HAVE THE MIGHTY FALLEN?

On the 13^th of July 2014, Germany became world champions defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra time to claim their 4^th world cup win. (Their last win coming in 199).Fast-forward to the world cup 2018 hosted in Russia, where the German team despite winning all their qualifying matches and the Confederations Cup the previous year, started their 2018 World Cup campaign with a defeat to Mexico. This was their first loss in an opening match since the 1982 World Cup. Germany defeated Sweden 2–1 in their second game via an injury-time winner from Toni Kroos, but was subsequently eliminated following a 2–0 loss to South Korea, their first exit in the first round since 1938 and first ever in group stage since the format had been introduced.

A lot of factors contributed to the failure of the team at the World cup. A lot of football faithful round the world said it was the curse of the defending WC champions; France 2002, Italy 2010, Spain 2014 and now Germany 2018. Is it really a curse? We have seen it from the above listed teams that when a team wins the World Cup, it’s natural to assume that there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken. Therefore, defending champions often go to the following World Cup with many of the same names as 4 years ago, and a very similar game plan.

But 4 years is a really, really long time in football. It’s more likely that the players and tactics that worked well 4 years ago won’t work well now. And that’s exactly what happened with Germany.  The German team which triumphed on the world stage 4 years ago was an outstanding team in terms of quality, leadership, possession and midfield control. With players who were top quality talents on the ball—Neuer, Hummels, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Götze and Özil—and players who knew how to attack the spaces created by that possession game—Khedira, Müller, Klose. Although Germany didn’t dominate the way Spain did in 2010, but they certainly knew how to control the tempo of matches and they had a knack for scoring decisive goals at the world cup, as they had the clinical pair of Miroslav Klose and Thomas Müller upfront. Fast forward to 2018 and literally everyone who was part of the world cup winning squad except Toni Kroos has either declined or retired.

The Coach Joachim Löw has not been able to build upon the world cup winning team and reshape and remould it with the new crop of talent which the Germans have at their disposal. Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and a whole lot of the stars of the 2014 world cup win are nowhere near the form which won the world title, but it seems Loew lacks the bravery to replace them with up-and-coming talent.

The embarrassment of Germany crashing out at the group-stage of the world cup, necessitated Löw to drop his veteran and experienced players, but even at that he still refuses to trust the young talent at his disposal. The likes of Julian Draxler (who seems to have been around for a while), Julian Brandt and Leroy Sane have all had very little opportunities under the Löw.

There is also the feeling that the Spine of the German team is not as strong as it once was. The ever able and dependent Manuel Neuer has lost a bit of that world class quality, and is sadly no longer the player he once was after twice fracturing his foot in 2017.

The cental defensive paring of, Jerome Boateng and Matts Hummels, often leave their goalkeeper exposed.  The midfield engine room has also lost a bit of its leadership, with Tomi Kroos & co struggling to marshall the midfield. The attack isn’t faring any better with Thomas Müller’s shooting boots deserting him.

Squad unity might also have a part to play in this debacle, there seems to be preferential treatment for the remaining 2014 world cup winners. Out of the squad that won the Fifa Confederations Cup in 2017, only Joshua Kimmich, Timo Werner, Julian Draxler and Jonas Hector. Joachim Löw has the likes of Leroy Sane, but he has not been given enough opportunities to perform, it was an indictment to many football fans and enthusiast that he was left out of the 2018 World Cup squad. The strong team spirit which the Germans are renowned for seems to be lacking with this current bunch.

A former Germany captain Michael Ballack told a German media outfit “Deutsch Welle” that he was surprised that his former coach had kept his job after Germany exited the World Cup in the group stage. Ballack said, “I was surprised as well as many other people that he kept his job. For a long time he worked with the team and sometimes you should say that things don’t work anymore when you’re so long with a certain team.” Ballack felt that the DFB failed to make good its promise to “analyze” the disaster in Russia, since the organization had “already made the decision to keep the coach.”

Joachim Löw has been the Manger of the national team for about 12 years, having been appointed in July 2006, a lot of critics and pundits share the view that he has taken Germany as far as he can take them, and should have left the post after the world cup. I’m of the opinion that the German National Team can do with a new manger that will bring in a set of fresh ideas.

 Antoine Griezmann's second-half double saw France come from behind to beat Germany 2-1 in Paris and push Joachim Low's side to the brink of a humiliating Uefa Nations League relegation. Germany must beat the Dutch next month and hope other results go their way, if they are to avoid the drop.

Have the Mighty Fallen?