Spain – Germany: Tschüss Toni! (2-1, After Extra Time)

July 6, 2024 No Comments

The stars aligned. Heavyweights have assembled on one half of the bracket. And among them, the two playful powerhouses pitted themselves against each other. A spicy spectacle would unfold over two hours with risks, rewards, and plenty of pain as an icon bid his farewell.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

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Spain’s showings set alight the tournament with the fireworks from their fluid football. La Roja are the only outfit that triumphed in all three group stage games, beating Croatia and Italy in a ‘Group of Death.’ Then, the Georgians gave up the ghost in their maiden competition against a camp that are answering all questions from the doubters. Above all, this team has a blueprint that outlines how it wishes to score— thanks to a dynamic duo that can complement the control from their standard style.

Germany’s guarantee of a place in the quarter-finals has also been an inflection of its old ways. Graft and grit clawed back a draw with the Swiss and signaled a 2-0 victory over the Danes. Distant is the efficient ease with which these players squashed the Scots on the opening night of action. But at the core of the creation from Julian Nagelsmann is systemization. His midfield masters maneuver the ball in and out of central corridors, while adaptability is in his toolkit to tackle issues without possession.

Nagelsmann navigated a way out of the Round of 16 thanks to two new faces into his lineup. David Raum replaced Maximilian Mittelstädt as the left back, and Leroy Sané swapped in for Florian Wirtz. Both men had held onto their places in the plans of the manager, who asked Jonathan Tah to take over from Nico Schlotterbeck. His plotting persisted with three central actors as pillars: Toni Kroos, Jamal Musiala, and Ilkay Gündogan. However, he altered the axis: Robert Andrich made way for Emre Can.

The Spanish have sorted out a stable selection. Luis de la Fuente fielded the same starting eleven from their victories over Italy and Georgia. Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand nailed down the two positions in the middle of the back four. Marc Cucurella and Dani Carvajal commanded the flanks, working with Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal to do damage from the outside. Rodri, Fábian Ruiz, and Pedri played in the midfield. Álvaro Morata was on the hunt for his second goal of the EUROs.


Naughty and nice

The latest German construct is one full of ball hungry players that demand possession. So, it was in their utmost interest to take the battle for the ball to the Spanish from the outset of this contest. Nagelsmann noted that force and fouls could contribute to the disruption of their rhythm, and his players pitched into the rough and tumble. The hapless victim among the visitors was Pedri, whom Kroos hacked in the 3rd minute. It appears the offensive midfielder will miss the rest of the EUROs with a sprain to his left knee. Fortunately for de la Fuente, he could call on Dani Olmo as the deputy.

However, it was also possible to turn Spanish strengths against their opponents. It is the first time in the tournament that the Germans have tried to break down a back four and not a lower 5-4-1 block. Moreover, their visitors typically push their fullbacks into aggressive positions that can create spaces on the flanks. Musiala’s magical feet could cut open a first crack in the plans. Raum flew forward on the outside, without the exactness of delivery, and Kimmich was a willing recipient in the final third.


15th minute: offensive sequence from Germany. Morata and Olmo engaged the central defenders, so Manuel Neuer shifted the ball directly to the left touchline. There, Raum and Gündogan funneled forward passes to Musiala. The left winger slides inside, holding off Carvajal in his back, and cuts to open his body for a deep pass to the onrushing Gündogan. Note Williams had covered across laterally to pick up Can, so an eventual switch to Kimmich in Spain’s half of the pitch became a possibility.


Systemic Spaniards solve the task

The Germans had achieved one of their objectives, having kept nearly 60% of the ball after half an hour. Yet, the Spanish still signaled danger. Incomplete offensives offered opportunities to transition. The current complement of forwards is far more able to act appropriately in such situations than in the past. In addition to this, De la Fuente found a way to handle the defensive approach of his counterpart.

The hosts had chosen to forego their 4-2-3-1 system in high pressing and preferred to push out from an asymmetric 3-3-2-2 shape. Sané stood to the right of Havertz as a second presence in the first line against the two central defenders. Kimmich kept moving out of the chain to close down Cucurella, and the rest of the defense filtered into the room behind him. Above all, the three Spanish midfielders remained near white shirts: Nagelsmann knew too much space and time would be their downfall.



Hence, the midfielders remained close to their opposite men— even in their territory. Fábian floated across the field to shake the shackles of Can’s marking. Olmo, moving more towards the right, pulled Kroos, while Havertz and Gündogan watched Rodri. Defensive principles have presented problems of compactness and once more, the center of their block parted ways at the sight of Spanish solutions.

Kimmich could not keep up with the speed of Williams, who was wandering off his back from the left wing. Their carousel of rotations released the winger to come off the line and go deep as Cucurella doubled up on the outside and Morata motioned to generate uncertainty among the central defenders. If Rodri dropped out of his post as the pivot to free up the center, Laporte even had a license to carry the ball into empty room. This strategy was at risk of running into fatal errors with next to no cover.


35th minute: offensive sequence from Spain. Rodri dropped between the central defenders, pulling out Gündogan, and the defensive midfielder passed to Laporte. Sané shuts him down, but Laporte cuts away from the winger and the pitch opens up between Kroos and Can. Morata is aware that Sané is racing back to recover; he hangs off the shoulder of Rüdiger, and at the last moment, he asks for the ball on his safe side. Raum pushes inside with Williams and Yamal is available to receive on the right.


Chaos causes cracks

And so arrived the first goal of the game. Gündogan gave chase to Rodri, leaving Laporte to link with Morata into his feet. The striker set away Yamal; Raum scrambled back on his heels to be goal side of the winger, who waltzed up to the penalty area. Morata hung in the open center, taking the attention of Kroos, and Andrich was watching the gap in the chain. An opportunistic Olmo observed from afar, sprinting to fill the hole at the ideal moment and firing a shot into the corner of the net past Neuer.

Nagelsmann had already sent on Andrich and Wirtz at half time; he banked on the bench for further help in the 57th minute. Niclas Füllkrug switched in for Gündogan. He and Havertz have acted as a Plan B, piling on the pressure with aerial raids, and pointed to a new way to lay siege on the Spanish goal. One also could not underestimate the introduction of Mittelstädt in place of Raum at left back. His precision of passing and ball handling improved security from the hosts to heap on the offense.


69th minute: offensive sequence from Germany. Mittelstädt had fired a diagonal pass between the lines to Musiala, who released Wirtz as the third man. These two tens force the Spanish midfield backward into their own penalty area, and Mittelstädt digs out a cross to the far post. Cucurella caught himself under the delivery, and Havertz knocks down the ball for Füllkrug. His layoff falls at the feet of Andrich; the midfielder has space to hammer an effort at the goal and Simón saves.


In the meantime, de la Fuente feared fatigue. All three forwards left the pitch. Ferran Torres took the place of Yamal in the 63rd minute and ahead of the final ten minutes of normal time, Williams and Morata made way for Mikel Merino and Mikel Oyarzabal. As time ticked, the Spaniards hung on.

Nagelsmann launched one more offensive swing. He brought off Tah, threw on Thomas Müller, and ordered Andrich to sit in the center of the defense next to Rüdiger. Mayhem reigned. Füllkrug was a handful, Havertz had spurned a lob over Unai Simón to punish his short range clearance of a goal kick, and the Germans had truly taken a step forward with the momentum. Mittelstädt played his part in the eventual equalizer, hanging a high ball at the far post. Kimmich hovered above Cucurella in an aerial duel, and Wirtz whacked a half volley off the post and over the white line. Pandemonium.



Heads in hands as hosts go home

Now Nagelsmann had overseen an equalizer, he restored order to affairs. Andrich stepped up into the middle of the park with Kroos, and Waldemar Anton acted as the partner to Rüdiger. Nevertheless, extra time witnessed more moments that could have decided the duel in their favor. Wirtz pulled a shot wide of the post before Musiala hit the hand of Cucurella in the box. His arm had strayed from his body, but VAR did not award a penalty. How much more would the hosts muse on that decision?

It would turn into a topic of complaint thanks to a miracle from Merino. In the 119th minute, Spain switched the point of attack one final time. Carvajal clipped the ball to Cucurella, and he underlapped Olmo. The substitute, who moved out to the left wing when Fábian came off for Joselu, whipped the ball into the air. Merino’s movement shrugged off Rüdiger and he planted a header beyond Neuer.



Takeaways

Spain soldiered on into the semi-final. The camp is not without its fair share of battle scars. Morata and Le Normand suffered suspensions to add to the injury of Pedri, while Carvajal earned a red card in the dying embers of this contest. Seldom do champions canter to the top over the rest of their rivals without any adversity, and fortitude to fight till the end stands them in good stead for the next fixture. Few have figured out how to disarm the French when it matters; may this version of La Roja be next?

The Germans go out in sorrowful spirit. Kroos’ career is over, and so is the summer fever of a home competition: who knows the next time when Die Mannschaft could channel such passion from its supporters? Yet, the narrative should not all be sad. Nagelsmann has revived a connection of camp and country that seemed so distant a year ago. New stars have announced themselves on this stage and this rallying resistance resembled somewhat the mix of spirit and skill that secured success in the past.



We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

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Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere (22) is an ardent Arsenal fan. He now writes as a journalist for several sites but his first love will always be BTP. [ View all posts ]

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