The Qatar World Cup draw came to an end, and for Spain and Germany, their Group E undercurrents surged.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup draw ceremony came to an end, compared with previous editions, the World Cup draw was relatively mediocre, which disappointed fans who were looking forward to the "death group". But is that really the case? At least for Spain and Germany, the E group they are in is surging undercurrents.
No group of deaths? The Spanish side has something to say. In the same group as the second-gear strong team Germany, which is recognized as who drew who died, and the third-gear strong team Japan, Spain, which is making rapid progress, will stage "Death Note" at the Qatar World Cup. Don't underestimate the contestants in the fourth gear that have not yet been decided, and it is not certain who holds the pen that crossed out their names. Costa Rica is just a sparring partner? Have you asked how England and Italy felt in 2014?
Germany is undoubtedly an opponent that all seeded teams want to avoid, but since it is in the second gear, it shows that there are some problems with the team. In the 2020 League of Nations, Spain swept Germany 6-0 in Seville, adding a fire to Loew's departure and adding fuel to Luis Enrique's reforms. Compared with the non-salty competition of the UEFA Nations League, the memory of the 2008 Euro 2008 final and the 2010 World Cup semi-final may be more heart-wrenching for German fans, who let them meet the golden generation of Spain. However, the subsequent success of the World Cup in Brazil can also be seen as the result of the full tempering of the previous competitions.
Today, Spain is probably the most well-chosen team in the world. After more than 3 years of "blind tossing", Luis Enrique has selected no less than 50 people, and the "core circle" that hopes to participate in the World Cup has reached about 40 people. In the last two warm-up matches, Spain has come up with two completely different starting lineups to fight, and the "substitute lineup" has even shown stronger combat effectiveness, defeating Iceland 5-0. It is no exaggeration to say that if a "3rd echelon" is temporarily put together, Spain can also ensure that the strength does not pull the crotch.
Rejuvenation was the main policy of Louis Henrique's reforms. Garvey and Jeremy Pino are less than 20 years old when they actually set foot on the World Cup, and have already been honed by La Liga, the Champions League and the UEFA Nations League, and have accumulated a wealth of experience. Ferran Torres, Pedri, Paul Torres and others have experienced the vicious battles of the European Championship consecutive extra-time matches, and can also be regarded as the "veterans" of the competition. These young players have contributed a lot of running, are scrappy and eager for honor. Fully mobilize human resources, promote young talents in an eclectic manner, and enhance internal competition, Spain will no longer play the model of pass-control football, but on the basis of being able to pass control, strengthen robbery, oppression and run without the ball, without giving the opponent a moment to breathe.
But the problem Spain faces is also real: weak defense. As can be seen at the European Cup, the Spanish midfield lacks Kanter players, the single defense ability of the defender line is insufficient, and the main goalkeeper is a nerve knife. The front court was even more lively, and the other side could not help but successfully counterattack. Germany lacks strong scorers, but it has a number of midfielders with strong forward-inserting ability. Once the situation is created to fight more and fight less, it will be a nightmare for the Spanish defense. The most important thing is that Germany and Japan are both teams with extremely distinct styles and insist on their own style of play, and Spain will face opponents with completely different styles of play in several games, which will test the stability of the team. From another perspective, taking the European Cup and the European Nations League as a reference, Spain lost to Italy and France respectively, which has not yet shown how high its maximum strength is, and whether it can withstand the pressure in the positive dialogue with the strong teams.
Luis Enrique has played in three World Cups as a player, and this is the first time he has appeared on the same stage since coaching the national team. He expressed cautious optimism about the results of the draw: "If you draw too easy a draw, you are more likely to have an accident afterwards." Germany is very strong, the coaching is superb and the team is changing and improving. But we're also strong, and we're not going to change our style just because it's the World Cup. Any opponent can beat us, and we can beat any opponent. ”
Although as a second-gear team, it was divided into Spain's Group E, but Germany's World Cup signing is actually good, as long as the excessive aberrations of 4 years ago are avoided, the group qualification should not be a big problem. The German media generally believes that if it qualifies smoothly, the German team will face a greater test in the knockout rounds, and if it wants to avoid a strong team like Belgium in the round of 16, the German team must strive to win the match against Spain.
Germany's first opponent is Japan, and from the perspective of historical performance, Germany usually has a better performance in the first game of the group stage. Japan's strength is second to none in Asia, but it is physically difficult to compete with germany. In the third pot, Japan is a relatively "easy to play" opponent, but the German should not forget the lesson of 4 years ago: Germany was in the same group as Mexico, Sweden and South Korea, and was considered easy to qualify, when Loew said: "I will not be shocked, there is no reason to be nervous, I hope we can lay the foundation for a successful defense in the group stage." As a result, no one expected that the final round of the loss to the South Korean team, the final group bottom, became the most painful page in the history of the German team World Cup.
The Bundesliga will not be truncated until November 13, the World Cup Groups A and B will start playing on November 21, and Germany's Group E will start on the 23rd, which means that Flick's team has relatively more rest and preparation time, and even does not rule out the possibility of Germany adding a short training camp in Qatar or its neighbors. During Bayern's time in charge, Flick did just that: before the 2020 Champions League final, he arranged a training camp in Lagos, Portugal, and the subsequent final was held in Lisbon, where Bayern was crowned.
Flick spoke about the opponent for the first time after the draw: "It's an exciting group, it's not so easy to qualify, but we have great goals and we have to face everything that's coming. We actually wanted to play a friendly match against Japan, but that seemed impossible now. Japan has a very high standard and many players play in the Bundesliga. Costa Rica was our opponent in our first match in 2006 and we have fond memories. All teams have something special, all teams are developing and we have to play at the best level every game. ”
Flick consciously or unconsciously avoided talking about Spain, which was one of the reasons why Germany's former manager Loew was dismissed. Although Spain, like Germany, is a rebuilding team, in the last three meetings, Spain has drawn 2 and won 1, including the 6-0 game in Sevilla, which was Germany's worst defeat after World War II.
Spain has a certain psychological advantage over Germany, and the final of Euro 2008 was to beat Germany to win the championship. And as we all know, Germany can easily be weak in the second group game of the tournament, and this time it is the second game against Spain - however, the so-called second game curse has disappeared in the last two bad competitions, and the second game has become the only time germany has won. Moreover, from the perspective of the Group Stage of the World Cup, Germany has encountered Spain 3 times in the group stage, which is the most common opponent in history, and the German team is unbeaten with 2 wins and 1 draw.
Of course, as the German media said, a team like Spain is much easier to encounter in the group stage than in the knockout stage. German captain Neuer said: "We have negative memories of Spain, but this kind of thing does not happen to us twice. Schweinsteiger, who was a commentator on Deutsche Tv One, also admitted: "Playing against Spain was a black day for our team. Spain is always improving, their qualities are incredible, the rookies and veterans are a perfect combination, Spain are the real hard bones and we will fight for the first place in the group. ”
Germany's third opponent in the group stage will be the winner between Costa Rica and New Zealand in the World Preliminary Round play-offs. Schweinsteiger said: "A good group. There could have been a more difficult situation and I think Costa Rica would qualify as the third opponent in our group. "In terms of strength, neither Costa Rica nor New Zealand will put germany to a substantial test. However, SkyDeck guest Hamann also reminded Germany to be very careful: "We have successfully avoided African teams, I think New Zealand and Costa Rica are good, but the Japanese should not be underestimated." ”
The media believes that the real test of the German team should be in the knockout stage, because the top place in Group F will be Belgium, which means that if Germany only finishes second in the group, it is likely to encounter Belgium in advance. Flick said: "I haven't seen that far, the first thing we have to do is to qualify from the group. Brazil is the strongest team and France is stronger than us. We need to be fully prepared and we are looking forward to everything that is about to happen. ”
Wen | Wu Yifan Yang Zijiang
Edit | Fat Cat