Germany have been rated by many bookmakers as the absolute favourites. Can they live up to the expectations?
Group B is characterized by the presence of favourites Germany which will be tipped by many to top the list here. However, the other powerhouse Croatia might have other plans for the group whilst Austria will be planning to bank on home advantage. Poland will be the black horse here as they have the potential to surprise any of the other three teams.
Germany
Only France has won the Euro event more than once but still none other has managed to equal Germany’s three titles in this competition. They were also losing finalists twice and stopped at the semifinals when they hosted the event themselves back in 1988. In the face of such a favourable tradition and after a smooth qualifying campaign and some very convincing friendlies Germany are deservedly considered favourites to lift the trophy in the air on the 31st of June.
The Manager – Joachim Low
Having served as assistant coach to Jurgen Klinsmann, Low was immediately appointed head coach of the German national team once the ex-Inter striker stepped down after the highly successful World Cup of 2006. Low was handed over a team that had just been surpassed in strength by the Italians and the French. That meant placing over his shoulders a lot of responsibility and the job of keeping the levels high.
However, even during the 2006 campaign, many considered Low’s position within the national team as far more important behind the scenes than it would have all think. The slightly more offensive philosophy adopted as a reaction to Rudi Voeller’s Germany was allegedly all fruit of Low’s mind.
Despite both having been outfield players Klinsmann was the more successful of the two, classifying in second place in the most capped list for the nation, and thus the ideal front man for the new Germany preparing for the World Cup after the Round 1 exit in Euro 2004 held in Portugal. On the tactical level, however, Low is probably the more talented. The change at the helm was therefore only an apparent one.
The Squad
After the 2002 World Cup major changes were rung at Germany’s national team. The revolution kept on going until today what has emerged from the ashes of a fallen Germany after Euro 2004 is a solid and compact group that embodies to perfection Low’s fast yet compact style.
For the major part Germany is composed of home-based players, most of which coming from top German team Bayern Munich. Amongst those, however, there will not feature legendary goalkeeper Kahn who has called it a day with the national side as he is fast approaching his 40th birthday. His replacement was a certainty some months ago. Lehmann had been given the number 1 shirt and guarded the posts for Germany in ten of the twelve qualifying matches played. He has since fallen out of favour with Arsenal coach Wenger and it is yet to be seen how this will affect his place in the German side. Hildebrand will be eagerly waiting for his turn to shine as a starter.
Arne Friedrich aside, Germany’s rearguard is a very young one with none of the players aged over 25. This might be testimony to the new emerging talent in the Bundesliga but it also means that there is quite a lack of vital experience at the back. Four of the seven goals suffered during the qualifying campaign were inflicted by experienced side Czech Republic. This goes on to prove that Germany will be in for some problems when they come to meet the tough guys as their Euro 2008 campaign gets to the final stages.
The fantasy and goal scoring capabilities of Schweinsteiger and Schneider will definitely be made use of by the manager. The same cannot be said of Ballack’s offensive tendencies as Low would seemingly prefer to use him in a more defensive midfield role together with Frings, whose experience is still invaluable to the team.
Low knows that the quality will be high at Euro 2008 so he would rather prefer adopting a cautious approach in midfield. That way he would also be able to let loose two danger men in front instead of two. Klose is a definite starter whilst Kuranyi and Mario Gomez are the two main contenders for a place alongside the Bayern Munich man.
Prediction
The German country always expects a lot out of its national football team. The rest of the game observers also do. After all it is normal as they have been a consistent force in the game all these years. Yet every once in a while they slip up.
In my opinion things are quite fluent from the midfield upwards. Creating chances and scoring goals will not be their problem. However, the lack of match practice for their number one goalkeeper and the frequent blunders he has treated Gunners supporters to these last years inspire a certain amount of caution before declaring them unrivalled favourites of Euro 2008.
If you add to that a generally inexperienced defensive line-up which makes frequent mishaps against the big guns, and a high probability of facing fast-paced Portugal before reaching the final, then I would think twice before putting all my money on them being crowned winners.
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