Why Germany vs Spain felt different 🇩🇪 🇪🇸 | Tactical Analysis

Spain vs Germany was the highest level game at the 2022 World Cup so far, technically and tactically. Join me as I break down this tactical war of attrition, and discuss how both teams can improve going forward in Qatar.

Sections:

0:00 intro
0:32 The tactical battle
1:55 Spain’s (almost) perfect game
6:29 How can Germany improve?

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[flo]

this was my favorite game to watch no other game touched this level

[GreyOne]

Even the game being 1-1. Most spanish fans were highly satisfied with this game performance, and as you said, it felt very high quality from both sides.

[RoodBull_SAMA]

This match was very entertaining, both were tactically disciplined.

[asparkdeity]

Can’t believe we ended up in a situation midway through todays game where it seemed like both Spain and Germany were getting eliminated!

[thepurist_]

Third time uploading this due to copyright issues. Hopefully this one stays alive 🙃 there may be some choppy edits.

[adtoxic]

I agree. The match actually felt like bayern vs barca instead of some mid tier level football like many other matches that were supposed to be high level

[arminius]

Kimmich and Goretzka to start, Gyndogan out! The Germans had to work extremely hard and intelligently in this game to prevent death by a thousand passes! It was the highest class of soccer we've seen so far in this World Cup. Hope Germany advances tomorrow to the final 16! Schiesst soviele Tore wie moeglich!

[Maennerabend]

best moment of the game was definetly Musiala taking both, Pedri and Gavi at once and coming out on top.

[simozerrik]

Annnd they are out of the tournament My morroco defended like a beast against their offensive play.😍😍 im so happy 🇲🇦

[Hassan-emkz]

Even with a 1-1 draw this match was the most satisfying to watch up till now

[PakoBar]

I think Germany found their Giroud with Füllkrug and will be more dangerous on long balls. I think they will benefit from adopting an approach where their defenders are less exposed by a very agressive pressing and obsession of control.

[sonatine]

Musiala is the best U21 talent in the world, without any doubt. How he danced through Spains midfield and defenders several times was simply amazing - while he was even defending himself as well when he had to... what a player! I can't wait for Wirtz (who is also only 19 years young and on the same level of talent) getting 100% fit again and playing beside of Musiala (plus Paul Wanner for the next year as well; who is just 16 now). And the double 6 with Kimmich + Goretzka is simply worldclass. Germanys BIG problem for now is the defence, where only Rüdiger makes an S-Tier defender. Schlotterbeck has a lot of talent but still makes mistakes - just like Raum as a LB. And they have no real right back, only semi-good solutions for that position. Germany is the current U21 Euro Champion and the German U21 / U19 / U18 / U17 teams really got the highest dense of top-notch talents Germany had for decades. So for the Euro 2024 there will be a new central striker, new defenders etc. and a much stronger German team - but for NOW Füllkrug is the best option as a 9 and they have to stick with the thrown together defence.

Spain has basically the perfect mix of young and older players. Pretty similar to the German World Cup winning team of 2014. Their only disadvantage compared to England is that they have also no real S-Tier striker like Kane. Yes, Morata is a great player and their whole offensive players are good - but a top-notch 9 is not there. Their whole play style lives through the midfield, Pedri and Gavis ideas and then the creation of 3 different offensive players. Busquets is 34 but that dude is reading the opposite team like a book. He is like an Einstein of football. Spain has modernized their game, the Tiki-Taka is much faster and more dynamic than it was 7-8 years ago and worldclass talents and gamemakers like Pedri and Gavi are making it very hard for the opposite team to read their game. These two are different to Musiala or Wirtz - they don't score a lot and they're also not making that much assists, but they are CREATING the WHOLE game of Spain. It's insanely cool to see how much effect two talents can have on a team without scoring 10 goals per season (which is applicable to Barcelona as well).

That was def. an absolute great game of both teams. Highest level of football - even during the fact that the result of 1:1 was not that amazing.

[JackDespero]

It was by far the best game of the tournament so far, in my opinion. Specially because both teams left everything on the field. It felt like the Final match instead of a group math.

[caligula]

Best game so far. High Quality from both sides. I enjoyed the game

[himiguja]

I think Germany needs to play Goretzka next to Kimmich if they want to have control of the midfield, when playing with a double pivot. Gündogan doesnt offer enough control to make up for his lapses in defensive awareness, when used as a holding midfielder/destroyer. I think he perfoms better, the higher up the pitch he plays for Germany. Goretzka might not be perfect in that regard, but he has the physicality to win 1 v 1 duels and be a presence in midfield. My ideal formation would be Füllkrug as a focal point up top, then all the Bayern players around him, maybe leave one of Müller and Gnabry out instead of Gündogan/Havertz and play Musiala on the left.

[tobytoxd]

Thank you very much! Great analysis! My best team after that game would be: Neuer - Raum, Rüdiger, Süle, Klostermann - Goretzka, Kimmich - Musiala, Sané, Müller/Gnabry - Füllkrug. For me our biggest problem was the number of mistakes made against Oman (friendly match) and Japan in possesion. And when i compare Gündogan and Goretzka, Gündogan while being more creative, he also makes more mistakes especially when passing under pressure. Goretzka on position 6 is harder to push into mistakes, he is physically stronger and also it's an advantage to have that team of Bayern players on the pitch, who know eachother so well. When Raum was very offensive, Kehrer should've played more save and defensive. I don't think, he is playing his best football right now. That's why i prefer Klostermann. Same with Gnabry: awesome player, but he doesn't stand out right now, like he usually does. I would give Müller the first 45 minutes and Gnabry the second half and tell them: run around and create pressure like there is no tomorrow :) ...Götze and Hofmann coming in as jokers on this position.

[gusadico]

Sacking out Gavi killed Spain's game. Spain was dominating and seemed close to the 2nd goal at that point. Luis Enrique should have waited for Germany to change first before deciding to put Koke in. Maybe, Flick would not even risk putting in a striker if Gavi was still in the field.

[zakirauf]

Please enlighten us on how Japan beat Spain and germany

[moritzklatt]

German here. I was quite disappointed with the team's performance in our match against Japan and even happier when I saw how well we played against Spain. Gives me hope for the rest of the tournament :D

[chopsnz]

Its interesting to see how Possession based football doesnt necessarily lead to more opportunity in the final 1/3rd, Spain looked good first half and start of 2nd before the shift to Sané and Fullkrug. If Ferran was better at attacking 1 vs 1 it could make a big difference. Maybe Ansu Fati on the left, Ferran or Morata 9 and RW Olmo