The future’s black and white
Joachim Löw’s side went into the finals as outsiders for the title but a 4-0 demolition of Argentina, which followed hard on the heels of a 4-1 drubbing of England, has made coaches and tactical analysts stand up and take notice ahead of a semi-final against Spain.
The emergence of Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil in particular, who are 20 and 21 years old respectively and have scored five World Cup goals between them, is food for thought for the likes of Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, whose gut instinct told them to go for experience in South Africa and saw England and Italy field the oldest squads in the tournament.
In contrast Germany’s youthful energy and exuberance has been one of the real joys of the finals so far, allowing them to play a high-energy pressing game in football’s first ‘winter’ World Cup that has left successive opponents trailing in their wake.
If critics were slow to praise them after beating England – claiming Capello’s side defended so woefully at 2-1 down that the Germans were almost gifted victory – then there can be no possible excuse for denying Low’s side the plaudits following Saturday’s stunning victory over Argentina.
From the moment Muller glanced home a header from a third-minute Bastian Schweinsteiger free-kick, the Germans dominated a match that many thought would prove to be one step too far for a young side with no real experience of knockout football at this level.
Argentina, who had looked impressive in the group stages and revitalised by the management of Diego Maradona, appeared almost powerless to stop German midfielders surging past them in all directions with even defensive kingpin Javier Mascherano unable to stem the flow whenever Low’s side counter-attacked.
Once Miroslav Klose – the crafty old hand who provides the perfect foil to Germany’s energetic young tyros and who now has 14 goals in three World Cup finals, one strike less than Brazilian Ronaldo – tapped home a Lukas Podolksi cross after 67 minutes the result was all but sealed; but even so the way Germany ended the match was breathtaking.
Instead of sitting back on their lead they stole the ball at every opportunity and attacked at will, scoring twice more past a bewildered Argentina side that had long since given up the ghost.
Arne Friedrich scored his first international goal, stretching to slide home after a superb jinking run from the excellent Schweinsteiger all the way to the touchline, before Klose rounded off the night with a slide-rule, first-time side-footed finish from the most delicious of Ozil crosses.
Now managers across the world are analysing Germany’s success to see what can be learned – and defender Per Mertesacker, who seems like a veteran of the side but in fact is only 25, is certain youth plays a major part.
“We have so many players who are having a great tournament and we are young,” he said. “Our average age is 25 or 26.
“The young players like Ozil and Muller, who are playing their first tournament, they are our real secret. It’s true. The big secret is the way these young players, like Muller, who has just played his first season for Bayern Munich, they grew up very fast in the last month.
“It is very good for us that we have players like him, they give us energy. He has scored so many important goals in this tournament and we are playing well. It is so exciting.”
For captain Philipp Lahm, who took over the armband when Michael Ballack was ruled out because of injury, the finals must have passed in a blur so far but he expects Germany to be ready to face Spain on Wednesday and to continue their progress to the final itself in Johannesburg on July 11.
He said: “We think it will be a lot tougher than Argentina and there are still things to improve. But we were very happy with our performance against Argentina – it’s not normal to eat one of the favourites for the title like that!
“It is an unbelievable success because the team is so young. But now we have a chance to reach the final and we have so much confidence.”
Interestingly, England manager Capello has already been poring over the Germany blueprint to see if he can follow suit in England’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, having seen his team of veterans so badly outclassed in South Africa.
“Germany didn’t produce players for a long time but I spoke with Stuart Pearce about this team they have now and, these players have come from the Under-21s,” he said. “They are playing very well. It is good. They are good technically, they are good physically, they are good players. We hope to find the same in England.”
Whether Capello’s search will bear fruit remains to be seen but Germany have a real opportunity to start an international dynasty if they can win here in South Africa because clearly their emerging players have the potential to be around for many years to come.
They will have to play Spain on Wednesday without Muller, however, after the midfielder picked up another booking against Argentina and is suspended for the semi-final in Durban. But the feeling in the camp, as you would expect, is one of confidence.
“We will be ready” insisted Löw. “Against Argentina we looked like champions. That performance was absolute class. We have big games ahead of us but we have it in our hands and can do great things at this tournament.”
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