Germany face Spain in a World Cup semi-final which could go all the way while it’s the first day of the July meeting at Newmarket.
The all-conquering Germans have been magnificent throughout and made short work of supposed heavyweights England and Germany in the knockout stages, scoring four goals on each occasion and lighting up the tournament in the process.
In the wake of the universal acclaim that has rightly greeted the German displays, it has been conveniently forgotten that the performances of the opposition were woefully inept. The heart of England’s defence parted like the Red Sea on numerous occasions while once Argentina’s lethal front three were contained, the rest of Diego Maradona’s quite limited side had painfully little to offer in the quarter final.
Spain have been steady and unspectacular en route to the semi-finals, but with the amount of quality in their ranks, it would be foolish to think that they will be the next powerhouse of the game to crumble at the feet of Jogi Loew’s formidable outfit.
For a start, they’ll have far more possession than either England or Argentina had against the Germans and will be far more disciplined tactically than both of those sides. We see this being a very close encounter, with unfortunately little in the way of goals. In fact, we see it going all the way to a penalty shoot-out and if it gets that far, history would weigh heavily in favour of the efficient Teutons.
Germany haven’t missed a penalty in a shoot-out in a major competition since Uli Stielike failed to convert in the 1982 World Cup semi-final against France. In fact, Lukas Podolski became the first German since Stielike to miss a penalty in a World Cup when his effort was saved against Serbia in the group stages. Since Stielike’s miss, Germany have converted 21 consecutive penalties in shoot-outs at major tournaments, an impressive figure in any man’s language.
Despite the cosmopolitan make up of the current Germany squad, we’d still fancy them to hold their nerve like their unerring predecessors if this one goes down to the wire. GERMANY TO WIN ON PENALTIES is available at 9/1.
Into racing, and the first day of Newmarket’s July meeting. It was only a maiden which TANFEER won at Doncaster last week but she did it in tremendous style and could be a star in the making.
Godolphin’s Dansili filly went off the 4/6 favourite on that occasion so she is clearly highly regarded and while Memory, a winner of a Group 3 at Royal Ascot last month, is deservedly a short-priced jolly for today’s Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes, Tanfeer could be the value.
JOE’s Daily Double: Germany to win on penalties (9/1) & Tanfeer (Newmarket, 2.35 @ 11/2)
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