Germany
The most honored national team in Europe, only
3 times they didn’t reach the semi-finals of the continental competition. They
are the reigning world champions and will try to add another title to their
enormous gallery.
Gary Lineker once said “Football is a simple
game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always
win” and a most accurate description would be hard. Confident, robotic, deadly,
but when the system fails it’s a crash down. And the signs aren’t brilliant…
How
they qualified
Let’s face it… Germany would never fail to qualify as to do
that they would have to finish in 4th in a group that included
minnows like Georgia and Gibraltar. Still it was harder than expected.
Sure, they finished top of the group but they
were neither best attack nor defense. And after three games they had won only 4
points, after being beaten by Poland and drawn at home by Ireland.
If the group had been a bit more homogenous
things could’ve gone much worse for the Germans.
Squad
Goalkeepers:
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc-Andre ter
Stegen (Barcelona).
Defenders:
Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Emre Can (Liverpool), Jonas Hector (Cologne),
Benedikt Howedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran
Mustafi (Valencia), Antonio Ruediger (Roma).
Midfielders:
Julian Draxler (VfL Wolfsburg), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern
Munich), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil
(Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Andre Schurrle (VfL Wolfsburg),
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund).
Forwards:
Mario Gomez (Besiktas), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Schalke 04).
Thomas Muller
Club : Bayern (GER)
Age : 26 years
An icon in modern football. Produced in the Munich factory, is a
forward in the best sense of the word. Depending on whom he’s playing with he
fits like a puzzle piece and makes the opponents defenses…puzzled.
Started playing in the first team of Bayern
when he was just 18 and since then he got 152 goals in 350 games, and 31-70 for
the national team. If Germany is going to replicate what they did in Brazil,
Muller will have a decisive role.
Leroy Sané
Club : Schalke 04 (GER)
Age : 20 years
With just 20 years old made this year, Sané is
already a regular in the starting XI for Schalke 04. The young German is an
attacking midfielder that plays in any area of the pitch, using his speed and
tactical awareness to create danger in the opposition half.
Due to his
age he still disappears from time to time, but Sané is the face of new blood
that’s coming thorough German ranks, yet again.
Joachim Low
Arrived at the national team in 2004 to assist
Jurgen Klinsmann in the World Cup in 2006. After that he took charge and he’s
been consistent with history, winning a title and always getting to the latter
stages of competitions.
Despite that it feels, even though he won the
World Cup in 2014, that Low’s time in charge might be reaching an end. Because,
apart from the shocker of the 1-7, Germany was just okay in Brazil. And with
the troubles in qualification and lack of proper regeneration of the team, Low
as a lot to prove in France.
What to expect from them?
Germany will use the same system that won them the World Cup, again without Marco Reus that seems allergic to big competitions. Muller and Draxler will swap a lot during the game and Ozil will be essential again.
Die
Maanschaft is clearly the big favorite to win the competition, but it still
feels that it’s more for historic reasons that necessarily their actual
football, specially after the recent results, where they only grbbed a win in five games. But mentality will also play a big part and in that department, the
Germans win.
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