There may be little to choose between these teams on paper, but on current form they are poles apart. Saturday's Quarter-Final ties could not possibly have produced two more distinct results and performances. Whilst Spain dug deep and, with a sizeable amount of luck were able to overcome a stubborn Paraguay side by the narrowest of margins, Germany destroyed Diego Maradona's Argentina in the most ruthless manner through a devastating display of attacking football marked by clinical finishing. Logic would therefore dictate that the Germans will simply roll in and effortlessly play their Iberian opponents off the park before marching on triumphantly to the Final, where they will surely triumph. However football is immune to the stipulations of logic, and in Durban on Wednesday evening current form will count for absolutely nothing. Having demonstrated my confidence in this German side, although not to the extent I perhaps ought to have done, by placing my money on them to win the competition outright, I am not about to jump ship and join la fiesta Espana. However I still believe that tonight's game will be closer than any other in the tournament so far. Two score 8 goals in two games against sides ranked, rightly or wrongly in the case of England, in the Top Ten of the FIFA World Rankings, is no mean feat, and Joachim Low's side have proven themselves to be devastatingly effective on the counter-attack. Bastian Schweingsieger was the best player on the park by a country mile on Saturday, and even such consistently excellent players as Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas will struggle to replicate such a performance, even on a very good day.The main saving grace for the Spanish has been the form of David Villa, whom I believe to be a one-in-a-generation goalscorer of the absolute highest standard. Ten years ago, it was Raul Gonzalez whom young Spaniards wanted to emulate. In the past few weeks it has been David Villa, hero of Spain's 2008 European Championship campaign, who has netted five times already at this tournament, and is just one goal away from becoming Spain's all-time top goalscorer. Whilst the mercurial midfield pairing of Iniesta and Xavi is probably Spain's main strength, and certainly gives the side its edge in terms of creativity, passing and maintaining possession, without Villa's contribution Spain would not be competing at the Semi-Final stage. Without his goals against Paraguay, Honduras and Portugal, who else would have stepped up to the plate, and shouldered Spain's goalscoring burden. Sadly Fernando Torres, another hero of Euro 2008, is clearly not at full fitness, and the fact that Del Bosque can only call on Pedro of Barcelona and Fernando Llorente of Athletic Bilbao, who can boast just four goals between them, would be a worry for most supporters of La Roja. In midfield Spain are almost in a class of their own, and to prove it, let me give you the following list of names. Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Francesc Fabregas, Juan Manuel Mata, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Javi Martinez, David Silva, Jesus Navas. None of these would fail to get in England's starting line-up, and quite frankly such an exceptional collection of players puts Germany's midfield ranks firmly in the shade.
However it's form that counts, and I believe the performance of Schweingsteiger in the last game, Muller against England, and Ozil in the group stages give them an edge over their certainly more illustrious, and arguably more talented opponents. The weakest link in the German side has to be Manuel Neuer, who with just 10 caps is perhaps not ready to be facing a player of the calibre of David Villa. His opposite number Iker Casillas on the other hand has accumulated 109 caps during his years as the Spanish number one, and when called upon should produce the goods for his side. The most pressing concern surrounding Casillas would be his ability to claim the ball from corner-kicks, but frankly similar issues still surround Neuer. Therefore it would be reasonable to suggest that whichever team uses set-pieces more effectively may well triumph. My score prediction for this game is 1-1 in normal time, heading to extram-time and perhaps penalties. Unsurprisingly I see David Villa continuing his excellent form and cementing his position as 2010 Golden Boot, whilst Miroslav Klose could just be in the right place at the right time to start today's Semi-Final party off early on. The winner is more difficult to predict, but given that I saw fit to invest my hard-loaned money in a German victory, over the course of the past few weeks I've seen little that would make me change my mind. The Spanish of course pose a huge threat, but form-wise they are out-of-sorts, and the spriteliness and raw potential of players such as Muller, Ozil, Khedira and even the still relatively young Podolski and Schweinsteiger might just see the Germans progressing to the final at Soccer City on Saturday evening.
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