IAN HERBERT: Germany are unrecognisable from 2014 World Cup-winners

IAN HERBERT: Catastrophe! Germans bemoan another group stage exit with die Mannschaft unrecognisable compared to the side that won the World Cup in 2014 after losing several of their quintessentially German qualities

  • Germany’s World Cup departure was dubbed the end of a great football nation 
  • Numerous stars remain as yet non-committal on their international futures
  • Joshua Kimmich claimed their group stage exit was the ‘worst day’ in his career 
  • To relive the action as Germany were dumped out of the World Cup click HERE 
  • Germany are without several qualities that have served them well in the past
  • The defence is leaky, they lack a quality centre forward, and there is no rigidity
  • Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results

The end of a great football nation, proclaimed the German newspaper Bild in the aftermath. That certainly seemed the mood as the team coach pulled away into the fog which had enveloped the Al Bayt stadium. 

Everywhere you looked on Thursday night, players seemed to be saying it was over. Thomas Muller’s wave to the small enclave of Germans fans seemed imbued with significance. The 33-year-old would later describe his fourth and final World Cup as ‘an absolute catastrophe’.

Ilkay Gundogan said he hadn’t thought about his future and Niklas Sule was equally non-committal, though you wonder how much appetite he’s got for any more of this. Bastian Schweinsteiger, an emblem of times when the world feared Germany, worked himself into a rage on national TV over the performances of the Dortmund centre half. ‘I don’t like it. This is not good,’ he fulminated. 

Germany’s group stage exit was heralded as the end of a great football nation by Bild

There was some conspiracy theory for the Germans to feed on, if they wanted it. The ‘phantom’ Japanese goal by Ao Tanaka. The suspicion Spain didn’t put everything into finding an equaliser against Japan as it suited them to finish second and face Morocco next Tuesday. 

But few Germans were clinging to any of this, after the country were eliminated at the first stage in a second successive World Cup. Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich’s voice trembled as he spoke of how troubled he felt by it all. 

‘It’s the worst day of my career,’ he said. ‘When I came to the Germany national team, they were World Cup winners, and in Euro 2016 we made it to the semi-final. Then we messed up 2018, wrote off the Euros and failed to make it out of the group here. 

Thomas Muller’s wave to the small enclave of Germans fans seemed imbued with significance

‘My aim, attitude and responsibility was to help the team progress. I find it hard to cope with the fact that I’ll be linked with these failures. I’m a little afraid of falling into that hole.’ 

When the Germans won the 2014 World Cup they were held up as an emblem of a nation which had found a way to develop intelligent, thoughtful, technically proficient players. ‘Das Reboot’, as the writer Raphael Honigstein described it in his book charting a process which began at grassroots level. 

At the start of the century, the model was held up as something England wanted to emulate at their St George’s Park base. Just last week, Gareth Southgate spoke of their ambition and ethos as something for his players to aspire to. 

It comes as stark comparison to the German side that were held up as an example back in 2014

Somewhere along the way, some quintessential German qualities have been lost: strength, rigidity and tough centre halves. Dazzled by pressing and passing — ‘a blend of Kloppball and Pep-ball’, as one writer put it yesterday — they forgot the fundamentals they had always done so well. ‘We lack the German efficiency we always had,’ reflected national team director Oliver Bierhoff. 

The defence has endured the most shocking decline. Hansi Flick used four right backs in three games here and resorted to Kimmich, a midfielder. David Raum, a winger playing at left back, was not convincing. ‘We don’t have specialists in all positions,’ admitted Muller.

It was the 2-1 defeat by Japan which sent Germany home and we saw a self-induced defensive panic which would have been unrecognisable in Die Mannschaft a decade back. Two goals were shipped in eight minutes against Japan, two in 12 against Costa Rica.

It is the decline of the defence that has seen the most shocking decline over the last decade

Another of the traditional emblems of German football — a clinical centre forward — was also missing. The team completed more than 700 passes against Japan and still lost. They stumbled upon a striker here, rather than finding one. 

Without Niclas Fullkrug, a German Rickie Lambert, whose last three seasons in the German top flight had produced a grand total of 12 goals, things may have been even worse. 

Bierhoff ‘s future looks uncertain, though Flick’s less so, despite the naivety he displayed in not sticking to the fundamentals, like shielding a weak defence. 

Despite the surprise elimination Hansi Flick’s position as manager is still thought to be solid

Time is short, with Germany hosting the 2024 Euros, though there is no shortage of great attacking potential. Jamal Musiala’s performances have reinforced the 19-year-old’s potential to be one of the world’s great players. Kai Havertz, a forward we are still waiting to make good on his promise, is only 23. He had a face like thunder when he collected Thursday’s man-of-the-match award. 

Other hopes for 2024 include Florian Wirtz, Youssoufa Moukoko, Karim Adeyemi and Armel Bella-Kotchap.

‘We can get up quickly. We will see what the future looks like and how we can implement our ideas,’ reflected Flick, though first there will be a heavy reckoning. This team, said Der Spiegel, has shrunk into ‘a football dwarf’.

Youssoufa Moukoko (L) and Armel Bella-Kotchap are great youth prospects for Euro 2024




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