GOOO DEATSCHLAND, First team to the 2nd round.
The team played very well and grew very much defensively since the first game. A big difference defensively beleive it or not was Ballack, different to Borowski he always likes to sit infront of the defence and his work rate is better than the Werder midfielder.
some ratings for the players:
Lehmann: Didnt have much to do but he held abt two good shots from the Polish but he spilled one corner which is alarming.
Lahm: MOM again, the kid is proving to be on of the stars of this german team and imo one of the best LBs in the tournament right now. Great defense, offense, crosses.He is a great asset to the team.
Fredirich

layed a better defensive game than last time but still his overall performace was poor especially his crosses. Klinsi did well by changing him with schneider.
Merterascker: He is getting more dependable by every game. Had two great challenges which were very important. Had a better game than Metzelder imo.
Metzelder:Was solid for 90% of the game but he had some lapse of concentration but he did well infront of his home crowd.
Frings: I think he had a very good game and much better than the costa rica game. Ballack helped him much though. But overall good passes and cleaned the midfield much and covered alot of ground.
Ballack: captain fantastic was not the saviour in this game but his passes were very good and he linked well with the others. Wanted him to push up the field more and give the polish defense something to think abt but he didnt. Overall good game imo.
Schweni

id well but i expect more from him, he tried too hard on the flanks instead of just playing the simple balls. His free kicks were not very good as well , same goes to the corners which r a big factor in a game like this.
Schneider:Had a better game than schweni and did well in defense as well as in midfield.Gave some good through passes to odoknor, klose and fredi as well.
Klose: Very positive and challenged for soo many balls in the air. Misses an easy free header in the 1st half that should've been a goal. Was unlucky to hit the bar in the final minutes.
Podolski: He will need to show much better form than this although he was better than the Costa Rica game much more positive. His finishing was questionable when he was one on one with the keeper and missed. We need someone more clinical and hence there was neuville.
Odokonor: Very positive on the right , didnt know the guy could clock the 100m in 10.9s , but i didnt think he would provide some good crosses but he did and he set up the goal. I see a good future for him and a great move by klinsi to put him there.
Borowski: Didnt impose himself much in that right hand of the midfield, but he was involved in two or three plays and did well considering the circumstances.
Neuville: He was there to be more clinical, he has better positioning than poldi and u can see that as he was involved in much more shots than poldi. Did well to finish that goal.
Very good performance, although the team didnt destroy the polish but they did very well.On all aspects there were soo much positives. Even klinsi's subs were almost perfect, although i thought that Marcell Jansen would be introduced not borowski.
Some questions again on fredirich but we will have to wait and see wat happens in that situation in the next match. Also the finishing, as the team needs to be more clinical and lethal infront of goal, this game should've had goals earlier than the 91st min.
But overall i'm happy, defense did well and the midfield created soo it good sign of things to come
And jeeks u asked why Neuville was there?
Gaspipe u guys still have hope