Sometimes, it helps to have a big lad up top. In this most tactical and technical of matches, between two of the best teams in the tournament, the vital moments came in a very old school fashion. Sam Allardyce would be proud.
The headline is that Germany have kept their World Cup hopes alive after grabbing a vital point, but the subtext, in which both of the goals in this 1-1 draw came from traditional number nines, was hard to ignore.
There’s a strange dichotomy in modern football. It was clearly very high level football played between two exceptionally good teams. It was also, undeniably, quite boring to watch for quite a long time.
Germany had organised pressing patterns that forced the best out of the Spanish midfield, but Gavi and Pedri met them with pass after beautiful pass. Anyone watching knew that this was something appreciably better than most football.
But it was only late on, when both sides abandoned their false 9 forwards, Thomas Muller and Marco Asensio, and replaced them with target men Niclas Fullkrug and Alvaro Morata, that either side really looked like scoring.
Pass, pass, pass, accompanied by press, press, press, was given the merest hint of verticality and immediately bore fruit. The last half hour was an excellent spectacle.
The passivity might have been a function of circumstance. Costa Rica’s upset victory over Japan earlier in the day meant that Germany’s task went from must-win to don’t lose. Spain, with a big win over the Costa Ricans already banked, could also afford to draw.
With a point on the board, Germany now enter their last game knowing that they need to better Japan’s result to qualify. With Japan facing Spain, they will be confident of doing that. The Spanish can afford to lose, as long as Costa Rica do not defeat Hansi Flick’s men.
After nine minutes, Gavi showed dazzling quick feet, shuffled the ball to Dani Olmo and his shot was acrobatically knocked onto the bar by Manuel Neuer. All elements of the phase of play were excellent, and boded well for a entertaining encounter.
But then: a lot of nothing. There were two minor opportunities as both Neuer and his Spanish counterpart, Unai Simon, tried and failed to play out from the back. On both occasions, the finishing was poor and they escaped.
Antonio Rudiger had the ball in the net – set piece defence clearly not high on the Spanish agenda as they left the biggest, tallest German totally unmarked – but he had, quite unnecessarily, gone early. VAR caught the offside immediately.
By the time the half-time whistle came, most were happy to see it. This might have been a superlative tactical and technical chess match, but nothing approximating checkmate was near.
The second half began in a similar vein, with the only half-chance coming, again, from a high turnover as Joshua Kimmich worked the keeper after the ball had been nicked.
The turning point came, in a manner heartening to proper football men everywhere, with the introduction of Morata.
The Atletico Madrid striker has rarely been a favourite of the Spanish support due to his perceived poor finishing, but he is a pure number 9 and immediately changed the nature of Spain’s buildup play.
Within ten minutes of his entry, his impact came. Jordi Alba slung in a low cross, Morata met it with a front post flick and it was 1-0 to Spain.
After an hour of largely innocuous sideways passing, the value of a central attacking threat was made abundantly clear.
Germany had been the happier to sit back, but were now forced forward. Jamal Musiala had a big chance, but battered it off Simon in the Spanish goal.
They threw Fullkrug into the attack, and were rewarded. Musiala was again the nuisance, and while his tough was intended for himself, it fell to the Werder Bremen big man to smash the Germans level.
Leroy Sane nearly provoked a winner, too, rounding Simon and keeping the ball in, but Rodri beat Fullkrug to the ball and turned it behind. Simon claimed the corner and, within a second, the final whistle blew.
And just like that, another A-League regular season (sans one game) is in the books and we look ahead to the finals. Let's recap…
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