Film Focus: Impotent Germany and Italy Rely on Defensive Lapses in San Siro Draw

Friday's friendly between Italy and Germany at the San Siro could have ended with five or more goals, but even if it had, it still would have been hardly thrilling. Although the clash of traditional football powers was highly intense and by no means lacked passion from the players, both sides struggled to create opportunities in the attacking third and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Both midfields canceled each other out. Italy played with two strikers, Mario Balotelli and Pablo Osvaldo, but the pair were nullified by center-backs Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng. Germany played without a classic striker, but Mario Goetze and later Mesut Ozil—deployed as strikers—were forced to drop into midfield to get the ball.

What was little offense there was came, improbably, from the defenders. Both scorers, Mats Hummels and Ignazio Abate, were deployed in defense. A jaw-dropping six of Germany's 11 shots came from members of the back four. The more advanced players from both teams struggled to make any impression on the proceedings.

But although the attacking play was uniformly poor from both sides, thanks to occasional defensive slip-ups there were many isolated opportunities for both Italy and Germany to score.

Germany had little attacking momentum before Hummels opened the scoring, simply out-jumping Andrea Barzagli to nod home from a corner. Not much of note happened until the 18th minute, when the Italian midfield, arranged in a V-shape, allowed Sami Khedira to find space between its vertex and the next man—this fundamental lapse in concentration nearly cost the Azzurri a second goal.

Khedira received the ball with time to turn. The Real Madrid man's shot from distance clanged off the inside of the post as well as Gianluigi Buffon before the goalkeeper recovered. It was a let-off for an Italy side that would have been in serious trouble had they gone a second goal behind.

Joachim Loew's side played confidently, pinning their hosts back in their own half without looking particularly threatening in the final third. But it would be Italy who scored next with their first decent attack of the game. And it was a rather impressive—if avoidable, from Germany's perspective—goal indeed.

Shortly before the half-hour mark, Hummels won the ball from Andrea Pirlo near the corner flag, his challenge playing the ball out towards Toni Kroos. But the ball had too much pace and left the 23-year-old scrambling to recover possession. Kroos' mistake was to play too aggressively. He failed to notice an enormous gap to his right and instead of giving up his chase to cut off Abate's angle, continued after the ball. When Kroos was beaten, he didn't foul and effectively took himself out of the play.

Having beaten the first defender, Abate still had much to do. As he approached Philipp Lahm, he wisely played a 1, 2-pass with the curiously advanced Leonardo Bonucci, who returned the ball perfectly. By passing, Abate didn't give Lahm the opportunity to defend. The Italian simply had to continue his run and wait for the return pass after leaving behind Lahm, whose momentum carried him in the opposite direction.

Critical to the play was the position of Thiago Motta, who by standing near the edge of the box took Thomas Mueller out of the play defensively. Once Abate received the ball, he tucked the equalizer inside the far post with clinical precision.

Both sides played the entire match at a rather slow pace. For the visitors this was different from their usual, frenetic, high-intensity pressing system. It was in one of the rare instances that Germany pressed that they nearly reclaimed the lead.

In the 33rd minute, Khedira raced towards the unsuspecting Barzagli. At the time, Mueller, Mario Goetze and Andre Schuerrle were all advanced and left the defender with few passing options.

The safe and simple option would have been to pass to Bonucci, but the under-pressure Barzagli made a mistake in playing the ball forward and almost had it taken away by Khedira. His pass nonetheless was errant and directly towards Schuerrle, who controlled with his first touch before volleying off the crossbar.

With no true wingers deployed in midfield and the German center-backs Hummels and Jerome Boateng in good form, Italy struggled to get the ball forward. They relied heavily on play from set pieces and early in the second half nearly took the lead through clever move from a free kick.

Andrea Pirlo, who earlier had come close with an attempt from a set piece, stood with a good opportunity to shoot. But instead of aiming for goal he slipped a through pass to Claudio Marchisio. The Juventus man was a step away from the clueless and entirely deceived German wall and had his weight moving towards the eventual location of the pass when the ball was played. Marchisio as a result had time and space to shoot on goal, but his powerful blast was parried.

Chances were few and far between in the second half, but Germany had an opportunity to win it at the death. For once, the opportunity came not from a defensive error but a bit of luck. Benedikt Hoewedes' run across the edge of the box was less of a dribble and more of a mad chase of the ricocheting ball. He struck a low attempt off the inside of the left post and the ball rebounded towards three German players, two of whom were onside.

Both Lars Bender and Marco Reus sprinted towards the loose ball but the two collided before either could shoot. The opportunity went begging as the ball was cleared away.

Throughout the match and especially at the end, the match was typical of Italy-Germany clashes. The Germans wanted to play their attractive, fast-faced counterattacking football but Italy would not let them. The game morphed into a bizarre variant of football in which defenders were the most dangerous attackers. And instead of attacking players weaving through defenders, most of the game's scoring opportunities came following defensive mistakes—mistakes that were few and far between, but which were just about the only hope either side had of scoring.

Cesare Prandelli and Joachim Loew can be pleased that their respective teams played well at the back. But any team that intends to win the World Cup in Brazil needs to score to stand a chance. Based on Friday night's action, neither team should be very confident.

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