Dignitaries from all over the world will gather in Brazil in early December for the FIFA World Cup draw as the field of teams is divided into groups for next summer’s festivities. As part of its “32 teams in 32 days” series, SPORTSNET.CA will profile each of the nations set to compete at Brazil, leading up to the draw on Dec. 6.
“Germany look good to win the World Cup.” Feel free to cut-and-paste that phrase into a file you can hang onto and bring out every four years. Because every four years you can say that, and every four years it’ll be totally valid. Naturally, Germany doesn’t actually win it every time, but they do come close to it—Germany has finished in the top four 12 times (a record, and an amazing feat, given that there have only ever been 19 World Cups to begin with), grabbing four runners-up mentions and winning the whole thing three times. But, really, this time Germany look good to win the World Cup—even more than usual. They’re a roaring juggernaut running on a Porsche engine: powerful, slick and all but unstoppable. So go ahead, tip them as your favourites—you’ll never be wrong, and you may never be more right than right now.
Programming alert: Watch the World Cup draw from Brazil on Dec. 6 live on all four main Sportsnet channels. | TV schedule
How they got here: In a word: smoothly. Joachim Low’s team all but cruised through qualifying, winning every match but one—a 4-4 draw salvaged by Sweden on the strength of an impossible comeback capped by a last-gasp Rasmus Elm strike. In the process the Germans scored a whopping 36 goals in 10 games, the highest goals-per-game rate of any team in qualification around the world.
Key result: Their qualification opener against the Faroe Islands was a cakewalk, but after notching an unexpectedly hard-fought matchday-two win away to Austria, Germany didn’t necessarily look invincible last October when they headed to Dublin to face an Irish team enjoying the momentum of a thrilling last-minute win in its first match. Six goals later, the Aviva Stadium had been silent and the breathtaking quality of the German team was plain for all to see. The Irish clawed one back at the death, but it was far too little, far too late. The display made Germany’s top spot in the group all but a formality, despite Sweden’s efforts.
Star player: Perhaps the best playmaking midfielder on Earth, Mesut Ozil is the focal point of Germany’s midfield. He’s got that precious combination of uncanny vision for a pass and the technical ability to actually execute it—his career passing percentage in La Liga and the Barclay’s Premier League, where he currently plays for Arsenal, hovers in the mid-80s and last season he led the Spanish top flight in assists. And when Ozil can’t create a goal for someone else he’s more than capable of scoring them himself, bagging eight goals in qualifying, the most in Group C and tops amongst midfielders across UEFA.
Player on the bubble: You could say that Stefan Kiessling is on the bubble, but it’s more accurate, perhaps, to say that bubble has burst. Despite winning the Bundesliga scoring title last season the Bayer Leverkusen striker is consistently overlooked in Low’s selection. So consistent have Low and Keissling been (the former in ignoring the in-form striker; the latter in making himself all but impossible to ignore) that the saga became a distraction from the actual success the team has had. In frustration—at not getting a call and at having to continually hear about not getting a call—Kiessling has ruled himself out of playing under Low. The problem? Kiessling’s form has hardly dipped this season, with seven goals in 12 matches already. So for many German fans, Kiessling has more than earned a call.
Team strengths: Forget Spain, for my money Germany has the best midfield on Earth. Remember those 36 goals the Germans scored? Well, 30 of them were scored by midfielders. Germany has strikers sure (the ageless Miroslav Klose bagged four in qualifying) they just don’t really need them. Low tends to play various incarnations of a five-man midfield—usually with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khediera/Toni Kroos sitting in front of the defence and Mesut Ozil up at the sharp end—that adapts to their opposition both in shape and personnel. To say it’s working is an understatement, given that they haven’t lost in over a year (not counting the loss to the U.S., that is, given that it was essentially a German B-team).
What they have to work on: Not much, really, but some shoring up of their defence wouldn’t really go amiss. The only blemish in Germany’s qualification run came through a defensive collapse at home to let a 4-0 lead end in a 4-4 draw with Sweden. Mental lapses like that, taking your foot off the gas before you’re home and dried, allowing the momentum of the match to get away from you: these are the kinds of things that keep good teams from being World Cup champion teams. Germany will know that, but can they put the lessons learned to practise on the pitch against the best in the world?
World Cup history
Team profiles: Algeria | Argentina | Australia | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Cameroon | Chile | Costa Rica | Colombia | Croatia | Ecuador | England| Germany | Ghana | Greece | Honduras | Iran | Italy | Ivory Coast | Japan | Mexico | The Netherlands | Nigeria | Portugal | Russia | South Korea | Spain | Switzerland | United States | Uruguay