This was a big test and victory for Argentina against Germany in Munich, less than 100 days before their first game in the World Cup 2010 finals. The football team of Diego Maradona was more prepared and played better right from the first minutes of the friendly match. The guests lost a big chance in the 38th minute when Ángel Di María hit the goal post, but just seven minutes later the same player gave an exceptional assist to Gonzalo Higuaín that had no trouble scoring the winning goal. The Germans were not able to improve their performance in the second half, allowing Argentina to develop even further their game strategy. Five minutes before the final whistle Nicolás Burdisso’s shot stopped at the post, saving Germany from even more embarrassment in front of their home crowd.
This was the probably the biggest test for both teams before the World Cup in South Africa, and the results the came back are mixed. On one hand Maradona’s Argentina had trouble qualifying in the tournament and was criticised by many, but now their confidence is rising to the sky and the coach said at the post game interview that the team can and will go all the way. Germany failed the test plain and simple, and captain Michael Ballack apologised to the fans saying that the team needs to take more risks in the offence. They will definitely need to step up their game, and they will have to do it fast because the clock is ticking.
And on a side note, German striker Lukas Podolski attacked a reporter verbally after the match because he didn’t like one of the comments made for his performance in the game. The reporter allegedly said that Podolski “had his best performance during the warm-up” and the player asked him “to say the same thing in front of my door, without all your reporter friends around to help you”. It was also reported that the German footballer tried to smack the journalist in the face, but the reporter denied such claims.
