Germany vs. Portugal, 2014 World Cup: An absolute mauling by Die Mannschaft

via @irgendniemand

Counterattacking plans don’t tend to work very well when your side is losing, and Portugal seemed to have absolutely no idea what to do once they’d conceded. Germany, meanwhile, could pull back, filling the gaps that were opening up when they were pushing for a goal and completely stifling anything Portugal could do.

Down 2-0 and to ten men against perhaps the silkiest counterattacking side on the planet, Portugal were, for wont of a better term, completely and utterly boned. And they knew it. But worse was to come. Germany grabbed another goal before halftime and would make it four in the 78th minute; meanwhile Portugal had lost Real Madrid left back Fabio Coentrao to what looked like a serious muscular injury.

We won’t know exactly what Coentrao injured until later, but he grabbed the inside of his left thigh. And it’s probably not a mere muscle pull, given how much pain he was in and that he was unable to leave under his own power.

Andre Almeida replaced Coentrao, and while he’s certainly a capable backup, there’s a big dropoff. Coentrao is genuinely world class and Almeida is simply a very capable backup player. He’s a bit worse than Coentrao at literally everything.

Here’s Hummels’ header. It’s a good one, but eeek, this is bad defending and goalkeeping.

It’s 2-0 Germany, and Cristiano Ronaldo has barely touched the ball. Could this be a blowout?

Pereira, normally very reliable for Portugal, has been off to an awful start. He’s badly mis-hit a couple crosses and been caught out of position on another occasion. It’s about as bad of an opening 10 minutes as anyone could have.

Here’s the finish from Thomas Müller, who might end up with another Golden Boot if he’s the man taking Germany’s penalties.

This is Raul Meireles:

And this is Hugo Almeida:

Match Date/Time: Monday, 1 p.m. local, 12 p.m. ET

Venue: Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil

It’s not quite a clear-cut case of great-team-vs-great-player, as Germany have some problems and Portugal aren’t entirely a one-man team, but that only serves to make it more interesting. Germany have a few injury worries, so nobody’s exactly sure what team they’ll be sending out, which could complicate matters somewhat. Portugal will still be the underdogs, but when you have Ronaldo on your team, no game is unwinnable.

There’s a lot to choose from. Mario Gotze and Toni Kroos will have important roles, and while Marco Reus will be injured, that should only give more room for Thomas Muller to do his thing. The Bayern Munich forward was one of the breakout stars of the 2010 World Cup, and he’ll be looking to have another good tournament here.

With Spain looking on the ropes already, it might be Gerany’s time. If a European team is going to win this World Cup, Joachim Low’s men will be the hot favourites from the continent despite Holland’s heroics, but they’ll have a stern early test in Portugal.

Portugal’s strength is obvious - they have the best player in the world. Germany, meanwhile, have plenty of talent all over the pitch, even in the wake of some injuries keeping a few of their stars out of the tournament. It won’t quite be Ronaldo vs. Germany - Portugal have plenty of other solid players from Joao Moutinho to Fabio Coentrao to Pepe - but it’s hard to see Portugal doing... well, anything at all in this tournament without their talisman.