The German team has come a long way in the last decade. In 2001, they needed to use the back-door to head to the World Cup. In 2010, they were perhaps unlucky not to have won it.
Germany played Poland in Gdansk recently with a team consisting largely of second-string internationals. The defence struggled and Germany limped to a 2-2 draw. The draw partly reminded me of the times when a weak Germany struggled to the 2002 World Cup Final only to lose at the hands of the brilliant Brazil.
Oliver Kahn and Michael Ballack pulled the team through each match. Ballack would score and Kahn would save. The quarterfinal was controversially won after a hand-ball inside the penalty area by Torsten Frings against the USA. Two years later, Germany looked in shambles as they exited Euro 2004 in the group stages.
Germany has already qualified for the upcoming Euros. They won eight out of eight of their matches so far and scored twenty eight goals in the process. This is the same Germany that struggled to find the back of the net in Euro 2004. Speaking of the aforementioned Michael Ballack, Frings and Kahn, these three are no longer part of the national setup.
Nowadays, Germany oozes class in every area, except perhaps the right-back slot as Philipp Lahm recently switched to the left. Creative players are in abundance. Starting from the youngsters Mario Götze, Andre Schürrle and co and ending with the ‘experienced’ ones, Lukas Podolski, Thomas Mueller and Mesut Özil, Germany has an abundance of classy, intelligent players.
Even with all these nifty players around, the ones who can play well as well as put in a hard-tackle when necessary also grace the national side. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mats Hummels and Lahm come to mind. Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng are no pushovers either. The only player who was part of the national side ten years ago and is still around is Miroslav Klose.
Recently, Klose spoke about the national side. According to him, this is the best German side he has ever played in. The wonders of what a good youth setup can do can be seen in the German national side. The team which hammered England and Argentina in the World Cup had succumbed 5-1 to England ten years ago.
Germany isn’t the best team in the World. They are however, one of the top three nations in the World along with Spain and the Netherlands. They are not without their weaknesses as Poland proved. They need to play with two defensive midfielders against strong sides as the defence isn’t exactly settled especially due to the right-back issue.
Yet, one has to be amazed at how far this team has come. This team is very young, tenacious and extremely fun to watch. There are plenty of players for every position. No one is really guaranteed a spot in the side due to the number of fantastic players. And I haven’t even mentioned the Bender twins, Marko Marin and Marco Reus.
Ten years ago, the only joy the Germans had was watching Netherlands failing to qualify for the World Cup. Now, watching their own national team play football is worth a million times more than the failure of the Netherlands.
If the Germans win the European Championships next year, the world can indeed say that Germany has transformed from a boring and pathetic side to joyful winners.
Oliver Kahn and Michael Ballack pulled the team through each match. Ballack would score and Kahn would save. The quarterfinal was controversially won after a hand-ball inside the penalty area by Torsten Frings against the USA. Two years later, Germany looked in shambles as they exited Euro 2004 in the group stages.
Germany has already qualified for the upcoming Euros. They won eight out of eight of their matches so far and scored twenty eight goals in the process. This is the same Germany that struggled to find the back of the net in Euro 2004. Speaking of the aforementioned Michael Ballack, Frings and Kahn, these three are no longer part of the national setup.
Nowadays, Germany oozes class in every area, except perhaps the right-back slot as Philipp Lahm recently switched to the left. Creative players are in abundance. Starting from the youngsters Mario Götze, Andre Schürrle and co and ending with the ‘experienced’ ones, Lukas Podolski, Thomas Mueller and Mesut Özil, Germany has an abundance of classy, intelligent players.
Even with all these nifty players around, the ones who can play well as well as put in a hard-tackle when necessary also grace the national side. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mats Hummels and Lahm come to mind. Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng are no pushovers either. The only player who was part of the national side ten years ago and is still around is Miroslav Klose.
Recently, Klose spoke about the national side. According to him, this is the best German side he has ever played in. The wonders of what a good youth setup can do can be seen in the German national side. The team which hammered England and Argentina in the World Cup had succumbed 5-1 to England ten years ago.
Germany isn’t the best team in the World. They are however, one of the top three nations in the World along with Spain and the Netherlands. They are not without their weaknesses as Poland proved. They need to play with two defensive midfielders against strong sides as the defence isn’t exactly settled especially due to the right-back issue.
Yet, one has to be amazed at how far this team has come. This team is very young, tenacious and extremely fun to watch. There are plenty of players for every position. No one is really guaranteed a spot in the side due to the number of fantastic players. And I haven’t even mentioned the Bender twins, Marko Marin and Marco Reus.
Ten years ago, the only joy the Germans had was watching Netherlands failing to qualify for the World Cup. Now, watching their own national team play football is worth a million times more than the failure of the Netherlands.
If the Germans win the European Championships next year, the world can indeed say that Germany has transformed from a boring and pathetic side to joyful winners.
