it’s a World Cup that continually contradicts itself – Corriere.it

Germany continues to fall on itself, he doesn’t play badly, he hardly plays, but in the end he saves himself. He has much less personality than his best times, he also makes many technical mistakes. Not even Spain has done special things. At times we have seen stages of a possible good match that never really came into being. This seems to me to be a general consideration: the show is often of a good standard throughout the tournament but still far from real quality. Nobody plays badly, nobody excites. We go ahead with game organization, not with small businesses. The beauty of the World Championship can be glimpsed in everyone’s competitive spirit, in the intensity of the race, but if you are looking for prowess, they only come from a well-known few.

On the other hand it is difficult in such a physical game to find the time to be very technical. It comes spontaneously to Brazil, but not even Spain has succeeded, which is perhaps the most ready team in this respect. Both Spain and Germany lack permanently decisive players. Musiala himself is a big project but it still doesn’t affect as much as it could. They don’t have a centre-forward, as soon as two old men in the trade entered, the game took off. Germany seemed to immediately worry about containing, Luis Enrique even gave Spain too much security. It was supposed to be a match between big teams. Perhaps it was, but without arrogance. No state dominated by the other, no one can have regrets. Perhaps the limit was this long plain that went through the game waiting for the goal.

The feeling remains of a Germany in difficulty, more than anything else, and of a Spain that is growing without the security it would like. But two of the best teams remain. Anyway a World Cup where each day belies the previous one. Yesterday it was Morocco’s turn to beat Belgium and Costa Rica immediately downsized Japan. Some certainty of ultimate strength is missing, a non-serious absence but not foreseen in this dose.