Euro 2008 Team Profile: Germany

Nickname: No real nickname, but sometimes referred to as “Die Nationalelf” (The National Eleven) or “Die Nationalmannschaft” (The National Team.) (And our Germany team blogger, Jan, would like me to point out that “Die Nationalmannschaft” is generally not used as a nickname in Germany, except by English-speaking Germans wanting a naughty-sounding double entendre.)

Jerseys: Home: White. Away: Red.

FIFA World Ranking (May 2008): 5th (third highest in the tournament)

Fixtures/Schedule:
Group B; Austria, Croatia, Poland
Sun June 8th: 20:45 Germany vs Poland, (Klagenfurt)
Thu June 12th: 18:00 Croatia vs Germany, (Klagenfurt)
Mon June 16th: 20:45 Austria vs Germany, (Vienna)

Coach: Joachim Löw.

Former coach Jürgen Klinsmann brought Löw in as his assistant coach for the German team in 2004, as Germany was heading into World Cup qualifying preparing for World Cup 2006, and the two of them spent the next two years laying a solid foundation for the team.

When Klinsmann left after the World Cup, Löw’s job was to continue building on that foundation. His stated goal when he took charge was to continue implementing what he and Klinsmann had started, and to win Euro 2008. So far, it looks like he’s halfway there.

Captain: Michael Ballack

History: Germany has a long tradition of winning play. They’re three-time World Cup Champions: 1954, 1974 and 1990, and they’ve made it to the finals on four other occasions. They’re also three-time Euro Champions: 1972, 1980 and 1996, and made it to the finals twice more. They were third in World Cup 2006, behind only Italy and France.

And even though they finished second in their Euro 2008 qualifying group, with two fewer points than the Czech Republic, they lost only one game — and that was after they’d already qualified for the final tournament. They finished qualifying with 8 wins (five of them shut-outs), 3 draws, and only one loss. Their best game was against tiny San Marino, where they won by a jaw-dropping score of 13-0.

Expectations: Most observers expect this team to go far in this tournament. France coach Raymond Domenech, among others, has picked them as the team to beat in the finals.

Key Player: Michael Ballack. A lot of people wrote him off after his less-than-stellar performance at the beginning of his time at Chelsea in 2006, and three ankle surgeries in ‘07 nearly finished his career. But he came back with a vengeance and was one of Chelsea’s key players at the end of their season this year. And since he didn’t play the first half of the EPL season, he will be more rested than many of the other players.

He has always been a solid player for Germany, scoring 35 goals in 80 games — as a midfielder, not a striker. He’s not the captain for nothing, folks.

Other Key Players: VfB Stuttgart’s twenty-two-year-old striker Mario Gómez has played only nine games for Germany, but he’s already scored six goals. In the Bundesliga this year, his form was even better: Nineteen goals in 25 games.

Volatile midfielder Torsten Frings, who’s come back this season from two serious injuries, could also be a factor. He and Ballack offer much-needed stability and experience in the midfield.

X Factor: Jens Lehmann, the probable starting goalkeeper, may be best known outside of Germany for winning the penalty shootout with Argentina in the quarterfinals of WC 06. But he hasn’t played much for Arsenal this year. Will he be in form?

Another factor could be penalty shootouts. Germany has not lost a shootout since 1976.

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hanover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)

Defenders: Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04)

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg SV), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), David Odonkor (Real Betis)

Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach)

Team blog: Our Germany team blog is ably manned by Angela and Jan (no relation to the Switzerland Jan OR the Netherlands Jan.)

Magic Germany Moments:
That penalty shootout between Germany and Argentina in WC 06.

German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann kept a cheat sheet inside his sock that told him how each Argentinian usually took penalties. This cheat sheet was later auctioned off for 1 million Euros, with proceeds going to a children’s charity.

And here’s a video of the crowd’s reaction after that penalty shootout.

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