Germany on top of the world after victory in Brazil

Rose Jacobs asks: Is this the start of a century of German success?

RIDE a bike south from Munich city centre along the Isar river’s recently renaturalised shores — stony expanses that protect the Bavarian capital from flooding on rainy days and invite picnickers on sunny ones. Cross a shady island with its own beer garden, turn up a hill, and you’ll soon find yourself at the practice grounds of a football club that helped mould eight of the players who won the World Cup for Germany.

On selected weekdays during the professional football season, a scattering of fans gather around the perimetre of the pitch to watch Bayern Munich’s senior team practice in the open. In a few months, you’ll be able to spot Manuel Neuer, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Jérôme Boateng, Toni Kroos, Mario Götze, Philipp Lahm or Thomas Müller doing squats. From 2007 to 2011, Miroslav Klose would have been there, too.