Germany World Cup 2010 Profile

May 3rd, 2010 | by: Daryl |

dfb It feels like a lazy stereotype to say that Germany are always there or thereabouts at World Cups. But if you look at Germany’s World Cup record (down at the bottom of this post) you’ll see that that stereotype is based on fact. Even at World Cup 2006, when expectations for the team were lower than I’ve ever seen, Germany still made the semi-finals and took third place.

For 2010 Germany have been drawn into Group D alongside Australia, Ghana and Serbia. If there’s a Group of Death at World Cup 2010 then this might be it. Read on to find out all about Germany’s coach, players, player nicknames and national anthem.

Nickname: Regularly referred to as Die Mannschaft (The Team), but apparently only by those who don’t sprechen Deutsch. Other nicknames include Die DFB-Elf (The DFB Eleven) and Nationalelf (national eleven), but if you read the comments under this post you’ll see that – at least within Germany – the national team has no established nickname.

FIFA World Ranking as of April 28th 2010: #6

Group D Matches:
Germany vs Australia – June 13th, 19:30, Durban
Germany vs Serbia – June 18th, 12:30, Port Elizabeth
Germany vs Ghana – June 23rd, 19:30, Johannesburg
Buy Germany World Cup tickets

jogi150px Coach: He was Jürgen Klinsmann’s assistant in 2006, but Joachim Löw (better known as Jogi) will be 100% in charge for 2010. As with many assistants turned managers, and people that wear jaunty scarves (see picture) he came with a reputation for being a bit too nice, a bit too friendly. Kevin Kuranyi can confirm otherwise. Way back in 2008, the Schalke striker didn’t make the matchday squad for the game against Russia, and so disappeared from the stadium at halftime. Löw has never forgiven that show of disrespect, and a recall to the national team now seems all but impossible, despite Kuranyi’s prolific Bundesliga strike rate. Jogi is tougher than he looks.

Key Players: He may not quite be the force of old, but 33 year old captain Michael Ballack can still boss a football game. When playing for Chelsea, Ballack is competing for either playing time or on-field space with multiple other midfielders. For Germany, Ballack owns the middle of the park, and knows it.

UPDATE: Ballack injured his ankle ligaments in the FA Cup final, and will not be fit for the World Cup.

Bayern fullback Philipp Lahm kicked off World Cup 2006 in style. Lahm is now four years older and wiser. But he’s still only 26, still has that turbo boost turn of pace, and is still keen to get forward and join the attack.

Striker Miroslav Klose has been a bit peripheral at Bayern this season, but he was Germany’s top scorer in qualifying with seven, and still has a role to play for Die DFB Elf: The role of big target man. Playing further behind Klose in the attacking midfield position will likely be Werder Bremen’s 21 year old playmaker Mesut Özil. The kid has all the tricks and flicks to compliment the more, shall we say, imposing play of Ballack and Klose, so Özil will provide some much needed X-factor to Germany’s attack.

Player with best YouTube video: Read the last sentence above. This category can only belong to one man. Ladies and gentlemen, Herr Mesut Özil:

Player with best name: Has to be Bastian Schweinsteiger. One look at that name and you know exactly which national team he plays for.

Player with best nickname: The coach comes close with “Jogi”. Schweinsteiger comes even closer with “Schweini”. But it has to be captain Michael Ballack, known to German fans as “Kleine Kasier”, presumably in homage to Franz Beckenbauer. Ballack also gets called “Balla”, apparently. But that’s not quite as good.

Qualification: Group 4 could have presented a challenge to Germany, especially with a strong looking Russia team that had ambitions of claiming first place. However, Germany beat Russia home and away, and cantered through qualifying with eight wins, two draws and zero defeats. Klose bagged seven to finish joint fourth top scorer in European qualifying, with Lukas Podolski only one goal behind him.

Interesting: For all his success, Michael Ballack has a lot of runner-up medals. Especially with the national team, with whom he’s collected a silver medals at both World Cup 2002 and Euro 2008, plus a bronze at World Cup 2006. Factor in that he also has two Champions League runner-up medals, and you can argue that time is running out for Ballack to win a major non-domestic title. World Cup 2010 might even be his last chance.

National Anthem: “Deutschlandlied”, or “Song of the Germans”.

Hear all national anthems from Group D.

Kit: Classic white home shirt from adidas, with the colours of the flag in a thin vertical stripe. As modelled by the Kleine Kaiser below:
new-germany-football-shirt

Find your Germany World Cup jerseys in our store. Schnell!

World Cup History: Three-time winners and multiple near misses. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.
germany world cup record

Expectations: I’m not sure that Germany and their fans expect a victory in 2010. But I imagine they expect to be in with a shout. So I’d say semi-finals is the minimum for Germany’s 2010 campaign to be considered somewhat successful. Unfortunately we can say that about more than four teams this year. But I guess that’s what makes the World Cup so brilliant.

Squad: TBA.

Blog: Follow Nick and Jan at Germany World Cup Blog.

- More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Germany World Cup Guide

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Comment

A few comments from Germany:

1) Other names for the team: Nationalelf or Nationalmannschaft, if you really need your dose of mannschaft ;)

2) “Kleiner Kaiser”? Never heard that one before.

3) Expectations: A lot of people in Germany are very sceptical about the team for this worldcup. A recent kicker-magazine online survey found almost half of the respondents thinking that Germany will be out of the tournament before the semis and only about a quarter thinking the team will make the finals. You could call that either realistic or typical german pessimism. ;) On the other hand anything less than the semis (or at least a very decent quarterfinal performance) will probably guarantee a new coach for Germany.
http://bundesliga.theoffside.com Jan

Yeah, I think it’s safe to simply say that the German national team doesn’t have a nickname (among German speakers). Everything else people or in this case Wikipedia (DFB-Elf) try to sell as nicknames are just synonyms as far as I’m concerned. :-)

And while being nitpicky: you did a good job dealing with the anthem and clearing up the ‘über alles’ bit. Though, Wikipedia again does a less than optimal job here. The German Wikipedia has separate entries for the German national anthem and for the Deutschlandlied and that’s a much better solution. Because it’s better not to equal the Deutschlandlied with the German national anthem. ONLY the third stanza coupled with the music by Haydn is the national anthem – and is as such protected under German law as a national symbol.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Will edit the nickname part to reflect reality.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

Also, does it not bother Germany fans that the team has no nickname?
Comment

@daryl: No, not really I would say. If you talk in Germany about the Nationalmannschaft (or Nationalelf), it feels like a brand, not just a description. I mean it is THE Nationalmannschaft (of Germany) not A Nationalmannschaft (from any other country). Sometimes you hear nicknames, for example: “Jogis Jungs” (Jogi’s (Löw) boys), but none of these are that important.
pencho15

I would like to see them fall to Algeria in the second round, but I am actually expecting to see them at the semifinals if the United States do not surprise them.
WinniePooh

Algeria? A late payback or Gijon 1982? I see an honourable exit in the quarters against Argentinia who might take home the cup if Maradona can be kept under control. However, he can’t fuck it up more as Pekerman did in 2006.