Big Day Of International Friendlies Led By Germany Vs. Brazil And Italy Vs. Spain

It would hold, and the world champions were beaten. Not a bad day’s work for the hosts.

Though it’s just an international friendly, there aren’t enough superlatives for how awesome Germany looked today. Somehow, they only won the match 3-2, but they absolutely took Brazil to the cleaners and the scoreboard is not a fair reflection of what happened on the pitch. Kroos and Götze weren’t the only players who were incredibly brilliant; the entire Germany squad played their tails off.

As for Brazil, it’s not looking so good. They flamed out of Copa America spectacularly and looked terrible for most of today. The good news for them is that they don’t have to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, since they’re hosting it.

Seven minutes later, Kroos created a superb goal yet again, this time from open play. On a counter-attack, the Bayern Munich man slotted a brilliant through ball into the box for Mario Götze, who rounded Julio Cesar before placing the ball into the back of the net.

Lahm would give a goal back in the 71st minute when he gave away a penalty, converted by Robinho, but Brazil didn’t stay in the match very long. In the 79th minute, Schweinsteiger stripped the ball from Ralf - who had a terrible match - and laid it back to substitute Andre Schürrle. The youngster who just moved to Bayer Leverkusen from Mainz buried the goal with a fantastic finish, putting Germany ahead 3-1.

*This is his normal expression, mind.

Oh, and there’s more bad news for Spain: Pique went off injured in first half injury time, with Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets replacing him. Not a good day to be a Spain player, is it?

New introductions Fernandinho and Ralf don’t look like they’re going to be staying in the Brazil lineup for the foreseeable future. Additionally, Robinho has been dreadful. That was 45 minutes of football that will leave fans of Brazil longing for the return of Paulo Henrique Ganso and Lucas Leiva to their team.

As a result of the middle presumably being busy, I can’t see this as a particularly fun game, but stranger things have happened, I suppose. In the past, I hear some people have been interested in pointless international friendlies right before the season starts. Now that’s weird.

Germany’s lineup is kind of odd, and I am assuming that Christian Träsch is a fullback. Brazil’s makes a lot more sense. Here are the lineups

Germany lineup (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Lahm, Badstuber, Hummels, Träsch; Schweinsteiger, Kroos; Podolski, Götze, Müller; Gomez

There might not be any competitive international matches (actually there is one between Northern Ireland and Faroe Islands in Euro 2012 qualifying), but there are still plenty of intriguing international matches on Wednesday as big teams square off in friendlies. Much of the world is in action with 34 matches on the docket so it is anything but a slow day.

None of the matches on Wednesday besides the lone Euro qualifier will have anything on the line, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything to watch for. The matches hold importance because they come right before a slew of vital matches. Euro 2012 qualifying is winding down with just four matches left before the first place teams qualify for the tournament and second place teams have to go to a playoff. The rest, well they’ll be eliminated. We’re also just two months away from the start of 2014 World Cup qualifying for South America. With that on the line for the European and South American sides, Wednesday’s friendlies are important as the final preparations before major tournament fates are on the line.