Somebody Please Get Paul the Octopus to the Next Sushi Bar...

Spain had their best match in the tournament so far, while Germany probably had their worst. Obviously, the two performances are interrelated to some extent but overall this was a richly deserved Spanish victory against a surprisingly nervous German team (lack of experience, anyone?). I remember saying something about the World Cup being all about peaking at the right time and tonight's game is obviously a prime example for the validity of this theory. For the first time, Spain really got their Tiki-Taka going and starved Germany of the ball, suffocating them very much like a python does with easy prey. This is of course a much improved German team but at times tonight's game was reminiscent of that terrible 2008 final in Vienna.

I cannot help but feel, though, that Germany showed too much respect for their opponents. They were quite timid from the start, lacking positive body language as much as the usual accuracy in their passing game. It was almost like Müller's absence was felt by all the players, and given how instrumental the anarchical youngster had been throughout the campaign in South Africa (and how poor a replacement Trochowski would prove to be) they may have indeed been right about his irreplaceability. Or was this just another useful excuse for a team that felt it had already achieved something "great" by beating England and Argentina?

It is of course very easy to glorify Spain for their performance (something a lot of German fans and pundits will do now in order to make the defeat less painful; see England v Germany). Apart from that, a lot of football's arrogant commentariat consider Spain's dull passing game the highest form of football, belittling the joy that comes with scoring goals. Spain didn't create many great chances tonight but mainly semi-decent shots from just outside the box. Germany's defending was in fact outstanding (with the one exception of not marking Puyol after corners) and it would have been interesting to see if Spain would have ever gotten nervous toward the end of a game still tied (doubtful, sure, but Germany was looking slightly better in the second half with Jansen and Kroos on the pitch).

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised how fair both teams played. This surely helped Spain more than Germany and while it's true that Germany might not even have progressed as far as they did with Michael Ballack as their leader, it's also safe to assume that he would have given Spain a harder time in midfield (if only through cynical fouls). Well, Holland's next for Spain and van Bommel and de Jong are surely going to do everything within their power to throw some sticks into that well-oiled Iberian passing machine.