Die Mannschaft will seek to end what seems to be like a fairy tale for the North African team and set up a meeting with either France or Nigeria. Germany has had a torrid group stage apart from the 4-0 thrashing of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. They will still play their flank games firing at all cylinders. But if Germany has a weakness it's their fullbacks and will seek to use their attacking prowess to neutralise their defensive frailty. Coach Joachim Low will still field a similar squad that faced USA, Mario Götze will likely return to Germany’s attacking trio after being replaced by Lukas Podolski in the last match, though Bastian Schweinsteiger may well keep his place in the center of midfield.
However, that isn't to suggest Algeria will roll over. They've been excellent at the World Cup so far, and booked their place in the World Cup knockout stages for the first time ever with a draw against Russia last time out. Coach Vahid Halilhodžić has already demonstrated he's more than capable of organising his team excellently.They shouldn't make life easy for Germany. Halilhodžić may well opt to name an unchanged lineup. However, Madjid Bougherra could return to the center of the defense in place of Belkalem, after he was omitted for running the risk of a suspension against Russia.
Algeria have already proven they're pretty good defensively, but against Germany they'll face perhaps the most fierce attack in the entire tournament. I expect the Germans to face the game squarely and seek to repeat an opening game 4-0 scoreline against an inexperienced Les Fennecs pending how their defence will cope with so much class.
Verdict: Over 3.5 goals
No comments:
Post a Comment