Germany - The consistent Football Team for FIFA 2010
Germany may not have the most World Cup titles to show in their cabinet but they have produced exceptional performances throughout the World Cup finals history. 1930 and 1950 apart, when they withdrew and were banned respectively, Germany have played in each of the World Cups finals and went all the way to the final match in seven of them, winning three. Remarkably, it‘s been 32 years since Germany failed to make it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
In the 1954 World Cup, they made it through to the final match against the invincible Hungarians and came from two-nil down to win the title. They forced their way to the final match in 1966, when they lost to their fierce rivals England in Wembley through a controversial goal. The next best thing happening to the German national team was emergence of talismanic Franz Beckenbauer, who helped them to third place in 1970 and led them to the crown in the 1974 World Cup in front of their home fans. He also had the equal coaching abilities and guided his team to both 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals, which they lost to Italy and Argentina respectively. Beckenbauer and the professional side he had took the perfect revenge in the 1990 World Cup when they beat Argentina in Italy to win their third world title. Beckenbauer remains the only person to win the World Cup both as a captain and as a player.
Their next final appearance came in 2002 when they lost to Brazil. Jurgen Klinsmann, was appointed coach of the German national side in 2004. He had no coaching experience prior to this assignment but changed the team’s mentality to attacking style. Under this new approach, the Germans claimed third position in their home World Cup in 2006.
Germany kicked off their qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup in flamboyant style, beating Liechtenstein six-nil. The next match was a tough away trip to Finland where they were three-nil until Miroslav Klose’s hat-trick earned them a draw. Wins against the main group rivals Russia and stubborn Wales followed. Return matches against Liechtenstein and Wales, then a double encounter versus Azerbaijan also ended in comfortable victories for Germans. Their penultimate match was in Russia on an artificial pitch which they won to confirm their top spot in the group and getting through to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Germany drew their last match with Finland to remain unbeaten throughout the qualification campaign.
Looking at their World Cup squad, Miroslav Klose will be their main striker. He scored five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002 and followed it with another five goals in the 2006 World Cup, winning the Golden Boot. He is the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups. His partner Lukas Podolski was named Young Player of the Tournament in 2006 but there are concerns on their current form as these forwards could not manage to score even five goals, collectively in the German domestic league this season.
The major blow to Germany’s chances of winning the upcoming World Cup came after their regular skipper Michael Ballack was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury.
Experience and guidance of Ballack will surely be a big miss for this young team (whose average is under 25 years) but they need to overcome it as quickly as possible. Phillip Lahm will be captaining the side and will be deputised by Bastion Schweinsteiger.
Germany will face Australia, Ghana and Serbia in Group D of the World Cup which looks tough but should not be a problem for Germany in the end.
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