The good: Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine forward proved why he is one of the most efficient forwards in the world. He scored a goal in the only clear chance he had in the game and proves that hard work pays off. I really hope to see his best game in the World Cup.

The bad: Referee Martin Atkinson. The English official displayed a poor performance, not suited for this kind of game. He failed to book Lucas Podolski in a slide from behind and could not control the distance of the wall on free kicks, definitely not world cup material.
Argentina started the game with a classical 4-4-2 formation. The new face in the team was Walter Samuel (Inter Milan), the rest was the same squad that defeated Uruguay in the qualifiers. Sergio Romero started on goal, Gabriel Heinze played on the left, while Samuel and Demichelis were the center backs, and the main surprise was Nicolas Otamendi starting on the right side (he naturally plays as a center back). On the midfield, Maradona lined up Javier Mascherano and Juan Sebastian Veron on the center of the field, Angel Di Maria on the right side and Jonas Gutierrez pushed to the left, the strikers, Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain.

Germany started Rene Adler on goal (his first cap with the National team), Tasci and Mertesacker as center backs, with Philip Lahm on the left and Boateng on the right. The center Midfielders were Michael Ballack and Lucas Podolski, pulling Muller and Schweinsteiger to the wings, the strikers were Klose and Ozil.

During the week the German press criticized Michael Ballack for his low performance in recent months, however German coach, Joachim Low said “Michael is an unbelievably important player who leads the youth players”, and he also stated that he is one of the main pieces of this new German squad. However, after the game the press once again hammered the German captain. He created no clear chances for the team and the highlight of the match for him was a knee to the head of Martin Demichelis which ended in the substitution of the Argentine center back.

The game started well balanced for both teams, but soon Argentina began to take control of the match. There were changes in the Argentine squad in comparison to the qualifying matches for the world cup. The defense showed a lot of stability and the mid constantly pressured on the German side, pushing the opposing backs to clear the ball constantly. Argentina opened the field and used the speed of Angel Di Maria and Jonas Gutierrez. And it was through the right flank that Argentina created the first goal opportunity, when Angle Di Maria received a precise pass by Juan Sebastian Veron and took advantage of a defensive slip up to take a shot 18 yards out, for the luck of the German goalkeeper the ball hit the crossbar.

The first and only goal in the game was a perfect counter. Walter Samuel cleared the ball into the midfield to Angel Di Maria who placed the ball over the last German defender. German goalkeeper Rene Adler raced to the ball, but Gonzalo Higuain managed to get past the last defender, nudge the ball past the goalkeeper and shoot into an empty goal from 25 yards out.

During the second half, another mistake by Adler could have ended in a goal for Argentina. Adler rushed out of the box to clear the ball, instead he lofted it to Juan Sebastian Veron who took a shot on goal and missed by just a few yards.
Both Gabriel Heinze and Martin Demichelis were substituted with injuries on the second half. Heinze carries a muscular problem, and was only substituted as a precaution. Demichelis received a knee to his face from Michael Ballack, and will get surgery this week but will be back to the fields soon.
The Germans best player was the naturalized Brazilian striker Cacau (Stuttgart), who substituted Ozil, 22 minutes into the second half. He moved all over Argentina’s end line and took one of the only shots for Germany during the game.
Argentine pulled a really good result in what I would call a World Cup Semifinal; I say this because both teams were extremely cautious, as If they wanted to avoid making mistakes. Argentina showed improvement from previous performances, but still has a long way to go if they want to win the world cup. Germany disappointed the home crowd and Michael Ballack was once again “absent” in the field. Messi did not impress but played well and was even yellow carded after a hard tackle. Maradona can’t rest and look ahead into the next friendly against Canada.

And one question for Diego Maradona,why do we keep insisting with Nicolas Otamendi? He is not a right back, we have other players to cover that position. Why not Javier Zanetti?