BY now, the result of the quarterfinal match between Brazil and the Netherlands would have been out.
It must have been an intense encounter, I’d imagine.
So now we turn our attention to tonight’s other quarterfinal, which has generated the most interest among the other three pairings, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Argentina versus Germany never disappoints. There’s bad blood between the two that dates back more than 30 years ago, and that should be a good thing.
In the last World Cup in Germany, the two sides also clashed in a frenzied quarterfinal, with the hosts winning 4-2 on penalties after finishing 1-1 on extra time.
So heated was the game that the players traded punches after the final whistle, although quality-wise much was left to be desired in 120 minutes of play, as both teams held back on attack.
Tonight’s match, however, will not be a repeat of their last meeting.
Argentina’s lineup speaks for itself: attacking football at its best. It would be a travesty for the likes of Messi, Tevez, Higuain and Aguero to do some ball watching, have a polite chitchat with the German defenders, and talk with the goalkeeper about life and the game as an allegory of meaningless pursuits.
No, none of that should happen, though, because this German squad is the deadliest I’ve seen since the team that finished runners-up in Euro 2008, with World Cup 2006 veterans Klose, Podolski, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Metesacker four years wiser now.
That 4-1 thrashing of England still leaves me in awe. I haven’t seen counterattacks that swift and surgical. Then again, efficiency is synonymous to German football, only this time it borders on nanometer precision.
This German squad has what it takes to tear the Argentine defense apart. That’s the cold truth.
This possibility, of course, leads to one question: what’s going on in Diego Armando Maradona’s mind right now?
I have no doubt about the Albiceleste’s firepower up front, but I’m worried whether the backline
can deal with the German strikers, whose strength and long strides left the erstwhile formidable English defense eating dust. And can Argentine goalkeeper Sergio “El Chiquito” Romero hold off attacks on the fly?
Argentina have been impressive, no doubt, but at this stage of the World Cup, they are untested, at least in comparison to what the German’s went through. That shock 1-0 loss to Serbians woke manager Joachim Leow and his wards just about the right moment.
The night prior to the Germany-England match, I had a chat with Australian youth coach Graeme Mackinnon on what he thought about the game at hand. I said England looked menacing despite its tepid qualifying round performance, and that Germany will have a tough time cracking the Three Lions’ defense.
But Graeme knew better, especially after his beloved Australia got manhandled 4-0 in the group’s first game. He reminded me that Germany somehow always manages to come up big in the knockout stages and picked Leow’s team to advance. And come up big they did.
Now faced with this enormous task, again, I ask: What would Diego do?
Days leading up to the big game, Diego was at his best with his mind games, taunting the German squad of being nervous about tonight’s game. But that wouldn’t be enough to beat the Europeans.
It’s been a long time since Argentina won the World Cup. The year was 1986, the place Mexico City. Their vanquished foes? Germany, which they edged 3-2. And Diego was every move the shimmering cog that made it happen.
A thousand nights ago, Maradona was bestowed the name El Pibe d’Oro, or The Child of Gold. It’s been a long time. Tonight we’ll find out if he still possesses that lethal golden touch to break Germany into pieces, this time from the sidelines.
(nsvillaflor@gmail.com)