Kid, who would have thought you would be here? With Mario Gotze scoring the World Cup winning goal, and Germany desperate for him to be the focus, who would have thought that due to pure merit, you would be taking his place in what will be your biggest match of your career?
Life is funny like that, amigo.
So there's a lot riding on this game, Julian. It's a quarter-final game with the chance to make it into the semi-final as well as this hoodoo talk and your country never beating Italy in a major tournament.
I know in the back of your mind and your teammates, you've discussed the possibility of coming through this game and being heavy favorites for the title when you look at who's left. But that's getting ahead of yourself, and the focus must be on what will be a very tough game for you.
You're coming up against the three best defenders in the world, and one of the greatest goalkeepers the game has ever seen. You need to show some respect, know of the diffculty, but that's where it stops. The media or journalists may not know it yet, but you are the key to Germany defeating Italy. In your two feet lies the keys to unlocking this very tough Italian defence.
Drax, can I call you that? Sure I can.
You must have confidence in your ability and there must be a swagger to how you approach this match. The Slovakia game gave you the confidence of what you can do, and now you have to build from that but be clever in how you do so. The Italians are a far better and more intelligent team than the Slovakians, and so your game must be raised accordingly.
What is very important is you must stretch the game and keep out wide. Never get in any position where Chiellini or Barzagli are tight on you, because they are very difficult to shake off. Get some breathing space between them because I believe if you are facing them, eye-to-eye, you can win that one-on-one battle.
Every time you get the ball out wide, you've got face up to whoever is in front of you and go for them. It's all about selling the move. Make the defender know that you can go either right or left in a blink-of-an-eye, and always keep them guessing. Doesn't matter how many times you lose the ball, just keep it going, because you can fail a millon times, you sometimes just need to get it right once. It's all about confidence in what you can do, but the aim has to be to take out the players from their position.
Now, you don't always need to dribble, and have to use your head and be wise in knowing when it's the right time to pass. But taking on the Italians, the dribble has to be your prime focus. Ozil and Kroos will try and thread balls through to find yourself, Muller and Gomez, but you are the one who can bring in that style on an individual level. Trying to pass through such a tough defence is very difficult to do, and sometimes you need a plan B, which is where you come in.
And let me tell you, the way you beat these Italians is how the Brazilians of old did so, through the power of the dribble, the man being able to make his defender fall flat on his face or make him confused, not knowing his heart from his knee. It's about taking them out of their very rigid and well-drilled shape.
This is your stage kid. You'll be nervous, but don't let that control you. Enjoy it, and show the world what you can do. HH
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