Joachim Low has
taken Germany close to the title in his three tournaments in charge to
date. If the failures of Euro 2008, and even the World Cup four years
ago, could be excused by a lack of quality or experience in the playing
ranks then Euro 2012 will have to go down as a disastrous loss. There
won't be many more chances for him to get it right and so Germany must
deliver.
The potential demonstrated in Austria-Switzerland and
in South Africa ultimately counted for nothing at the Euros. That team,
like this one, was not in development; it was complete but they blew it.
Now Germany have a second chance with their main cast of players
largely still in their peak. For Low, it could very well be his last. He
has a contract to see him through to 2016 but failure in Brazil will no
doubt see him back in the job market.
The coach has been
sounding cautious notes in the run-up to the World Cup, dampening
expectations on the side as his own methods have been called into
question by the German public at large. "On paper we have a top team but
reality sees it differently," he told
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
in May. "We have some players who have been injured for months. We have
some players who are not playing regularly for their clubs. We have
some players who are struggling for form and others who are fighting
little injury concerns."
Germany have, in recent years,
cultivated technically brilliant football but have lacked what might be
termed those traditional Teutonic qualities which served teams of the
past so well. Willpower and determination are elements that Bastian
Schweinsteiger in particular has identified as essential for tournament
football.
"If we develop a good team spirit, then demonstrate
our footballing quality and recapture the typical German virtues, then
we will play a very good tournament," the midfielder told
Bild
this week. "The will to win the title is there. We have become
technically perfect footballers in Germany. But without the passion and
the will, our typical German virtues, we will not win anything in
Brazil. It is a tournament of willpower."
Battle-hardened
by Bayern Munich's treble disappointment in 2012, as well as that
bitter semi-final defeat, Schweinsteiger and FCB roared back in 2013 to
clinch a treble. This Germany team has that same Bavarian contingent at
its core with capable support from the Borussia Dortmund brigade also in
the ranks.
Germany's chief gameplan involves dominating the
ball, so Low can be reasonably confident that his fragile back-line will
not be confronted all that often. Look elsewhere in the squad and
Germany are possessed of an embarrassment of riches. This squad
contains, perhaps, the strongest line-up of attacking talent ever sent
by a German team to a World Cup. The Germans scored 36 times in 10
undefeated qualification matches.
Although veteran Miroslav
Klose is, on paper, the only out-and-out striker in the 23-man squad,
Low uses the Lazio man as only one option of many in his playbook. The
German attack is multifaceted, experienced and capable. Lukas Podolski
and Andre Schurrle made their cases for starting berths thanks to their
second-half showing against Cameroon in Monchengladbach last week.
Thomas
Muller, four years on from winning the Golden Boot in South Africa, is
older and wiser. Mario Gotze is developing well and is a favourite of
Low who likes to use the Bayern Munich playmaker in a withdrawn striker
role. Stitching it all together is Mesut Ozil who, after an indifferent
season at Arsenal, is aiming to impress in South America.
If
Plan A is not working for Low, he can go to B, C or D. No nation heading
to Brazil can match their strength in depth up top. Strength in depth
in other areas of the field is enviable too and necessarily so. Germany
have been hit by an injury crisis at the worst possible time, the latest
being the ankle injury suffered on Friday night by Marco Reus. However,
just as Rene Adler and Michael Ballack's injuries on the eve of World
Cup 2010 opened the door to Manuel Neuer and Sami Khedira, there is a
new, eager bunch ready to seize their chances. In the place of Reus
could come Julian Draxler, who is ready to come of age.
German
preparations for the tournament have been forensic. The German football
association, the DFB, commissioned their custom-built, €30 million
Campo Bahia base 30km north of Porto Seguro on the Bahia coast
immediately after the draw. It boasts 60 rooms in 14 accommodation
blocks, a training pitch, a pool and a fitness centre among other
amenities. It is located in the same climactic zones as all three of
German host cities in the group stage. Crucially, it leaves the Germans
within a short trip to the airport and a subsequent two-hour flight for
their games in Salvador, Fortaleza and Recife. Rest and recovery in such
exacting conditions will be vital and the Germans have left nothing to
chance.
Germany should have no trouble avoiding defeat against
Portugal in their first match given the injury trouble to their key man
Cristiano Ronaldo while Ghana and USA will be peremptorily dispatch by a
side far better. With the lessons learned by the coach at Euro 2012 and
enriched by his key players' experience in both success and failure at
club level since then, this German unit goes to Brazil as a more
fortified, mature one.
