Germany vs. Argentina analysis

The evening was getting late and Joachim Löw was still there in his fresh white shirt, defending his team's performance. The German coach was taking part in the usual post-match press conference. Despite losing 4-2 and being jeered by the home fans, Löw was adamant that everything was still okay.

His team played well in phases, he said, but things just didn't go their way. Mario Gomez had a bit of bad luck, some players just need a bit of time. There were many positives too, and generally, there is no need for worry, Löw assured the gathered journalists. The rematch against World Cup finalists Argentina "was a good test for Sunday," Löw concluded, referring to Germany's next match, a qualifier for the 2016 European Championships, against Scotland. He's right of course, but only if you define "good" as "enlightening," and not as "successful."

The 90 minutes in Düsseldorf certainly showed one thing: you can't rest on your laurels in top level sport. No matter how deserved and fantastic Germany's World Cup win was one and a half months ago, the next assignment, qualification for the European Championships, is already looming. Expectations are high amongst Germany's football fans, you could tell that in Düsseldorf last night.

Fans were in high spirits at the start, before they started jeering their own team just into the second half. Löw found the behavior "hard to understand," he said later, but it was justified, as the performance of his team was not really worthy of World Champion status. Ahead of the weekend European Championship qualifier, it's worth having a closer look at the performance of the team.

Goalkeepers:

As usual, Manuel Neuer was one of strongest parts of the German team. Germany's Footballer of the Year stopped two shots on goal, before he was beaten twice later in the half by unstoppable strikes.

In the second half Roman Weidenfeller got a chance in goal. After being let down badly by the defensive line in front of him, he was beaten twice - a horrible start to the game for him. Otherwise he did a good job. In goal, Germany is looking fine. In the defensive line in front of goal though, it's a different story.

Defense:

They couldn't deal with Angel di Maria's attacks, they didn't think on their feet and they didn't show enough physical presence: the back four in Düsseldorf - Erik Durm, Matthias Ginter, Benedikt Höwedes and Kevin Großkreutz - were really not up to the mark. Angel di Maria played brilliantly and was involved in all of his team's four goals, but most of the time Germany's defenders were just ball watching.

Durm and Großkreutz did contribute in attack more than Höwedes, but that often meant they weren't back in position after the fast counter-attacks from Argentina.

The communication between Matthias Ginter and Benedikt Höwedes in the central defense -to put it nicely - left room for improvement. Often both players stood too far back from Sergio Aguero, Erik Lamela and the other Argentines. They seemed to think others were responsible for dealing with them. That was a gift that Argentina readily accepted, scoring their goals at times like they were in a practice match. With Lahm and Mertesacker now retired, the defense will be the biggest area of concern for the start of the EURO qualifiers. Löw has already said he will nominate some players back-up for the Scotland game.

Midfield:

Germany's midfield had some good and not so good moments in Düsseldorf. Andre Schürrle and Marco Reus showed their speed in attack, but didn't perform to their huge potential. A few good passes, a goal from Schürrle and a near miss from Reus was all they had to show for their night's work. Julian Draxler, in comparison, didn't contribute much and wasn't very dynamic. After half an hour it became obvious why: he had a muscle problem in his right thigh. His replacement Lukas Podolski, couldn't do much better either.

Behind them Toni Kroos and Christoph Kramer tried to create some space, but Kroos especially didn't do this as well as he had in the World Cup in Brazil. His feared long-distance shots also weren't on target. Kramer was very active and, while Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ilkay Gündogan remain injured, he is developing into an adequate replacement in this position.

Generally, many German attacking moves in the midfield seemed rushed and not particularly well thought through. Only after Argentina went into the lead 4-nil did Germany really get into the game eventually scoring two goals (André Schürrle in the 52nd minute and Mario Götze in the 57th minute).

Attack:

Up front, Mario Gomez seemed to struggle to combine with the rest of the team all night. That's understandable after his seemingly endless run of injuries lately, keeping him out of the national team for a long time.

Less understandable was that he struggled in his main job: scoring goals. In the seventh minute he was free in front of Sergio Romero and kicked the ball straight into the goalkeeper. The same thing happened again in the 28th minute. Whispers and laughter was the response from the stands.

Then in the 45th minute, he brought up his "negative hat trick," hitting his third 100 percent chance straight at the goalkeeper. A tragically sad comeback for the former national team striker. In the 56th minute coach Löw reacted by replacing Gomez with Mario Götze. Gomez was farewelled with loud whistling by the fans. Substitute Götze played in his typical style. Not particularly willing to run, but he got himself into the right position at the right time and he was on target with his shot on goal, in contrast to Mario Gomez.