Time For Germany

World Cup 2010 is here and soccer fever is everywhere. As a soccer fan and a player, I followed the world cup games that is currently in the last few games of the preliminary round, a decisive time for teams to break into the knockout stage.

I rememberred when I was 6 years old. It was the time of World Cup 1990. My family watched the final between Germany and Argentina in which the Germans won by 1-0. The goal was scored by Andreas Brehme from the penalty spot. That was my first time watching a world cup match and as a half-German I fell in love with Die Nationalmannschaft with Jürgen Klinsmann being my favourite player.


During the last 20 years I've witnessed Germany's matches. I saw them lift 2 trophies, World Cup 1990 and Euro 1996. I witnessed Klinsmann's upset face when they lost against Bulgaria in 1994 and Croatia in 1998. I've witnessed changes in the trend from having mostly 'experienced' (old) players into the team of young guns Germany is in World Cup 2010.

A new hope emerged this year because the team is a combination of senior (but still young) players from World Cup 2006, Euro 2008 and young players that won the U-21 European Championship last year. With the absence of the great Michael Ballack the team actually reached its peak in creating a creative display of an attacking young team. They won their last game in the group stage last night with Mesut Özil scoring the only goal, a long range volley from outside of the 18 yard box. At the age of only 21, Özil is now the new hope of the whole German nation.

Özil's goal

My Ideal Squad
With the squad Joachim Löw selected for this World cup, the combination will work well with the following scheme.


I prefer Neuer compared to Butt and Wiese because although he's young, Neuer has the mentality expected from a German goalkeeper. Of course if Adler were not injured then he'll be the first option. Philipp Lahm the skipper is a must have for the right back section and I prefer Jerome Boateng to Badstuber because Boateng is more mature playing there. The center backs duo would definitely go to the seniors Mertesacker and Friedrich because they have what it takes to guard Germany's goal.

Moving on the the midfield, I'm putting Schweinsteiger in the left winger position because that's actually his natural position and he'd play best there. I didn't select Podolski because he's currently unstable. The right winger would go to the youngster Thomas Mueller who plays marvellously in the position. The central-midfield duo would go to Khedira and Kroos. The two youngsters have a lot of talent and capabilities to bridge the flow of German attacks.

Mesut Özil would definitely go as the second striker and playmaker behind the single striker Miroslav Klose. Klose is still the best striker in the German team and I'd put Stefan Kießling in the bench to replace Klose because he's had a wonderfull season with the Bayer Leverkusen.

Hopefully with this mix, Germany can win World Cup 2010. Who knows, perhaps Löw is reading my blog. Next game is Germany against "the Three Lions" England. England is performing below expectation during the group stage but I'm expecting a good game between both sides. Of course I'm expecting Germany to advance to the next rounds.

It's been 20 years since the last time Germany lifted the world cup trophy and seeing the fact of finishing in the 2nd and 3rd place in the last 2 world cups, this year is Germany's year.

Deutschland uber alles!!!


-E-

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