Euro 2008 Preview : Germany
As Gary Lineker famously mused, “Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins. While their Euro win in 1996 seems along time ago for Germany fans. That 96 final win also coincides with the last Germany victory at the European Championships. Coming off winless campaigns in Euro 2000 and Euro 2004 new head coach Joachim Löw will look to build upon the success of the previous World Cup.
Highlites of Germany 13-0 pounding of San Marino in Euro 2008 qualifying.
In goal will Jens Lehmann manage to shake off the rust of the previous domestic season where he was very much the second choice at Arsenal. Motivation is a word that is too often used in football but a player of Lehmann will have plenty of it going into Euro 2008 as he’ll look to prove Arsene Wenger wrong. I’d be hard pressed to believe that Joachim Low would bring Lehmann into the Germen gold if he wasn’t going to be the number one. Lehmann isn’t exactly the greatest of team players when he isn’t in the line up. Backing him up will be Robert Enke and René Adler who the latter seems to have the inside track in being the Germen goalie of the future.
Up and down this lineup Germany is well equipment. They are talented and they are deep which are key in tournaments such as these where injuries and yellow card suspensions take its toll late in the tournament.
With this depth it will be interesting to see who exactly will start. You can pencil in stars players such as Philipp Lahm, Michael Ballack but it will be intriguing to see who will feature up front for Germany. Miroslav Klose, Kevin Kurányi, and Mario Gómez all had impressive domestic seasons and Lukas Podolski who was the best young player in the previous World Cup.
Key Player – Michael Ballack
The German captain will be used to the international spotlight this being his 5th major tournament and while he has scored some clutch goals for Chelsea during the course of the previous two season Ballock is very much been the brides maid and never the bride with the National team. If Ballack is to shake off that tag with the German public he’ll need to help Germany win Euro 2008 in what could be his last major tournament.
Group B Outlook
I can’t picture Germany going three straight European championships without a win. The talent is there, they are well coached with Low being a hold over from the previous World Cup set up and they are well composed. The pressure of big events generally do not phrase Germany and that alone should help them proceed to the knockout stages.
Prediction 2nd in Group B