Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 28 (July 13 - Match Day 25)

> Former US uber-phenom FREDDY ADU, now 25YO, was on trial at Dutch side AZ ALKMAAR the past six days but was told today he will not be offered contract. ..  

Match 64: GERMANY v. ARGENTINA         

Date: Sunday July 13, 2014 

Venue: Estadio do Maracana, RIO DE JANEIRO

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando! (anything would be better than the '10 Final)

  DRESSING ROOM CHALK TALK:

GER > It's good news if you see GER sending balls in from the flanks (77 crosses: 28 left-49 right) - If they are in control of the match they keep the ball in the middle of the pitch .. .. Their offensive build-up usually ends up with a shot in the box - Of their 79 shots, 53 were in the box .. ..

ARG > As GER attacks from the R/Flank, ARG attacks from the L/Flank (107 crosses: 71 left-36 right) .. .. It will be good news if they press to the byline (69 attacking set-pieces; 41 for GER) .. .. Of their 83 shots, they are not afraid on the long-range assortment, 36 of their 83 shots have from above the box .. ..

It all started a bit wonky for GER didn't it? SAMI KHEDIRA pulled up lame in pre-match warmups and CHRISTOPH KRAMER had to be shuffled into the first-11 at the last minute .. ..

ARG allowed GER to do as hey wished in two-thirds of the pitch, dispossessed them in the attaching-third and then countered .. .. When ARG got to the byline there was
havoc in the GER box .. .. A terrible back-header by TONI KROOS found it's way to GONZALO HIGUAIN who scuffed his 21st minute R/Footer and it trickled wide-left .. .. ARG should have grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute when a counter allowed EZEQUIEL LAVEZZI cross to a wide-open HIGUAIN who rammed it home, but was also clearly offside and should have timed his run a bit better .. .. ARG, who has attacked mainly down the L/Flank in the previous month, has found joy down the R/Flank with all 4 of their crosses coming from there ~ Picking on poor, nicked-up MATS HUMMELS, maybe? ~

Poor KRAMER got knocked silly chasing for the ball in the 1H and had to come off for ANDRE SCHUERRLE .. .. ARG defended with two wonderful blocks of four and didn't allow a decent try on goal until late in the 1H .. .. 11 crosses (1 left & 10 right) for GER to go with 5 attacking set-pieces which only allowed just 4 total shots, including a terrific header from BENEDICT HOEWEDES that rattled the R/Post just before the 1H whistle; 0-0 @ HT in great half .. ..

  Little wonder NO EURO SIDE has ever won a WORLD CUP in SOUTH AMERICA; Whatever quick-twitch energy GER had, slowly ebbed away in the 1H and they looked done at the beginning of 2H and ARG controlled the action early on .. .. Once early ARG raids didn't come off, they we're glad to just keep possession and drag the match on as long as they could .. .. GER got very loose with their passing but ARG just couldn't take advantage .. ..

LIONEL MESSI asserted a bit more with his first 2 shots of the match .. .. Superstar GK MANUEL NEUER was the star of the last-45 of regulation time - His warrior punch on JAVIER MASCHERANO was able to put his knee into his head and correctly read a LIONEL MESSI attack and came out just in time .. .. 8 more crosses from GER (3 left - 5 right) but was not able to crack the ARG back-eight .. ..

  1H) GER probed a bit (4 crosses; 4 right) and both sides just managed a shot each .. ..

2H) Finally, GER broke through in the 113th minute when the two fresh legs, SCHUERRLE & MARIO GOETZE hooked up to give an EURO side the first ever WORLD CUP WIN IN THE AMERICAS .. .. SCHUERRLE made a deep run down the L/Flank and his cross (just the 6th from the left) floated perfectly to MARIO GOETZE in L/Box and he chested-down the perfect ball and L/Footed his volley past SERGIO ROMERO > L/Right for the WC winner!

GER MoM: MARIO GOETZE (club: Bayern Munich)

Come on as a sub, WIN THE WORLD CUP, no problem .. .. 22YO future Munich star, who can't even start regularly at Bayern, looks set to star for his country for a decade to come .. ..

ARG MoM: JAVIER MASCHERANO (club: Barcelona)

Again marshaled the back-line and kept everything from GER away from danger until the legs finally went late when too got loose with his distribution .. ..

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WIN OR GO HOME?

What happens when you get to the 2014 World Cup for your first match .. ..

If you LOST your last Friendly before your first Group Match = 1W – 1L – 2D = 5 pts

If you WON your last Friendly before your first Group Match = 9W – 9L – 2D = 29 pts 

If you DREW your last Friendly before your first Group Match = 2W – xD – 2L = 6 pts 

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EXPERIENCE! Yeah, or neh?

How players do when they came to BRA with 5 caps, or less .. ..

Ramon AZEEZ (NGA), Eder BALANTA (COL), Oliver BOZANIC (AUS), Diego COSTA (ESP), Matteo DARMIAN (ITA), Lukas DIGNE (FRA), Cedric DJEUGOUE (CMR), Antoine GRIEZMANN (FRA), Anel HADZIC (BIH), Adnan JANUZAJ (BEL), Maksim KANUNNIKOV (RUS), Sead KOLASINAC (BIH), Christoph KRAMER (GER), Aissa MANDI (ALG), Shkodran MUSTAFI (GER), Gabriel PALETTA (ITA), Juan QUINTERO (COL), Morgan SCHNEIDERLIN (FRA), Luke SHAW (ENG), Raheem STERLING (ENG), Tino SUSIC (BIH), Jose Juan VAZQUEZ (MEX), Alex WILKINSON (AUS), YUN Suk-Young (KOR)

12W -- 12L -- 5D

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  PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT 

Managers: Jorge Luis PINTO (CRC)

Louis VAN GAAL (NED)

GK: Manuel NEUER (GER) ■

D: Giancarlo GONZALEZ (CRC) -- Philipp LAHM (GER)

M: Jermaine JONES (USA) -- Toni KROOS (GER) -- Javier MASCHERANO (ARG) --

Arjen ROBBEN (NED) -- James RODRIGUEZ (COL)

F: Tim CAHILL (AUS) -- F Lionel MESSI (ARG) ◘ -- F Thomas MULLER (GER) ◘

Bench: MF Charles ARANGUIZ (CHI) -- MF Andrew AYEW (GHA) --

F Karim BENZEMA (FRA) -- D Matt BESLER (USA) -- D Danny BLIND (NED) --

F Joel CAMPBELL (CRC) -- MF Juan Guillermo CUADRADO (COL) --

F Mario GOETZE (GER) -- F Olivier GIROUD (FRA) -- D Mats HUMMELS (GER) --

D David LUIZ (BRA) -- MF Luka MODRIC (CRO) --  GK Keylor NAVAS (CRC) --

F NEYMAR (BRA) -- GK Guillermo OCHOA (MEX) -- MF OSCAR (BRA) --

MF Andrea PIRLO (ITA) -- MF Paul POGBA (FRA) -- MF Juan QUINTERO (COL) -- 

MF Brian RUIZ (CRC) -- F Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI) ■ -- F Xherdan SHAQIRI (SUI) --

F Mathieu VALBUENA (FRA) -- F Enner VALENCIA (ECU) -- F Robin VAN PERSIE (NED) --

D Ron VLAAR (NED) -- D Mario YEPES (COL)

◘ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordo? Starting Side of the Tournament

■ - denotes 2010 Pando! or Gordon? Honorable Mention of the Tournament