The 2:1 loss against France on Tuesday evening makes it the sixth defeat the German international team would experience in one calendar year.
How art The Mighty Fallen.
The first in their history and it came after a 3:0 devastating defeat against Holland. For a country who sent the world agog after humiliating a star-studded Brazilian team 7 goals to 1, what has happened to the former world champions?
Legends Departure:
If you watch football meticulously you would know that a team’s captain wields a lot of influence in the team, as a matter of fact, Coaches are always cautious when choosing a captain and the vice, as they both act as the “coach on the field” when the team is losing or under pressure.
A legendary captain and vice that would come to mind by default is John Terry and Frank Lampard, they both were true epitome of leadership for the Chelsea team and their instrumental role to their champions league glory (especially when overturning the 3:1 deficit against Napoli) would not be forgotten and that was the role what Philipp Lahm held for Germany.
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For a versatile player who could play anywhere on the backline and even explored the role of a defensive midfielder when necessary, Lahm was a reliable resilient leader, a legend. He led the team and ensured cohesion within the team thus, when he announced his retirement, it was received with ambivalent feelings and although Joshua Kimmich has flourished in his multi-positional defensive role, he can’t bring in the leadership flair Lahm provides.
Major Replacements:
Since Miroslav Klose broke the world cup record in 2014 and retired after, Germany has struggled with finding a perfect number nine. Although this focal position has been explored by scintillating talents like the 2014 world cup winning goal scorer, Mario Gotze, Thomas Wagner and Timo Werner , none of them has performed consistently over a long period and this is a huge gap for the German machines whose goal-scoring prowess often scares opponents and I am sure Klose and Podolski would be quite perturbed about the paucity of goals the Germans are experiencing right now.
Another major loss is Bastian Schweinsteiger, the pivotal role the midfield maestro plays in the midfield has been sorely missed. Toni Kroos has done excellently well but the weight is too much for him to carry and Mesut Ozil’s inconsistency, Marco Reus injury plight and Sami Khedira’s gradual depreciation has left a chasm in the team’s midfield.
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A scattered potpourri.
Stars are good, but too much stars could be a huge headache especially for a coach like Low who is more rigid than dynamic. The presence of Draxler, Reus,Gundogan, Wagner, Werner, Schurlle and other sterling talents has been a lot of problems and the coach hasn’t found a way around this tussling puzzle. Cohesion is lacking and the free-flowing football and the dangerous counters we know the German machines for have been missing.
As club football resumes this weekend, there is a lot of questions The German coach has a lot of questions to answer before the next international break, and if the fallen heroes shall rise again, then a lot of things must be fixed.
Written by Faith Emmanuel.
Faith Emmanuel is a writer and poet based in Lagos. He loves reading, writing and watching football. He can be found on twitter and IG with the handle @themmanuelfaith
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