Once again, the result of Germany vs. Argentina has sided with modern history. I eluded briefly to the history behind this fixture in a preview to the quarter finals and like in 1990 and 2006 it’s the Germans who have emerged victorious. Germany continued their superb form through to the quarter final match and won 4-0 with goals from Muller, Klose (x2) and Friedrich. Germany seem to have the game one in every area of the pitch.

In defence, Germany were disciplined. At no point were silly challenges made in the box on any of the technically brilliant Argentinean players. A couple of free kicks were conceded but they were all far enough out that Neuer was never troubled.

In midfield, Schweinsteiger and Khedira were able to control the game. In particular, Schweinsteiger set the tempo and was able to spring attacks with a few swift passing moves. It shouldn’t be overlooked that the midfield were helped by Muller, Podolski and Klose all getting back to help defensively. Ozil had his quietest game of the tournament but still showed glimpses of his talent.

In attack, the German forwards had too much pace out wide. Argentina could not handle the runs that were being made and their defence was made to look very average and clumsy. Germany will miss Muller in the semi-final due to suspension. Klose’s second goal equalled the German record set by Gerd Muller for goals in World Cup competitions – 14.

As soon as Germany went two goals up the game became very stretched and open. As witnessed against England, Germany’s counter-attacking ability is frightening.

For Argentina and Maradona it’s the end of the road. They were totally outplayed. Personally, I felt Lionel Messi was incredibly disappointing. He failed to score in the tournament and in my opinion failed to make his mark. He was playing in a team that provided him with consummate freedom to express himself but he failed to take advantage of it. No one to date has had more shots on goal than him. As the best player in the world – I was expecting to see more from him.

The real let down with Argentina was in defence though. The four defenders in Otamendi, Burdisso, Demichelis and Heinze were too slow and not good enough. Maradona was unable to react to the fact that Germany pressed Argentina all over the pitch and didn’t allow any freedom for any of their players.

Germany are going to take some beating and will fancy themselves against Uruguay for a place in the final.

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The build up to this World Cup has been as much about who may not be there as to who will be there. Players have been ruling themselves out of matches or getting serious injury scares. It seems that a high proportion of these players, often influential players, are based in England and play in the Premier League.

Consider five groups international players can slot into: PL players who are fit and have been selected; PL players who are selected but have picked up big concerns; PL players whose injury status meant selection was impossible; PL players who have been selected unfit; and non-PL players who were selected but have picked up injuries. Straight up one can point out that any argument I make is flawed in that my focus is on quite clearly Premier League players. I’m sure it is possible to do a similar experiment with many of the world leagues. However, the Premier League is the world’s biggest league with the world’s best players – a very high proportion of players selected to play at the World Cup come from the Premier League.

Into those groups we can add names. The Premier League players who are fit and have been selected I will ignore as there are many. Into Premier League players who are selected but have picked up big concerns goes: Cahill (Everton, Australia), Altidore (Hull (loan), USA), Behrami (West Ham, Switzerland), Skrtel (Liverpool, Slovakia), Palacios (Tottenham, Honduras), Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Ferdinand (Man Utd, England), Bendtner (Arsenal, Denmark), Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Heitinga (Everton, Holland), Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Nani (Man Utd, Portugal). Without going into individual cases all of those players are either out of the World Cup through injury having been selected or are very big doubts.

Into Premier League players whose injury status meant selection was impossible I will only give a few examples: Brown (Man Utd, England), Hargreaves (Man Utd, England), Zamora (Fulham, England), Anderson (Man Utd, Brazil), Bosingwa (Chelsea, Portugal), Woodgate (Tottenham, England).

Into Premier League players who have been selected unfit can go: Torres (Liverpool, Spain), Rooney (Man Utd, England), Barry (Man City, England), Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain), Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Mikel Obi (Chelsea, Nigeria).

Finally, into non-Premier League players who were selected but have picked up injuries can go: Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy), Robben (FC Bayern, Holland), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan, Brazil), Forlan (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay), Karhan (Mainz, Slovakia), Streller (FC Basel, Switzerland), Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain) – Iniesta was selected unfit.

Too many Premier League based players are included in these lists. It begs thinking about whether Premier League players play too much.

The structure of football in England means that a player can play 38 league games, 14 domestic cup games (excluding replays), and between 15-19 European games – totalling a potential 67-71 games in a season. That is a very heavy schedule.

In a World Cup year, the number of games a player plays is even more crucial. To the clubs it is the same as usual, the season is no different. To the governing bodies, in England – the FA, their motives are split. They want a competitive domestic system but they also want the national side to progress.

What can be done about the amount of football played in a World Cup year to try and stop these injuries from occurring? The two most common suggestions are to start the season earlier and incorporate a winter break. This would not change the number of games played but would allow for the players to have time off either at the end of the season or mid-season to recuperate. La Liga has adopted a full-time winter break. Such an idea has been advocated by club managers here. Sir Alex Ferguson said in January of this year:

“My experience tells me that when you get to December, it is draining for players to continuously play matches every Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. It is difficult to play football through heavier grounds in cold weather. By December, everybody needs a break. With a break in January you can repair the small injuries the players pick up. Even the coaches need a mental break. Why don’t we use the whole of May to make up for the loss of matches that are held in January?”

Of course, Ferguson has the progress of Manchester United at heart when he made those comments but they become applicable to the national sides too.

One other suggestion I have heard is to cut the number of teams in the Premier League to 18 and have only one domestic cup. I don’t advocate this idea – other countries have leagues with 20 teams in, the Premier League should be no different.

When clubs do try and rest players in the Premier League, even if the motive is not for the sake of the national team, the idea is not supported by the FA. Wolves were fined £25,000 for fielding a changed line-up at Old Trafford which included all 10 outfield players being switched. Mick McCarthy believed Wolves would not win the game with his strongest team out so wanted to save them for the next, more important game against Burnley.

The Premier League clubs will be concerned by how many of their players will come back from the World Cup and find a season starting in the very near future. Many will not have a proper break from football and be thrust into pre-season training soon after returning. Such is the concern that Manchester United have admitted that all their players at the World Cup will be given a month off and the club have accepted that they will be forced to start the new season without some important players.

This all makes for nice reading – in hindsight we can make suggestions to counter all these injuries that are happening to players associated with the Premier League. However the reality is a little bit different.

Premier League based players are professionals. They are monitored, primed and shaped to play a lot of football at an intense level. Players in Europe’s other top leagues will be playing as much football as Premier League players. There are more Premier League based players at the World Cup than from other leagues therefore the proportion of players injured who play Premier League football is higher.

The biggest factor I believe is conditioning and the nature of the Premier League. English domestic football has become frantic, quick, strong and very competitive. Players who want to play in England at the top level must be at the top of their game. There is more chance of a player being injured in the Premier League than other leagues for this reason.

When a Premier League player now goes on international duty he will find the standard of football and the speed of the football fall from what he is used to. Premier League players are conditioned to play at a high tempo. At a World Cup, the training sessions are so controlled that the players are finding they are have to hold back. The matches are so different from what they play week in week out that the body has to make an adjustment. No longer are tackles flying around. The players find they have a tiny bit more time on the ball. These conditions lead to injuries.

I would argue that the Premier League has become too strong. No longer is international football the ultimate form of the game. Injuries will occur at international football – because of the strict conditioning a Premier League player is used to; their bodies are so in tune to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League that when it stops, the body can’t handle it.

I find it amazing that the FA do not try and support a more drastic type of break in the season, especially in a World Cup year. The Premier League may be the strongest league in the world but it may also be prohibiting some of its biggest stars from appearing on the biggest stage in football.

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Three times World Cup winners Germany prepared for the World Cup by beating a selection local players aged under 20 from Eppan in South Tirol by 24 goals to nil. The Germans, who beat Hungary in the 1954 final, Holland in the 1974 final and Argentina in the 1990 final – have thumped a few sides in their time, however the biggest World Cup victory remains the 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia in 2002.

Each half was only 30 minutes long and coach Joachim Loew used 20 players in total. Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose each scored 5 goals. Other players to score were: Piotr Trochowski – 3, Cacau – 2, Stefan Kiessling – 2, Andreas Beck – 2, Toni Kroos – 2, Arne Friedrich – 1, Sami Khedira – 1, and Lukas Podolski – 1.

Other than to boost the confidence of the German forward players, the point of this game appears to obscure. Germany are in Group D at the World Cup and will face tricky opponents in Ghana, Serbia and first Australia on the 13th June.

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World Cup finalist in 2006 Franck Ribery has signed a new five year contract with Bayern Munich, which ends any speculations of the winger joining Real Madrid. The France international has been continuously linked with the nine times European Champions over the past two season however by penning a new deal which commits him to the Bundesliga champions until 30 June, 2015 has ended any possibility of a move. France will look to Ribery as the tailisman of the side – much like the weight placed on the shoulders of legendary playmaker Zinedine Zidane.

Ribery has played in six World Cup 2010 qualifiers and scoring three goals in the process. However, he only found the back of the net four times in nineteen appearances in the Bundesliga. Although his goals tally is down on last term, there is no doubting his ability and influence on the pitch. Usually operating on the left in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation, Ribery’s trickery and acceleration allows the barrel chested former Marseille man the ability to stretch defenses and draw other players in. He has one World Cup goal to his name, which he scored in the victory over Spain in the 2006 World Cup finals.

Franck Ribery, who joing Bayern Munich in 2007 from Marseille for a reported £20 Million deal, released the following statement: “I am very happy to have decided to stay with FC Bayern. My family and I are very happy to be staying in Munich. This club has become a big family for me.” The news will come as a release for Bayern who recently lost 2-0 to Internazionale in the European Cup final. Bayern Munich have won four European Cups; in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 2001 and will be hoping to bounce back next year. Ribery kicks off his World Cup campaign against two times European Champions Uruguay.

Yesterday Bayern won 3:0 against the former season champion Wolfsburg with an extraordinary playing Arjen Robben who just arrived from Real Madrid on Friday.

After two ties against Hoffenheim and Bremen and a lost against the leagues greenhorn Mainz Louis van Gaals’ team was under high pressure to win in the Allianz Arena. Starting without Ribery and Robben Bayern played a good first half scoring through Mario Gomez. After the brake Wolfsburg showed a bit of their quality what they were known for last season but even best chances were given away twice by Dzeko and Grafite. So then it was the Robben show which decided the game. With two goals in his first half time for Bayern he calmed the begining nervousness in the Munich soroundings. Bayerns outgoing manager Uli Hoeneß stated that Robben might not be the last catch on the transfer market to consolidate their starting position for the Champions League which might be a link to the brazilian left defender Rafinha from Schalke 04.

Stuttgart manager Markus Babbel says Klaas-Jan Huntelaar would be the perfect replacement for Mario Gomez, who has joined Bayern Munich, and is confident in signing the Dutch forward – who is yet to play in a World Cup Finals. The move could be exactly what is needed for the striker – who will no doubt be looking to South Africa next summer and considering the competition now at Madrid – a move to Germany will be welcomed.

The Dutchman’s future at the Bernabeu has been cast into doubt following the return of former president Florentino Perez, who has already splashed more than £250 million on star signings including Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. A number of other Real Madrid players futures are also in doubt. The 25-year-old front-man only joined the Spanish giants from Ajax in January, netting eight league goals in 20 appearances.

Markus Babbel, who played for Germany in the 1998 World Cup finals against Mexico and the United States, believes the signing is imminent:

“He would fit right in. He is the sort of quality hitman we are looking for,” he told Stuttgarter Zeitung.

“We haven’t been doing any business on that sort of level yet, but we need a suitable replacement for Mario Gomez and that’s why we went for him.

“It’s not about spending €3 million on someone, that wouldn’t help us. We need genuine quality.”

No sooner than Karim Benzema had joined Madrid, as reported yesterday, Franck Ribery has declared that he wants to leave Bayern Munich for, yep you guessed it, Real Madrid. So far, Madrid have spent £80 Million on Cristiano Ronaldo, £56Million on Kaka, £35 Million on Karim Benzema and around £16Million for Raúl Albiol.

Apparently Ribery is contemplating an early retirement if doesn’t get his dream move to Real Madrid – “I have made up my mind, I want to leave,” Ribery told Thursday’s issue of L’Equipe. “It will be Real [Madrid] or nothing.” Ribery had attracted interest from Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in the past – but Ribery believe that La Liga is the place for him ahead of the more lucrative lure of the Premier League. Ribery joined Bayern Munich from Olympique Marseille in 2007 and won the German title in his first year with the club.

Ribery featured sixteen times domestically this season for Bayern Munich – who were pipped to the title by Wolfsburg – and scored six goals. He received much praise for his performances in the World Cup in Germany back in 2006. If Ribery signs for Real Madrid, he will form part of one of the most terrifying attacking lineups in history – however Bayern have said that a ‘crazy offer’ will have to be made in order to acquire the player.

Wolfsburg super striker and goal-machine Edin Dzeko is set to hold talks with the German champions regarding his future, according to Jurgen Marbach a club executive. Dzeko (26) and Grafite (28) formed a superb partnership and dominated the Bundesliga scoring charts hitting 49 goals between them.

The Bosnian’s devastating form alerted a string of English big-hitters including Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, with Arsenal’s first-team coach Boro Primorac admitting earlier in the season that the North London club were monitoring the progress of the 23-year-old.

However, Dzeko is following suit by boycotting the Premier League as news emerged on Friday that his favoured destination was instead Serie A, with AC Milan reported to have signed a pre-agreement with the striker, giving the Italians first option on the in-form front-man. Marcbach was quoted as saying to Wolfsburger Nachrichten: “There is no new enquiry, but I have been told Milan have not yet given up. We wouldn’t close the door regarding talks, but if [Adriano] Galliani attempts to come over to Wolfsburg for talks, he has to signal his arrival way before. We are in no hurry and we are facing everything very calmly. We are trying to speak in person with Edin Dzeko regarding a new contract. He is 23 years of age and this is definitely a decision on his personal future. We want to talk to the player, not his agent.”

World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane has revealed that Real Madrid are in talks with Bayern Munich to purchase the French winger Franck Ribery. Zidane played alongside Ribery in the 2006 World Cup finals when France reached the World Cup final but lost on penalties to Italy. Zidane will be best remembered for his two headed goals against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final – rather than his headbutt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi.

“I am in talks with Franck,” said former three times World Player of the Year, who played for Real Madrid from 2001 to 2006, told Sunday’s edition of French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere.
“He is a fantastic player who has his place at Real. And playing in this team is a career opportunity, which, to me, you do not refuse. It would be a nice opportunity for Franck. It is up to him.” However, Zidane was also concerned about the potential price tag of Ribery “Bringing together the best players in the world has a cost.”

Ribery could join Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa in the most expensive attacking quartet in history. Kaka has already joined the Madrid outfit whilst Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa are expected to complete their transfers this week. Zinedine Zidane is now the third most expensive player in the world after he signed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2001 from Italian club Juventus for a then world record fee of £47Million – an amount that has been broken twice in one week.

The Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness has stated that the club will only consider selling Franck Ribery if his club receive a ‘crazy’ bid for the France international midfielder. Bayern Munich, who finished runners up to Wolfsberg this season, will be looking to keep hold of their prized possession, especially with Manchester United lurking after the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid.

“We would only talk on very strict conditions,” Uli Hoeness told Munich’s Tz newspaper. “And that would be if they were prepared to do crazy things.”The general manager also recently claimed that not even one of Ribery’s legs could be bought for 50 million euros, but the general feeling in Germany is that a bid in the region of £64 million could prove to be tempting enough for the four times European Champions.

Ribery has been linked with a whole host of clubs since his impressive displays in the World Cup back in 2006. He helped a Zinedine Zidane led France to the final – where a moment of madness by the French captain (Zidane) cost the French a possible second World Cup. Arsenal, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona have been linked to the winger in the past but it will take a vast amount of money to loosen the grip of the Munich club.