Since the beginning of this year’s European Championships, it has been obvious that by far the two best teams to this point have been Spain and Germany. As such, it was exceptionally unfortunate that the bracket paired them against each other in the quarterfinals, thus ensuring that one of the two would be knocked out of the tournament much earlier than what ought to have been the case.
The first half ended goalless, but six minutes after the break, substitute Dani Olmo opened the scoring for Spain. However, just when it may have seemed that Spain were all set to make it to the last four, Florian Wirtz scored Germany’s equalizer to send the match to extra time. A fairly evenly-matched extra time eventually culminated in Mikel Merino’s winning goal, a header from Olmo’s cross, with barely any time left.
Despite being eliminated on home turf in the last eight, this tournament represented a significant step forward for Germany. Ever since winning the World Cup in 2014, Die Mannschaft had been experiencing a significant decline. Following a semifinal appearance at Euro 2016, Germany went on to be knocked out in the group stages of both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups with a last-16 exit at Euro 2020 in between.
Despite having run into a difficult bracket, the foundation for a title run at the 2026 World Cup is clearly in place. This is a Germany team that looks nothing like the ones which wilted in the spotlight during the three most recent major international tournaments. From the tournament opener against Scotland all the way up until Merino’s winning goal, Germany looked like a team which could genuinely have won it all.
Perhaps the most important reason why Germany will remain title contenders for quite some time to come is the fact that they already have their superstar of not only the future, but the present - one around whom this entire team can be built and who, even at his young age, looks primed to go on to become one of the all-time greats. Florian Wirtz picked up where he left off following his ascension to genuine Ballon d’Or contender status after having spearheaded Bayer Leverkusen’s historic domestic Double-winning season. At just 21, Wirtz is not only already Germany’s best player; he’s likely at least six or seven years from his true peak. Wirtz is the sort of generational star that any team intent on seriously challenging for a World Cup title needs - and considering the fact that Germany as a whole are on the rise, this could very well happen as soon as 2026 when world football’s showpiece event comes to North America.
On the topic of Bayer Leverkusen, their rapid rise has undoubtedly been a great boon for the German national team. Jonathan Tah and Robert Andrich have both been solid throughout the tournament on the back of their own breakout seasons. Of course, the bulk of the credit for Leverkusen’s success - and thus Leverkusen’s contributions to Germany’s national team - ironically have to go to a Spaniard. It’s clear that without Xabi Alonso, Germany would not be where they are now.
The same can be said of Julian Nagelsmann, who has coached Germany since September 2023 after replacing Hansi Flick. While Nagelsmann’s stint in charge of Bayern Munich didn’t exactly end in glory, it’s now evident that how it ended at the Allianz Arena was an outlier. Nagelsmann has proven that he still has it, playing a major role in turning Germany’s fortunes around and thus proving why he’d first amassed all that hype when he was coaching Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig years ago.
Of course, there’s still some way left to go. Having not made it deep in a tournament for so long, there are still questions about how Germany will fare under pressure once they do reach a semifinal or even final - and that element could come into play even more in the coming years with many of their veterans likely to hang it up soon. There’s also the question about how the rest of the young talent around Wirtz will develop - apart from Jamal Musiala, there don’t seem to be any names that jump off the page right now. That being said, Euro 2024 has proven beyond any doubt that Germany are indeed back.
No comments:
Post a Comment