What Germany did to become champs-Sunday oliseh

The 2002 Japan and South Korea World Cup saw the Germans lose in the Finals to Brazil, thanks to Ronaldo da Lima’s two goals. The Germans were happy to have gotten that far, but were still highly disappointed. Disappointed because they got to the Finals not playing particularly well and owed much of their success to the exploits of three players: goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose. They wanted a better team performance and less individual exploits. Most nations would have been satiated with that, but not the ambitious Germans who wanted to not only be world number 1, but world's best indisputably. Off they went to the drawing board and not just any drawing board, but one in the FA's offices in Frankfurt, Germany. A new coaching crew in Jurgen Klinnsman and Joachim Lowe were put in charge, coupled with a new team manager in young and ex-national team hero Oliver Bierhoff, to prepare for the 2006 World Cup to be hosted on home soil in Germany and to set a foundation for the kind of football they wanted to play in the future. They chose the path of youth players and abandoned experienced players. The first casualty was the hero of 2002, Kahn, who was relegated to the reserve bench behind Arsenal's then goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann. They came third playing a very attractive and offensive style of football in a tournament that the world ranked as the best ever in organisation and merchandising. Klinnsmann retired in 2006 and Lowe stepped up from co trainer to head coach, continuing the work he helped put in place and German national football was no longer the same. A football style likened to the Spanish 'Tiki Taka' was put in place and gradually younger players were introduced into the team that fitted into this physical passing game capable of being adapted into an offensive direct attacking style when necessary (as the Brazilians found out in the 7-1 2014 World Cup semifinals drubbing). 2010 in South Africa saw them come third again, losing in the semifinals to eventual champions Spain, who were at the top of their game. However, the Germans took away with them the big lesson that they had to further tune up their passing game and introduce the goalkeeper and central defenders more into game build up and opponent pressing. The fact that Germany stuck with Lowe assured them continuity and the possibility for the players to gradually but surely perfect the game plan. However, I must admit that the arrival of a certain Pep Guardiola at the country's top club (Bayern Munich) and supplier of more than half of the first eleven regular players did little to harm their game plan. In my opinion it definitely helped to make them a finished product. If they started the 2014 World Cup in Brazil looking like the unfinished product in their opening games, it had a lot to do with the late injuries to major pieces of the puzzle, like Marco Reus, they had to leave back home in Germany and the rude pre- tournament training dose they had to go through before the World Cup started. Come the Final though, they were ready to beat the goal- squandering Argentine side courtesy of young, but talented Mario Goetze's goal in extra time when the Argentines seemed to have run out of steam, especially their star player Lionel Messi, while the Germans were still up and running. In the end there was one logical winner, the team that totalled in the first round of games alone 1 934 passes on an average of 645 passes per game: Germany!