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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP: Germany national team

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP PREVIEW – GERMANY NATIONAL TEAM




Summary of the Team

Germany are the most successful national team in Europe with 4 World Cups and 3 european cups who will be looking to add more to their collection. This is their 19th entry in the world cup, only missing out on two being the 1930 and 1950 because they didn’t enter and got banned from the other. Germany are one of the best if not the best team in the world and have an unbelievable depth as we saw last year in the confederations cup when they won it with the mix of their B/C team players. Germany are phenomenal all around, coached by Joachim Low they love to play attacking football, they’re great in possession they have two of the best passers in the world in Ozil and Kroos, furthermore their defence is very solid, but the question mark this year is their striker position as Miroslav Klose will not take part in world cups for Germany anymore. Their replacement is Timo Werner who’s had an average season for RB Leipzig and he will have to show up and finish his chances for Germany, they also have Thomas Muller who is known for scoring goals at the world cup scoring 9 in 2 tournaments. Also their goalkeeping situation is unclear as their main man Manuel Neuer is fighting to be fit for the world cup and nobody really knows if he’ll be able to perform and if he does then how will he perform? I mean rust is still a thing and I can see Marc Andre ter Stegen getting an opportunity to start for Germany, another great goalkeeper who plays for Barcelona and has faced pressure before but not like this. There are definitely question marks about the German team as great as they are, a mix of young players with world cup winners will definitely be fun to watch. Germans have always been top contenders and it’s no different this year.

Road To The Finals

It was business as usual for Germany on their road to the World Cup. They were put in a group with Norway, Czech, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan and San Marino. None of these teams really gave Germany a challenge other than Czech Republic where they made the Germans wait until the 88th minute to win, but other than that Germany dominated everybody picking up 10 wins out 10, full 30 points scoring 43 goals (4.3 per game) and conceding just 4 (0.4 Per game) meaning they on average battered opponents by 4 goals. Although the opposition was quite easy, it still doesn’t change the fact and show that Germans mean all business when it comes to playing football, their attack can destroy anyone and their defense is solid as hell. Germany’s top player during the qualifiers was Thomas Muller with 5 goals and 7 assists and he’ll be hoping to take that form into the main campaign, there were many other German players that scored between 1-4 goals, it was pretty much spread out. To summarise it was a typical, dominant campaign for Germany where they battered everyone.

The History of Germany's National Team

Germany are the most successful European football nation and you could even make an argument they’re the most successful team in general, especially if they tie Brazil with the world cup this year. Germany are a 4 time world champion and a 3 time European champion. Germany are the defending world cup champions currently after dismantling a few teams including Brazil 4 years ago. Germany’s Miroslav Klose is the all time goal scorer at the world cup with 16. In their 19 world cup campaigns, Germany have managed to be in the top 3 an incredible TWELVE TIMES and they also got a 4th place finish once. Germany have only ever been eliminated in the first round once at the world cup which was in 1938, they have reached the quarter finals or further AN INCREDIBLE SIXTEEN TIMES. Germany are a pure model of consistency, they always go far and are always in contention for the trophy, they haven’t been eliminated before the quarters since 1982 which is simply incredible, they’ve made the top 4 four straight times, I could go on and on about how consistent this country is at the world cup. You can even look at the Euros to further prove their consistency Where they’ve won 3, been runners up 3 times and a semi finalist 3 times out of their 12 European Campaigns. Germany have also won Confederations cup once in 2017 and won bronze as well in 2005. Over the course of their history, Germany have provided us with a lot of legendary players such as Klose, Gerd Muller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Michael Ballack, Phillip Lahm and many more and this year players such as Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller will be hoping to write themselves into the books as multiple world cup champions and write themselves as some of the greatest German football players ever, if they’re not already are.

Key Players


Thomas Muller: Thomas Muller seems to be made for this world cup. With Miroslav Klose retiring from football and not being there for Germany, Thomas Muller will be one of the main guys that Germany will look to, to score goals for them. Muller has been amazing during his world cup career so far and has an outside shot to become an all time top scorer in a world cup history once his career is done. Muller has scored 9 goals in his previous 2 world cups and will look to add more to his tally. Muller has had a decent bounce back season with Bayern under Heynckes, therefore I’m expecting him to carry that form into the world cup for his country as he’s normally done. Muller is most likely going to be Germany main target this year and he’ll need to get his shooting boots right, if he does that then no doubt he’ll be their top scorer and Germany will go far.




Toni Kroos: Toni Kroos will be the main midfielder for Germany. After coming of another sensational season for Real Madrid, the accomplished world champion will be looking to add another gold medal to his resume. Kroos will be the guy running things for Germany in the midfield, controlling the tempo, making passes and creating opportunities for the attacking midfielders, wingers and strikers. Toni is the best midfielder in the world in some people’s eyes, he can win a game for a team simply with his passing. Toni Kroos is one of the most accomplished footballers in the world and he’s just reached his prime. I think we’ll see business as usual from Kroos as he helps Germany do great things in the world, the guy is the definition of consistency which pretty much sums up the German team.



Mats Hummels:
The tank of a centre back that’s Mats Hummels has always been one of the most important players for Germany. He’s one of the best defenders in the world because of his ability to stop opposition attacks, and stay very consistent. With Germany having a slightly new back four with Kimmich and Hector most likely being their full backs who are completely different from their 2014 full backs, Hummels is now basically an old head in that defense, his experience will be absolutely key for the German team as he’ll be able to help out the youngsters under immense pressure which I’m sure Germany will face. By being an experienced world class center back who’s won a lot of things while still in his prime, Hummels is obviously one of the most important players for the Germans.

Possibilities, Predictions and Expectations:


The expectations are clear for Germany. It’s to win the world cup as it always is. Germans love the pressure as they tend to deal with it almost all the time which is very important because to win the world cup they’ll definitely have to deal with pressure at times. Germany have one of the best teams in the tournament, fantastic all around, full of depth and a great coach which is why they are expected to do great things. Germany will face Sweden, Mexico and South Korea in the groupstages. All average sides who can be dangerous, but if the Germans are playing their game there really shouldn’t be much issue to go through, I mean we saw how Germany beat Mexico 4-1 with theyre backup squad last year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if their first team did the same, Sweden are slightly worse than Mexico and south korea are not very god so I have no worries with Germany beating these two.



If Germany advance to R16 they’d have to face a team from Brazil’s group, it most likely being Switzerland, costa rica or Serbia because I doubt Germany and brazil will finish below 1st in their group. If Germany avoid Brazil, then it should be a straight forward for them in the R16 because none of these 3 mentioned nations can really compete with Germany. I think Germany will get to the quarters quite comfortably and then we will see what happens, for me they’re the 2nd favorites behind Brazil to win the world cup so I am expecting Germany to go all the way to the final and lose to brazil in a close game. If you want to be on something for the world cup concerning then I’d say picking up all 9 points with odds at 2.75 in the groupstages and then to be a runner up at 6.50, if you think they can win the final then get them as Winners with odds of 5.50. All of these odds are on WilliamHill.

Germany's preliminary 27-man World Cup squad


Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Bayern), Marc-Andre ter Stegen(Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (PSG)


Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern), Matthias Ginter (Gladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha), Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea), Niklas Süle (Bayern), Jonathan Tah (Leverkusen)


Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (PSG), Leon Goretzka (Schalke), Ilkay Gündogan (Man City), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern)


Forwards: Mario Gomez (Stuttgart), Thomas Müller (Bayern), Nils Petersen (Freiburg) Marco Reus (Dortmund), Leroy Sane (Man City), Timo Werner (Leipzig)


The squad is still not fully set, the Germany will have to cut 4 more players, but I don’t think it will have much effect on them


 


Predicted Starting Lineup


                           Neuer


Kimmich   Hummels Boateng  Hector


           Kroos     Khedira


Muller            Ozil Reus


                     Werner




FULL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE FOR GERMANY: UK TIME


17/06/2018 – vs Mexico 4 PM


23/06/2018 – vs Sweden 7 PM


27/06/2018 – vs South Korea 3 PM


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