34 days left until the World Cup kicks off and slowly the tention is raising throughout the participating teams. Managers and head coaches look to find the best players for their World Cup squads as the season slowly comes to an end. Germany's head coach Joachim Löw made a big step to nominating his squad yesterday, as he announced the names of 27 players whom he will be including in this pre-"World Cup" training camps. Nevertheless the final cut for World Cup coaches will be on June 1 which is the day they must register a their squad of 23 players to the FIFA. This means that 'Jogi', as the German coach is called by the fans, will have to cut 4 players within the next month.
Before we go any further, here is the squad he has nominated:
(caps for country / goals scored)
So this is the list of young and hopeful players which are supposed to bring Germany World Cup glory in South Africa?
16 of 27 players have not played more than 10 matches for their country!!!
What is Joachim Löw thinking? - that's what most of the nation is asking themselves. I haven't the slightest clue myself to be honest. But to understand Joachim Löw's decisions and to be able to judge his progress you have to know about the past.
Joachim Löw was promoted to assistent head coach under Jürgen Klinsmann, who took over the German squad in preparation for the World Cup 2006 which just so happened to take place in Germany. Jürgen Klinsmann's job was a difficult one. At the European Championships 2004 in Portugal Germany embarassed themselves by getting knock out in the group stage of the competition. With draws against Holland and Lettland as well as a defeat against the Czech Republic, they were able to reach two points which put them in the third place of the group and sent them home early.
The reason for this embarassing performance was that the squad had aged over the years and could not compete with the other nations. After the Euros 2004 Jürgen Klinsmann had to somehow get the team fit for the World Cup 2006. Being the host nation, it was very important to stay in the tournament for as long as possible and to not get sold off short. Klinsmann's efforts over the 2 year-preparation-period until 2006 were enorm. This main focus was to making the squad younger, to building up a team which would be able to play successfully in the years to come. Klinsmann's work was great and so was the result at the World Cup 2006, where Germany came in third place overall, only losing to Italy in semi-final extra-time who later went on to become World Champions.
2006: Jürgen Klinsmann with apprentice Joachim Löw
After 2006 Klinsmann left the German national team as head coach and passed the reins down to his sidekick Joachim Löw. 'Jogi' is a quite guy, who stayed completely out of public focus during Klinsmann campaign. Klinsmann sugguested him to be his follower, because in Klinsmann's eyes 'he [Jogi] was the only man able to continue his good work and lead the squad on to further success". This being the reason for Joachim Löw being promotedto head coach.
Looking back over the past 4 years of Löw's campaign one has to ask oneself what he has actually done? Has the development which Jürgen Klinsmann started come to a complete stand-still? He has had 4 years to prepare for the World Cup in South Africa (6 years if you count his time as assistant coach) and what has come out of it? He nominates 27 players of which 16 have not played more than 10 matches for their country. By the looks of it, he will be travelling to South Africa with a squad that
- has no experience playing with each other,
- lacks international experience (especially the goalkeepers) and
- has strikers which have only scored 2 goals the whole season (Podolski)
Germany's strikers are also seen as a big problem by the public. Löw has decided to take:
- Lukas Podolski (2 goals in 27 games this season)
- Miroslav Klose (3 goals in 24 games this season)
- Mario Gomez (10 goals in 29 games this season)
- Cacau (12 goals in 24 games this season)
- Stefan Kießling (21 goals in 32 games this season)
Except for Kießling Löw has not nominated a striker who has had a hot streak this season. There is a controversial discussion amongst the public because
Löw chose not to nominate Kevin Kuranyi the reason being a personal vendetta between the two. 2 years ago, Kuranyi left the stadium early during an international test match because Löw did not nominate him for the squad. Today, Löw is still so pissed off at Kuranyi due to his lack of discipline he showed that one day, that Kuranyi has never been invited to play for his country again.
BTW Kuranyi scored 18 goals in 32 matches this season, was the key player in this Schalke team and only missed the Bundesliga championship by a hair. But not only Kevin Kuranyi suffers from a Löw vendetta,
Thorsten Frings has also been excluded from the squad after commenting that "
the player selection of the German national team by coach Löw has nothing to do with the players club performance"! After the papers printed Fring's statement Löw banned him from the squad just as he banned Kuranyi. But to be honest, looking at the striker nomination - somehow Frings' statement doesn't seem so far off. It even seems as though the player type Löw looks for is "timidly cowardly sissy"-type, that does not talk back and accepts everything as it is without asking questions. Is that a healthy basis to build a team on?...well, I think we all know the answer to that question.
2008: Löw banishes Kevin Kuranyi because of a personal vendetta
All of these constitutive decisions concerning team personnel may backfire on Löw sooner or later, if he is not successful. Looking at the development in the Löw era, one can not see much improvement. Sure Germany topped their qualifying group, but with their toughest opponents being Russia and Finnland that's no surprise. This summer have in store for Germany at the World Cup? The Germans are renouned for being a team that always can go big in tournaments and of being a tournament team, but will this myth be enough to make the German fans content and keep them satisfied....?
