‘World cup winners’
Nickname – Die Mannschaft | World Cup Winners – 3x (1954, 1974, 1990) | Slogan to Brazil – One nation, one team, one dream!
The phrase ‘Never write off the Germans’ is almost as synonymous as the World Cup itself and this is for good reason. The Germans have won the cup three times and have been runners up on four occasions. The last time they won the World Cup was in 1990 where they defeated Argentina in the final, a rematch of the 1986 world cup final and the third time in quick succession that Germany had made it to the final. In football no other country deserves the use of the adjectives ‘efficiency’ and ‘consistency’ as much as the Germans do. If Brazil is considered the home of football then Germany can be measured to be its home away from home.
Germany appears to be the most all round complete team going to the World Cup ahead of Argentina who lacks a strong defence, Spain whose ‘tiki taka’ style of football now seems to be exploited with relative ease through counter attacks and Brazil whose home advantage could turn out to be a curse rather than a gift. In the middle of the sticks Germany has the best goalkeeper in the world today in Manuel Neuer, a stable defence ahead of him which consists of the likes of Hummels, Mertesacker, Lahm, and a midfield where they are spoilt for choice in Khedira, Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Toni Kroos, Reus and Gotze. In attack they have Klose who would be looking to break the record of most goals scored in World cup competitions and Podolski, the man with the deadly left foot shot.
Germany’s World Cup Team List
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hanover 96)
Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Kevin Grosskreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Midfielders: Julian Draxler (Schalke 04), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Mario Goetze (Bayern Munich), Christoph Kramer (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Andre Schuerrle (Chelsea), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal)
On paper Germany looks to be the team that would win it but sadly football matches are not played on paper. Statistics play a big part in the world of football and the fact that no European team has won the world cup in South America (a fact much talked about in the German camp) would play more as a demoraliser than as an extra motivation in the minds of the German Machines. However the Germans have an impeccable record in major competitions and might just turn out to be the team to beat at this World Cup.
This article was written by Yemi Kuti