Can Germany surprise the World?

Germany is no stranger to the World Cup and has actually won the trophy three times in its history. Even when they have not won the World Cup, they have always been close.In the 2002 world cup hosted by South Korea and Japan, the Mannschaft cruised to the final game of the tournament where they lost to Brazil following a series of goalkeeping blunders from retired Oliver Kahn. In 2006 world cup hosted by the Germans, Mannschaft lost at the semi-final stage in the hands of Italians ‘Squadra Azzura’ that went a head to claim the trophy. This year, the Germany national team has perhaps the best chance of repeating history and claiming the Cup for themselves once more. Marked by efficiency, patience and well honed players, Germany is a powerful force in the world of soccer and stands to be one of the hallmark teams to beat this year. The way to South Africa for the Germany national team was a mixed bag this year. Facing off against Finland, the team was certainly not on their game and only their patience and efficiency saved them from a loss. However playing against Russia later in the year, the team positively glowed with skill and power, cementing their bid for a World Cup slot. In fact, Germany handed Russia their only ever defeat on their home soil during a qualification for the World Cup, putting a damper on proponents of the Russian team. I reckon that this Germany world cup 2010 will perform better than the one in Germany 2006. Players to watch for during the 2010 World Cup for the Germany national team include quite a few well known names. Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Cacau (VfB Stuttgart). Klose is another powerful player to watch during the games, as he is responsible for the win against Russia as well as some amazing playing throughout the rest of the year. He is ranked third in German scoring for all time. Klose is known for his hatrick against Saudi Arabia where German smashed 8-goals during their previous world cup opening game. Germany open-up their world cup campaign against Australia this Sunday. Other opponents in the group include Black stars of Ghana and Serbia. Philip Lahm was appointed captain of Mannschaft following an injury to Michael Ballack who is out of the world cup due to a nagging a chilles injury. The Bayern Munich full back is one of intelligent defenders you can meet around the globe. The coach for the Germany national team this year is Joachim Low, former assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann. The coach has held his position with the team since 1996 and has led the team to numerous wins throughout those years. For the 2010 World Cup, the coach seems to be relying on his standard pattern of focusing on the attack, though he is more than capable of throwing a few surprises out there for opposing teams to deal with. In terms of attacking style, he has got Marko Marin, Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil who are skillful, speedy and with accurate passing skills. While even North Korea will field some players playing in foreign leagues, the German line up next to England and Italy seems to be the only one at this World Cup exclusively built around players kicking the ball in the home league, the German Bundesliga. On the other hand, almost one half of the official squad cannot be defined as Germans in the narrow traditional way. These rather surprising facts give us something to think about. Germany are regulars at the World Cup and South Africa 2010 world cup will mark the 17th appearance for the Germans at the tournament, having only missed the finals in 1930 and 1950. They picked up their first World Cup win in 1954 in Switzerland and in 1974 they won it again as hosts. Their last World Cup trophy was won in Italy 1990 world cup after beating Argentina in the finals. Besides 1974, Germany also hosted the 2006 tournament, where they won the third place medal. Ends