Why Germany Never Found Their Form Against Spain

Germany edged Spain on Tuesday, winning their prestige friendly 1-0, marking the Nationalmannschaft's first victory over La Furia Roja in 14 years.

The result was especially sweet for Joachim Low, whose dreams of winning Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup were ended by Spain. The trainer had Toni Kroos to thank for winning the match with a late strike from distance.

Although Germany indeed took the spoils, their performance overall left plenty to be desired. The result flattered the visitors, who created precious few chances and spent much of the 90 minutes playing a dangerous game of chess in their own half, trying to systematically work their way through a high-pressing Spanish forward line.

In the end, a calamitous error from substitute goalkeeper Kiko Casilla allowed Kroos to score with what was ultimately a rather tame and saveable shot. If Germany had to win, perhaps the manner in which they did was most appropriate.

Something can be said for the weather playing a role, and indeed there was a torrential downpour at Estadio Municipal de Balaidos in Vigo throughout the game. The pitch was torn apart, and players from both sides struggled to cope with the conditions. But even so, the hosts managed to have a much better handle on the flow of play.

From early on, Spain pressed high up the pitch, trying to force a mistake from Germany's relatively inexperienced back line. Benedikt Howedes was the only German defender with any appreciable amount of experience, with Shkodran Mustafi, Antonio Rudiger, Erik Durm and Sebastian Rudy having barely a handful of caps between them. To their credit, the German defenders played quite well.

However, goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was a liability in possession. The Hannover man was perhaps too careful, electing to clear the ball hastily when under pressure.

Per the Bundesliga's official live ticker, Zieler completed just 63.64 percent of his passes, a big problem considering only six Germany players had more touches.

Manuel Neuer's absence was felt in this regard: The Bayern man's confidence and assuredness on the ball would have gone a long way towards Germany maintaining possession and working their way out of their own half.

Because of Spain's pressing, Kroos was forced to drop extremely deep to get the ball and help work Germany out of their own half. The problem was that once he received the ball, Kroos was often nowhere near his forwards or any player with the technical quality to supply the attackers. And he still had to work his way through Spain's pressing trap.

When playing against teams that press as Spain did on Tuesday, the most important individual characteristic is the ability to play in tight spaces: to take a soft first touch and either pass immediately or evade a defender.

In this regard, Mesut Ozil's value is revealed. As then-Germany assistant coach Hansi Flick said in July (per Reuters), the Arsenal man brings a certain tidiness in possession that keeps the play moving in the right direction when it otherwise may be broken apart when left up to less skilled technicians.

The only technical wizards Germany had on Tuesday were Kroos and Mario Gotze, but the former being required to drop deep often made it impossible for the two to work together.

Germany missed having Ozil up front to pass with Gotze and break apart the Spanish defense. They, along with Ilkay Gundogan and to an extent Marco Reus, are the kind of players who have the talent to play with little space and will not simply collapse when faced with aggressive, pressing opposition.

The good news for Germany is that Neuer, Kroos, Gotze and Reus are all relatively young, and Germany have several players among their youth ranks who have the "street footballer" qualities of being able to play with little space.

Low has for many years preached the importance of making the ordinary, such as finding solutions to work through a pressing defense, into the extraordinary; mastering the art of beating the press.

Players who can break down a pressing team like Spain are few and far between, and surely enough, Germany had few available for Tuesday's friendly.

They did enough to avoid what surely would have been a fatal error, but Zieler's wayward passing and the lack of interplay between Kroos and Gotze meant that the Nationalmannschaft had little fluency moving out of their own half and into attack.

When their superstars return to form and fitness, though, Germany will play like what they are: world champions.

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