracking back. This was an issue of concern against the USA, whose best player has been Fabian Johnson insofar as the tactical battle with Portugal was fought and decided in the side of the Mönchengladbach new signing.

Löw thus resorted to Lukas Podolski in substitution of Mario Götze in his left side. The Arsenal man tracked back Johnson to great defensive success: if Johnson had got the best out of the ‘Cristiano Ronaldo Avenue’ against the Portuguese, against the Mannschaft he only crossed dangerously once in the Jermaine Jones-Ravshan Irmatov funny clash.

 

This illustrates Podolski's tactical discipline:

The ball is on the other side of the pitch with Bradley, but Podolski anyway tracks back to clog Fabian Johnson’s channel.

Granted, Podolski’s contribution to Germany was what it helped to prevent rather than what it helped to create, but the Mannschaft never lost control of the midfield and soaked pressure with ease. And the creative phase of Löw’s side is precisely what really needs to be discussed: with four centre-backs they lack width and, moreover, Özil looks more comfortable with a classic target man like Klose ahead of him because he can make the inside-outside runs when neither Müller nor Götze/Podolski are already covering the channels.

On the American side one is left wondering whether yes or not it is time to Mix Diskerud to get some playing time in view of Bradley’s discrete tournament. Equally worth discussing is the inclusion of Yedlin in the starting line-up ahead of any of Bedoya, Davis and Zusi. The positive conclusion for Klinsmann, though, is that the hexagonal defensive duo of Matt Besler and Omar González looks solid as ever.