Gary Lineker revisited...

Austria were on fire

Austria deserved a win or at least a point and they meant business from the first contact. The Germans were very arrogant and thought that they could pass the ball around like they did against the Faroer Islands on Friday. But the Austrians were on fire and pressured the Germans effectively who looked surprised and gave away the ball easily (that's why the lost against Italy in the EURO because they wouldn't believe that other teams have matchplans too).

What Kuipers did...

Kuipers reaction to this was interesting: He ignored all the nickly stuff in midfield (pushing and shoving next to the ref went quite a lot of times unpunished) and focused on the big things. He didn't fall for a few dives (no penalty for Harnik), his tight offside decisions were almost all absolutely correct (including a very narrow one against Austria in the last five minutes) and he remained cool and friendly as if the players were all possible consumers ready to visit Bjorn's shop the next day.

It could have gone wrong ...

He gave out quite a number of verbal warnings against two Austrian and a German player (Kroos) for fouls where a booking would have been necessary by the rulebook. In tactical issues, Kuipers kept his powder (his cards) dry as long as possible and booked for the first time for a rude challenge after 17 minutes. As he got away with it, no complaints. The penalty decision pro Germany was at least courageous against a loud home crowd but was correct. The problem with Kuipers generous approach was some work in the dark martial arts off camera: Klose being fouled twice in the opening stages and he "reacted" with an at least hazardous ellbowing jumping for the ball. But on the hole: Kuipers held his troops with a generous approach on board - the teams knew each other and kept their nerves nitted together.