Germany
Picture of health
No sooner had the national team lost to Italy in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals than German players, fans and media pundits were confidently predicting a glorious Euro 2008, and expectations have not diminished since then. No fewer than 54 per cent of respondents in a poll by Kicker magazine said they felt Germany would be victorious in the Final in Vienna on June 29, and they were not merely surfing a wave of patriotic blind faith.
The reasons to be optimistic are many and varied, starting with the rude health of the team, the first to book their ticket for the finals and who lost only one qualifier, at home to the Czech Republic when the Nationalmannschaft’s qualification was already assured.
This summer, there is little chance of Germany revisiting their low-water mark of recent times – the group-stage exits at both
Euro 2000 and 2004. The self-belief and sense of adventure built up during the last World Cup is still in evidence, the team have a settled and successful pattern of play, there is more youthful exuberance than for some time and, crucially, much more talent.
Germany also have geography on their side and the luck of the draw. With the finals taking place just across the border in Austria and Switzerland, legions of Nationalmannschaft fans will be able to offer their backing in person. And the group line-up – Germany face Austria, Poland and Croatia – is about as kind as it gets. Germany are not the sort of team to leave their best fight in the gym, and they are likely to still be fresh when the big bouts come along in the knockout stages.
If all that was not enough, Germany can also call on their remarkable penalty shoot-out expertise and an excellent young coach in Joachim Low, the former assistant who was promoted to Bundestrainer when Jurgen Klinsmann called it a day after the last World Cup.
Everyone knows Low was the tactical brains of Klinsmann’s Germany, that he had few peers on the training ground. Claims that he was too much the nice guy for the top job have proved unfounded. Low has not shirked tough decisions yet has stayed true to his easy-going, collegiate tendencies, and the players seem totally in tune with what he is looking for on and off the pitch.
Low’s stamp
The coach has not been content to simply offer continuity from the Klinsmann era. He has put his own stamp on the squad, bringing in no fewer than 16 debutants, most of whom, such as striker Mario Gomez and defender Heiko Westermann, have clicked immediately.
It’s not a perfect world, though, and Low certainly has his matters of concern. A number of his key men (Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann, Real Madrid centre-back Christoph Metzelder and Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and attacker Lukas Podolski) are not first-choices at their clubs, while skipper Michael Ballack still looks ill at ease in a Chelsea shirt. All the same, who would bet against Ballack becoming the fourth German captain after Franz Beckenbauer, Bernhard Dietz and Klinsmann to lift the European trophy?
Interview with Germany coach Joachim Low
Interview with Germany's Philipp Lahm
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