Dortmund. July 4, 2006. Ten minutes before midnight. The gloomy faces darkened the national team’s changing room at Westfalen Stadium. Philipp Lahm was motionless at the end of the massage chair, his head hanging low.
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Dortmund. July 4, 2006. Ten minutes before midnight. The gloomy faces darkened the national team’s changing room at Westfalen Stadium. Philipp Lahm was motionless at the end of the massage chair, his head hanging low. The tears in eyes of team captain, Michael Ballack, had dried but his stares remained empty. Goalkeeper Jens Lehnmann, who usually appears tough on the field, was visibly upset beside team manager Oliver Bierhoff, who appeared uneasy all the way through.
That night, Germany had just been defeated by Italy, 0 to 2, in its 2006 World Cup semifinal match. The gloom was a stark contrast to the situation seven weeks prior, when the team was in a boot camp at the Forte Village resort in Sardinia, Italy.
At the time, all the players had been cheerful. They played volleyball on the beach and tennis in between practice sessions. The sun-drenched beach seemed to have injected positive energy to all the German players.
It is this positive energy of the seas that current German coach Joachim Löw is trying to recapture after Germany’s defeat from Mexico, 0 to 1, in the Group F opening match in World Cup 2018. Löw has switched the German team’s practice location from Moscow to Sochi at the edge of the Black Sea.
Germany thrives on the energy of the seas. This was proven when they battered the defenses of Sweden, much like sea waves do on beaches. Germany gained a victory, 2-1, with only 10 players after its defender Jérôme Boateng was given a red card by the referee at minute 82.
The match on Sochi’s Fisht Stadium on early Sunday (24/6/2018) Jakarta time made Germany the master of its own fate. They gave themselves a chance to make it to the Round of 16. However, they still need to win over South Korea with a gap of at least two goals in the group’s final match on June 27 at 9 p.m. Jakarta time.
This will not be easy as there are 15 scenarios of how things will go down in Group F – and any of the teams can still make it to the knockout stage. The match between Mexico and Sweden will also be heated. Mexico struggles to be group champion to end its curse of never making it to the Quinto partido (“fifth match”), meaning making it to the quarter finals, in the six last World Cups.
German’s challenges have yet to end as the World Cup is, in Löw’s words, a “survival of the fittest” where only the very best team will win. This is why Germany uses “Best NeVer Rest” as the team slogan in this year’s World Cup. Löw reaffirmed that the capital V, a reference to the Roman numeral for 5 that symbolized the team’s hunt for its fifth World Champion title, meant that every German player had an “inhumane” burden.
Germany’s dramatic win against Sweden, through Toni Kroos’s kick just 20 seconds before the five-minute injury time ended, was just the beginning of the World Cup’s “natural selection”. This can also be the beginning of a sommermärchen or a summer’s tale for the team.
Sommermärchen is the title of a documentary film on the Germany national soccer team’s journey ahead of and throughout the 2006 World Cup, which was partially summed at the beginning of this article. If 2006 began in cheers and ended in sorrow for Germany, then Marco Reus and his teammates can start their journey this year in gloom only to end it with exuberant joy. With his energetic, daring and relentless playing style, Reus “the Rocket” may be a signal of happier days for Germany.
Such an inspired playing style is a revolution in German soccer scene, after its lackluster performance in the 2000 UEFA Euro Cup. Germany gave birth to players known for their dynamic, agile, aggressive and beautiful playing style at the 2006 World Cup. Since then, Germany has been generous towards soccer fans in need of stunning playing styles.
The 2006 summer fairytale for the German squad was repeated in summer 2010 in South Africa and then again in Brazil in 2014 – where the team finally clinched the World Champion title. This summer in Russia, Germany may potentially write another beautiful fairytale to remember.
Yes, Germany has seemingly turned into a beautiful butterfly having successfully escaped from its cocoon. However, its full colors have yet to bloom. Mistakes among midfielders and defenders still occur. After Boateng’s red card and Mats Hummels’ injury, Germany will need to rely on its inexperienced defenders to remain in the World Cup. This is risky as Löw loves an offensive strategy with eight players.
Now, in order to rewrite the Sommermärchen, Germany will need to learn from a phrase found in the book Die Nationalmannschaft-One Night in Rio, which was published after it won the 2014 World Cup: “Brazil has Neymar, Argentina has Messi, Portugal has Ronaldo and Germany has a team”.