Whose house? Sandra's house... I know I'm a couple rounds behind, but I was in Chicago with my hands over my ears trying to avoid spoilers on all the WWC games I tivo'd. Nevertheless, it's still interesting to see Germany in action against tougher opposition than Argentina.
In the early going the Germans were off their game offensively, missing badly on their timing, and while they eventually started to get it together, they endured periodic bouts of sloppiness that a better finishing team than the North Koreans could have pounced on. Immediately before half time, Sandra Smisek found herself with the ball at her feet in a crowded midfield, and seeing Kerstin Garefrekes charging forward like a freight train, Smisek laid the ball off for her. The quick Koreans flew past Garefrekes but as the swarming flurry of red shirts tried to turn to meet her, Garefrekes cleared enough space in the middle of three Korean defenders to curl an unstoppable shot into the left post, putting Germany up at the half. Smisek set up Renate Lingor with another lay-off in traffic on a 1-2 play at the top of the box, which Lingor lofted into the far corner with no hope for the Korean keeper. The Germans bagged a third goal to ice the game and allow them to take off some key players when Melanie Behringer put a nasty corner into the box for Annike Krahn, who came in airborne crashing through the Korean back line and knocked the ball down with her thigh, bouncing off the line between a confounded Korean keeper and her far post defender.
The Koreans did get quick counters and poured on pressure whenever the Germans started to relax, but fell apart in front of goal. When the Germans did get it together, it was a sight to see... despite the speed of the Koreans, Melanie Behringer still got unreal separation on the left side to whip in crosses, and Sandra Smisek's quick combinations in traffic were nasty. The Koreans did lock down Birgit Prinz, invisible for the whole game, but Behringer and Smisek create too many nasty opportunities for unsung players... even Smisek's substitute nearly put Germany up 4-0 diving past the Korean back line to get her head on a Behringer cross. What really sank the Korean chances was the physical play of Nadine Angerer in goal, who endured at least two hard collisions with Korean strikers, flying in once like Superman and brushing away a striker like tissue paper, and taking one skull-to-skull shot that left a Korean down and Angerer on her feet looking for the rebound, her thick German skull apparently undented. Seeing the Wombat tangle with Angerer in a USA-Germany final would definitely be a blast.
Germany 3 - 0 North Korea
'44 Garefrekes
'67 Lingor
'72 Krahn
No comments:
Post a Comment