The Low illness

This match tactically

Why has Germany not beaten any of the really big names like Spain or Italy in a match at competition level? Because defensively they are weak, despite having a good goalkeeper behind and if you find a way to counter their tactical plan, they are lost. Chili exposed the Low illness perfectly in this match and although it was said in post-match-analysis that Chili are a major force in South American football this is not true for the way Germany thinks about that. Chili played forechecking very deep, had high pace on and off the ball and had they shown more finishing skills they would have won it. Germany scored once and dominated for 20 minutes in the first half, but was then unseen for most of the second half. They were poor, but they talked their way out of it afterward - with a display like this the first round at the WC will be the ultimate finishing point for the "Mannschaft".

Clattenburg in all this

Mike Clattenburg is in my opinion an un-english referee in the sense that he is not so much a match-flow orientated official than many others form the UK. He whistles quite often for minor offences which made it difficult for me to see his threshold which seemed to vary. This was not a difficult match for him, he gave one yellow for a foul from behind (spot on) and he showed a good physical condition. The Germans got more and more frustrated at their own play, lost patience and the relatively narrow scope for a friendly by Clattenburg added to their sheer lack of ideas to do anything about the domination by Chili in half two.

Compared to Webb

If we compare him to Webb, he seems to be the more pro-active referee who will not wait so long to use cards or get a grip on the match by whistling more often. He talks much less and relies not so much on his presence but I'm not sure if he is the better official. To be honest, I have not seen enough of him to really judge - on this night he was alright in an uninspiring match. Therefore 8,0.