Despite the decline in national “virtue”, Germany is still in the game

This week 25 years ago, the German team was preparing for the 1996 European Cup final in a hotel in London. In those days, this situation was normal: the German team reached most of the World Cup and European Championship finals since then. 1972.

The atmosphere in the camp is soothing. The players who had just defeated England in the semifinals sang the unofficial new English national anthem “Three Lions” on their team bus.

One night, my team officials and camp followers drank beer in the bar, including Burt Troutman, A German prisoner of war who once became Manchester City’s goalkeeper. Finally I asked a big question: Why does Germany always win in football matches?

The officials seemed polite, but they didn’t understand. Trautmann ate some more nuts. They don’t understand the problem. Germany has not won any competitions since 1990. No, things are not going well-the younger generation does not want to work, they complain. I left it there. In the final against the Czech Republic at Wembley that Sunday, when Oliver Bilhof scored the German team’s winning goal, almost the entire stadium was laughing.

Since then, Germany has experienced decline, reshaping and recession again. It was supposed to defeat Hungary in Munich on Wednesday to enter the second round of the 2020 European Cup, but its former dominance is gone forever. Where has the team been in the past quarter of a century?

In hindsight, 1996 marked the end of the era of national style. Before that, the Italians defended, the British played long passes, and the Germans had what the then national team coach Berti Vogts described as the “German advantages”: strength, speed and endurance, decisive moments The focus and goal of the center forward-forward. Their football is usually ugly-the Germans “dance like a refrigerator,” Vogts lamented later-but they killed the beautiful team.

But in 1996, the European football borders disintegrated. After the “Bosman ruling” of the European Court of Justice the previous year, suddenly, any player with an EU passport could play anywhere in the EU. The national leagues are internationalized. With the expansion of the Champions League, the best teams in Europe copy each other. The national style gradually disappeared. Other countries have acquired the virtues of Germany. Under the leadership of German coach Otto Rehagel, Greece won the 2004 European Cup with them.

At that time, German football continued to seek innovation, led by the national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his successor “team chef” Joachim Loew. They have borrowed the best things from leading countries. In the ten years since 2006, Germany has often played beautiful football. When the team won the World Cup in 2014, almost no one laughed.

But the moment a country raises the trophy, decadence begins. Loew wears a tight sweater with shoulder-length hair. He is more like a film director pursuing a vision than a football manager trying to win the game. He dreams of reimagining the game, such as turning the goalkeeper into a regular defender who happens to be wearing gloves. Loew pays more and more attention to high-tech ball control football. “I want to maximize it and perfect it. I’m almost arrogant,” He later admitted.

In the 2018 World Cup, a slow German team lost in the first round. At the same time, other countries, such as Italy, Belgium, and even England and Scotland, have also launched their own explorations to absorb the latest frontier ideas of international football.

In November last year, Germany lost 6-0 to Spain, and lost 2-1 at home to North Macedonia in March this year. When Germany defeated France 1-0 to start the European Cup, there was almost no flag on the German window.

Even after the 4-2 victory over Portugal on Saturday, the national team’s jerseys are still on sale, and there is still a certain nostalgia for the virtues of the Germans. Bill Hoff, the current general manager of the German Football Association, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Germany has produced too many midfielders and lacks his own “frontcourt”.

The two outstanding German midfielders Tony Kroos and Ilkie Gundogan are not full of power or rhythm. On the other hand, there are now the fast-paced top three of Kay Havertz, Thomas Muller and Serge Gnabry, and the team’s revelation is that the Dutch-German left half Robin Gosens, He used the advantages of the German to make up for his lack of contact.

Loew is the tenth German coach since 1926 and the coach with the most games. He stepped down after the European Cup. The irresistible similarity lies in the prime minister and football fan Angela Merkel, who resigned in September. From 2005 to 2006, both sides came to power within a few months. Both of them ruled in a low-key, calm, and quirky way. Love says When the two chatted recently, they agreed, “After such a intensive time, some kind of emptiness may be hitting us.”

Despite all their achievements, they have left their successors with the task of updating in a rapidly changing world. Just as Merkel’s Germany is agingIn the games against France and Portugal, the average age of the 11 starting players in Loew was nearly 29 years old, the highest in the German team since 2000. But they may have the final blow.