Germany: Slow methodical but flawed progress in reassembling the machine
by Martin Wohlfahrt
When you visit the Wikipedia page of the German soccer national team, you’ll read that its nickname is “Die Mannschaft” (the team). But over the last decade the DFB-Team actually acquired a new not exactly flattering but at least respectful one: The machine. Powerful, relentless, efficient.
If anything, Germany went into this tournament as one of the favorites to go all the way. Sure, players like Miroslav Klose and Philip Lahm have retired but there is usually quite some depth in the country that German national coach can delve into and make his picks.
Considering this, the team underwent uncharacteristically few changes and many names on the roster are still familiar from 2010 and 2014. Neuer, Mueller, Boateng, Goetze, Podolski and even Bastian Schweinsteiger made the list one more time. It’s mainly the defensive line has been manned with new players.
Benedikt Höwedes, Shkodran Mustafi and Jonas Hector are a few of the new shoulders on which the expectations of the German soccer nation rest. Expectations that surely are high for a team that reached at least every single semi-final since 2004. The machine has to run.
And initially in the first game against the Ukraine everything went as planned when Shkodran Mustafi scored his first goal in his first appearance wearing the German national jersey.
But the German team failed to build on this lead and to take control of the game. The Ukraine continued to press on, especially over the wings with fast attacks which overwhelmed the German newcomers Höwedes and Hector more often than not. Andriy Yarmolenkos and Yevhen Konoplyankas turned the Ukrainian attacks into whirlwinds that blew the two around like tumblekraut. Also vulnerable was goal scorer Mustafi who seemed disorganized and showed surprisingly weak marking which caused unnecessary dangerous situations for the German team.
Manuel Neuer
At the end of the first half the German defense regressed from unorganized to downright chaotic. It was the old foxes that kept up the struggle to hold it together.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with several spectacular saves showed that he is still the number one of the world’s number ones and on the other hand Jerome Boateng who was constantly on the move to put out fires.
One time Boateng was forced to do so literally in the last second when he cleared off the line while falling backwards into the goal in an action that what will surely become one of the best defending soccer moments of this tournament.
The average German soccer fan’s fingernail must have been chewed down significantly compared to the begin of the game by the time the referee blew the half time whistle.
The second half saw a slightly better organized and calmer German defense, however far from perfect.
But ball possession and controlled play, virtues of the German machine, helped the DFB-team to keep the Ukraine better in check. Notable was the struggle of Thomas Müller trying to find his game. He never did.
Instead it was Sebastian Schweinsteiger who delivered when he scored in overtime only minutes after he came on the pitch. Sure it was a 2:0 win in the books, but everybody who saw the game knew this first result was rather flattering.
The question for the Poland game was how is team coach Loew going to react. A complete overhaul and or keeping the course and trusting the new members of the team? Coach Loew chose the golden middle way by replacing Mustafi with Mats Hummels.
The good news is that the German defense was clearly better compared to the game against Ukraine. The line stood well organized thanks to the addition of Mats Hummels and a dramatically improved performance of Höwedes and Hector. T
he bad news is that now the German attack didn’t look worthy of a world champion team. The Polish defense around Kamil Glik and Michal Pazdan folded itself over the German forward movement like a smothering blanket. Germany found no antidote. In fact, the German forward game appeared rather sluggish and uninspired.
The team lacked creativity to get the ball into the box. Mario Goetze chose over and over again to run into a red wall of Polish defenders with little to no effect. Hector’s excursions up the field resulted in crosses that were too imprecise and harmless. Mesut Oezil had to celebrate his 75th appearance in the German national team by focusing so much on the ungrateful defensive work that he was barely visible in the forward game aside from one dangerous shot on goal that the Polish keeper Fabianski was able to deflect with a diving save.
Thomas Mueller played exactly like he did against the Ukraine: He worked hard, but seems out of touch with his inner striker. The end was a 0:0.
Frankly, it could have been worse for Germany. However, the exchange of Mustafi paid off. Even a Mats Hummels who is still not in top-form and visibly struggled from time seems to be a better choice than Mustafi.
Now the task for Loew seems to be to get the forwards and midfielders right and in sync with the defense for the last group game. The German national coach has a lot of options. He could switch and start with Andre Schuerrle instead of Goetze or he could could stick Mueller up front and hope that he will find his mojo back as the lone wolf in front of the midfield.
He could take the midfield apart and use Leroy Sane as one winger combined with Julian Weigl. Or how about putting Emre Can alongside Sami Khedira? There are many parts and settings. He just has to assemble it correctly.
That should be easy, right?
