This appears in my column in the Monday July 5, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.
German Engineering
by rick olivares
The systematic destruction of Diego Maradona’s fancied Argentina side was an extraordinary feat of German engineering.
Pay attention closely England – even you clueless people in the Philippine Football Federation – because you should learn a thing or two.
If you’re a purist and a protectionist then Germany’s approach to football and its national team right up your alley.
Die Mannschaft was projected to compete for the World Cup title come 2014 in Rio but they are already from all indications well ahead of schedule.
I’d say that there are two factors that should not be lost here: one, that they are the Under-21 and Under-17 European champions; and two, the Germans have dealt with the global recession in the most practical manner.
The first factor has allowed Joachim Low to replace many of the parts of their 2006 team with younger players who are playing an unbridled passion. Who would have thought that this team wouldn’t miss a beat without injured captain Michael Ballack? In fact, the team is a much better one without the vociferous and vitriolic nature of the Chelsea/Bayer Leverkusen midfielder who isn’t one to mince his words. Sami Khedira who was captain of the U-21 team has taken Ballack’s place on the field and has played solidly. Mezut Ozil’s speed on the wings has caused nightmares for opposing defensive backs, and Thomas Muller will be in Argentinean defenseman Nicolas Otamendi’s thoughts for the next few weeks.
Of great note is that this is not Adolf Hitler’s German National Team. The Fatherland has embraced immigration and for the second straight World Cup features a multi-ethnic squad with Ozil who is of Turkish descent, Jerome Boateng who has roots from Ghana, Cacau who is from Brazil, and their Polish strike force of Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski. And they make for a much more talented German team.
What has not been said about this squad is how it has risen from tragedy following the suicide of its goalkeeper Robert Enke last year. But they have an excellent core with Manuel Neuer taking over from Jens Lehmann and they have they equally talented Tim Weise and Rene Adler as back-ups.
And regarding the second factor, if England is awash with foreign talent (they argue that foreign players are inexpensive as opposed to the homegrown), Germany has taken the opposite direction.
All across the Fatherland, they have put up close to 400 centers of excellence for youth development. It has been more cost efficient to teach and raise German youth. The net effect is staggering. Witness their success in youth competition in Europe, and in recent years, we’ve seen a challenge to Bayern Munich’s traditional stranglehold on the Bundesliga.
Schalke, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, and Stuttgart have made tremendous headway in recent years with the latter two winning two Bundesliga titles.
Now they are back in the scene of last tournament’s disaster. In their 2006 semis clash with Italy, the match was dangerously heading into penalty kicks (something that the Italians have never won until their battle with France in the final). The Italians scored two late goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero to stun the home team. Die Mannschaft beat Portugal in the battle for third as the entire Germany took to their squad and their former manager Jurgen Klinsmann who was a proponent of the change in styles of play.
This year the Italians played true to form – when much is expected from them, they crash and burn, when they slip in under the radar they are damn good. While the Germans, those models of consistency and efficiency are back in the hunt.
In World Cup play, Germany is tied with Brazil for the most number of appearances in the finals with seven. They have won the World Cup three times behind Brazil’s five and Italy’s four.
In this current tournament, they have played five matches with four wins against one loss. They have scored the most number of goals in South Africa with 13. Spain’s David Villa may be the leading contender for the Golden Boot Award (for the tournament top scorer) with 5 goals but Miroslav Klose is right behind with 4 while attacking defensive back Thomas Muller has 4.
Thrice have they scored four goals (against Australia, England, and Argentina). Their one loss was after Klose was sent off with a red card; a dubious call by the referee.
And unlike Spain’s virtuoso plays, Germany is tops in assists with 11.
Spain’s best passing match was in its surprise loss to Switzerland but since then they have struggled and have tasked David Villa to rescue them time and again.
For the second straight tournament, the Germans have played an attractive kind of football that should make Brazil proud. The passes have been timely and accurate while the team play has been exquisite especially when they have led to goals.
The Argentineans can empathize. After all, in 2006, they cut up Serbia and Montenegro with 24 straight passes (in one minute) that Esteban Cambiasso converted into a goal.
Of course, the Argentine side that played this year was minus Cambiasso and its top playmaker in Juan Roman Riquelme who has feuded with Diego Maradona.
And just as Lionel Messi was kept on the bench by former manager Jose Pekerman in their quarterfinals loss to Germany in 2006, this time around it was the Albiceleste’s other terrific midfielder Sebastian Veron who sat and stewed on the bench. He might have not been one hundred percent but who knows what he could have done?
Bastian Schweinsteiger, the subject of Maradona’s racist putdown right before the clash of the two countries, was imposing in the central midfield. He cut a swath right through Argentina’s defense and made all the right passes. Truthfully, they were fun to watch in their runs and counter-attacks. Had Klose not misplayed some sumptuous passes, he might have ended up with at least a hat trick for the match.
For years football watchers have derisively labeled the Bundesliga and German players as “boring” or “football played by robots.” In basketball terms, they are the Hoosiers or the Celtics of Larry Bird – nothing fancy but simple and fundamentally sound hoops.
“Simple” and “fundamentally sound.”
They are synonyms for efficiency in German engineering.
Read this from my 2006 World Cup articles. There are many others that saw print that was never posted in Brew.
and here
there are times when the german team is like a volkswagen, and there are times when they are like a porsche..... this time they are like a 911, so damn good.......
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