Who says football is not as much of heart and grit as it is about skill and talent. France today dumped the finesse that had characterized their game so far in the tournament. They mixed it up and found a way to win dirty! Germany might be the best team in the world now but the French on the night were a match.
Without meaning to tone down the monumental effort they put in though, this match was as much about winning ugly as is about the stars aligning in their favour! In a game of fine margins, the one or two penalty shouts that went against the Germans weren't the main issue, it just appeared that for some reason, their high press and suffocating tactics, in the first half especially just weren't enough. Check out why;
Bastian Schweinsteiger chose today of all days to dump his shield of experience to be pierced by a sword of naivety.
The otherwise reliable Manuel Neuer chose tonight to time his punch wrongly, flapping at an admittedly dangerous ball.
Jerome Boateng seemed to heed the call of nature at the worst possible moment, breaking down precisely when his passing from the back and spreading of the play were needed most. He would have come in handy when the French defence CLEARLY needed to be stretched.
Finally, the ball just didn't seem to bounce in their favour especially in the first half and the few times it did, the star had already lit fire in the belly of Hugo Lloris. They created chances but just lacked the necessary composure to tuck it in the back of the net.
The French were awesome tactics-wise but for me, they won because they found out what is just about the only significant loophole in this well oiled German machine, their full backs! Hector with due respect is clueless in attack, the French found out and Sissoko did the rest. Joshua Kimmich is a promising young talent but definitely not a right back.

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I always knew the french side will triumph over the Germans. . like you rightly said, the German machine were achy and lacked oil in the right parts