This 2018 vintage of the World Cup has been great through 2.5 group stage rounds. Good games, open play, great performances by not as ballyhooed nations (Croatia, Mexico, Belgium), dramatic ones by the great players of this era in Ronaldo and Messi.
The 2014 vintage was great in teh group stage, with COMNEBOL and CONCACAF nations taking center stage in Brazil, but is ultimately sullied by a drab knockout stage, with the most memorable moments being a 7-1 laugher, and many, many penalty shootouts following plidding 120 minute games.
The 2010 vintage was a mess, beyond what economic havoc it wreaked on South Africa. It was fun, in theory, for Africa to get a World Cup, and the most memorable game from that tournament involves the end of Africa's journey, with Suarez's handball, but it was also the tournament of vuvuzelas, and Spain's ruthlessly boring style winning with back-to-back-to-back-to-back 1-0 wins.
You have to go back to 2006 to get a tournament that meets what 2018 may become. It was a special World Cup, played in Germany, featuring so many teams at the apex of their powers. You had the last Jogo Bonito Brazil team (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, et. al.). You had a monster France team featuring Zidane's swan-song. You had a great Portugal team, with their Golden Generation coinciding with Ronaldo's breakout. You had a great Argentina team, with Golden Generation coinciding with Messi's breakout (man, what Messi would do to have a Riquelme and Crespo on his team right about now). And of course, you had Germany and Italy to top it off.
The 2006 World Cup was an interesting tournament, an intersection point between the defensive-minded era that dominated the 90's and early 00's, from AC Milan's cattenacio to Chelsea's rise under Mourinho, and the tiki-taka era that started in earnest in the 2008 Euros. There was no main style. The games were open, even, and enthralling. Rarely did one team manage 60%+ possession - it was more equitable than that. Throughout soccer loving communitites, that tournament, and the 2008 Euros that preceded it, were the last vestiges of the classic era, before Messi vs. Ronaldo and Real vs. Barca took over teh sport. And no match encapsulated this feeling than Italy's epic 2-0 win over Germany in teh Semifinal.
Much like the Brazil vs. France quarterfinal that I wrote about earlier in my Nostalgia Diary, I was in India for the Italy vs. Germany match, a true clash of the titans. It is amazing despite how many generations of players have passed through the World Cup, some matches and matchups just seem more meaningful. These were the two most decorated European teams in World Cup history. These were two football loving nations that had their own, complicated personal history. This was a special matchup, albeit unexpected.
Italy was a great team, loaded with great players at their prime, at a time when Seria A was seen as easily the equal to the Premier League and La Liga. Prime Buffon, prime Cannovaro (the last man to win the Ballon D'Or as a defenseman), prime Pirlo, prime Totti, prime everyone. Germany was not so reputed. In fact no one really expected much of them, coming off of two disastrous Euros performances in 2000 and 2004, and a mirage run to the World Cup Final in 2002. But that was all put aside as they stormed through the tournament, with a joyous verve that would come to define them over the subsequent eight years until the 2014 triumph.
The best part of that tournament is we had not one, but two, international dynasties born. The seeds of both 2008-2012 Spain and 2006-2014 Germany, were sown in that tournament. For Germany, it was the rise of Lahm, and Schweinsteiger of the bench, as Klose stamping his mark. Jurgen Klinsmann lead a team that embodied 'happy to be there' despite the usual pressures that come with being the host country.
The match was in Dortmund, home to the famous Yellow Wall, the most imposing venue in Germany, a place the German National Team had never lost. Of cousre, they had never beaten Italy in World Cup play. It wouldn't happen in this game, but through 120 thrilling minutes, there were no losers. The game, despite being 0-0 through ninety minutes, was excellent. The 30 minutes of extra time were something else.
Italy had a dreadful record in penalty shootouts; Germany had the opposite. So Italy threw caution to the wind - and Germany and Klinsmann matched them. It was up and down, with near misses, and posts hit, and great saves by both Buffon and Lehmann. The fans were supercharged in Dortmund's compact, romperous stadium. The game was incredible.
Italy won the 2006 World Cup mainly off of a defense that gave up two goals in the tournament - an own goal, and a penalty. But in the semifinal, they showed their might offensively, whether it be Pirlo, or Totti, or even Fabio Grosso.
That last name was the man who finally broke the net, in the 118th minute, off a brilliant pass from Pirlo off of a corner. It was a perfect shot, curled right by Lehmann. It broke German hearts; Allesandro Del Piero's goal three minutes later on a perfect counter ended it. Germany crumpled on the pitch - but they should have left holding their heads high.
On paper, Germany was not as good as Italy (or France, or Portugal, or even the Argentina team they knocked out in the quarterfinals, but they played with such an unreal joy at home that tournament. Germany became a dynasty after that, if one a bit light on actual hardware, but it all comes back to 2006. The last great World Cup, one dominated by truly great teams, one that may have all won the 2010 or 2014 version had they entered (though in fairness, 2010 Spain and 2014 Germany are great teams, it was more the lack of depth those years that was startling).
Italy, for their credit, played a more open style than they too are accustomed too. I've never seen a team so openly not want to go to penalties, and in doing so abandoning any sense of structure and foundation, and throw so many bodies forward. It was a great watch, if endlessly nerve-wracking. By the end, Dortmund left in tears, though with the Germany Anthem being sung out through it. The Italians continued on to the Final - a game that probably merits its own post. And the football watching public got the benefit of a truly special night between two truly special football nations.
