The Shocking Downfall of the German National Team

you've probably noticed that Germany used to be really good at football and now they're not alright that might be a little bit simplistic but the German national team has suffered a demise over the past seven or so years that would have seemed quite frankly unimaginable after Germany won the World Cup so convincingly in Rio in 2014. Germany's national team is the most successful in European football Germany have won the World Cup four times which puts them second only to Brazil with five having reached a record eight finals and the European championships three times which is the joint mouse and a record which they share with Spain having reached a record six finals that's despite the fact that Germany were banned from the 1950 world cup divided up into three separate national teams during the 1950s and only reunified in the 1990s it's not bad going then and between winning that first World Cup following FIFA mission in 1954 and winning their fourth World Cup in 2014 Germany never failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup never once got knocked out in the first round or group stage and then ever even failed to reach the last date it's a level of consistency which is unmatched even by Brazil who suffered early exits in 1966 and in 1990 and it gave the German national team a reputation for being the ultimate tournament team the German word is tornia manschaft literally tournament team and no team was more deserving of their name until now that is following Triumph in 2014 and defeat only in the semi-finals of Euro 2016. Germany were dumped out of the 2018 World Cup in the group stage finishing bottom of their group with just one win to their name to keep the World Cup winners curse alive and at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar seven months ago Germany exited in the group stage yet again also with just one win to their name having avoided exiting a World Cup at the earliest opportunity for more than 60 years Germany have now done so at successive tournaments other side of defeats against England in the round of 16 at Euro 2020 Germany have now won just four of their last 16 matches and none of their last four a run which puts them 15th in the FIFA world rankings below Switzerland Morocco and Mexico having been outside of the top 10 for the last four years for those of us who have only ever known Germany to be a ruthless and Relentless winning machine which is basically anyone who is under the age of 105 these are pretty much uncharted waters in today's video then we're going to take a look at the shocking demise of the world's formerly most consistent national team the internal drama going on behind the scenes and the individuals in organizations that are responsible join me International Football is a strange old Beast squads of players only get together a few times each season which can make it difficult to form chemistry and for managers and coaches to get their ideas across friendlies are often disregarded as being either meaningless or just experimental and most qualifiers for the top-ranked European national teams at least are such a formality that you often don't learn a great deal from them that means that depending upon your interpretation of the nation's League since it's relatively recent Inception it basically all comes down to a handful of games if you're lucky at a major tournament every two years it's a degree of pressure and intensity that causes many great teams to wilts for decades England routinely bulldozed their way through to the World Cup in Euros looking like World beaters in qualifying before crumbling when it mattered most sven's England team famously thrashed Germany 51 away in 2002 World Cup qualifying but when confronted with a 10-man Brazil team at the finals they withered Fabio capalo had the highest win percentage a very manager ever to have taken England into a tournament but still collapsed against Germany and bloomfontein in 2010 and Roy Hodgson masterminded victories against Italy France Germany and Brazil when there was absolutely nothing on the line but disintegrated at successive tournaments in 2014 and 2016 with a winless group stage exit followed by defeat to Iceland throughout this time Germany was like the anti-england Germany didn't always Dazzle or play brilliant football and there was very little Fanfare surrounding their qualifiers or friendlies but when it really mattered they were the team that everyone feared it was like this for over 60 years when Germany won their first ever World Cup in 1954 4. they did so as massive underdogs in torrential rain in the Swiss capital of Byrne against a team that had already beaten them 8-3 in the group stage of the same tournament and hadn't lost a game in over four years even during the Golden Age of German Football in the 1970s with a staggeringly brilliant spider Franz beckenbauer Wolfgang overath and Gad Muller Germany was still seen as the functional pragmatic machine up against the much more ideological and aesthetic Total Football of their great Rivals the Netherlands nonetheless it was the Germans who came out on top again in the 1974 World Cup final when Germany or West Germany as it was then won the 1990 World Cup they overcame not just their old foes the Dutch once again but also gaza's England and maradona's Argentina in The Knockout stages there was no equivalent Flair player to be found in the German team lotum a man tasked with keeping Maradona quiet in the final was their star man but that didn't matter because once again Germany were champions in the late 1990s and early 2000s the German Juggernaut hit its first snack quartz are final exits from the 1994 and 1998 World Cups were viewed as an aberration by German standards along with the aforementioned 5-1 defeats of England and group stage exits from Euro 2000 and 2004. sandwiched between those two disappointments was a surprise run to the final of the 2002 World Cup but Germany had an unusually generous run of fixtures to the final and the combine force of sheer Brilliance from Oliver Khan and Michael Ballack was credited with a surprisingly impressive showing humiliation at Euro 2000 in particular which was hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium and where Germany finished bottom of their group and didn't win a single game prompted a major revamp of German Football by the dfb there is a book by Raphael honingstein about how German Football reinvented itself and conquered the world in fact that is literally the subheading called Das reboots and also a YouTube video on the same topic by me but with only time for a synopsis here Germany overhauled its scouting and coaching millions of Euros were spent thousands of coaches trained and recruited academies established catchment's hours expanded and a focus on more technical aspects of the game implemented the 2014 World Cup was viewed as the culmination and the ultimate Vindication of Germany's football revolution Manuel Neuer was a goalkeeper who had himself revolutionized the position with his ball playing abilities and general sense of adventurousness Tony crows and mesoderzel emphasized two different sides of the focus on technique and close control and Mario gotzer nicknamed German messy by some typified the type of football and movement Germany had sought to perfect for the past 14 years with his stunning finish in the final after coming off the bench to win the game it seemed as though Germany had cracked football's code and that they could dominate the sport for years if not decades to come Julian Draxler was just 20. Mario gotzer 22 Andre Sherlock 23 and Tony crows and Thomas Muller who was already the World Cup's seventh highest goal scorer of all time were both still only 24. that was just in their squad and starting 11. youngsters like bandolano Antonio rudiger and Leon goretzka had all failed to even make the squad the future looks bright then and at Euro 2016 it took the host nation France to Halt Germany's path in the semi-finals the success of Germany's national team and Club teams the 2013 Champions League final was an old German Affair between Bayern Munich and Barcia Dortmund after all perhaps hit An Inconvenient Truth which is only really apparent with the benefits of hindsight Germany had actually struggled to overcome Algeria in the 2014 World Cup round of 16 whilst looking to accommodate Crow's ursulin gertza with Thomas Muller playing as a center forward requiring extra time to get past the North African minnows before Riyad mahrez could even get in their team drawing from Germany's pragmatic tournament Roots though jock him love went back to basics from that point on playing an aging mirror slab closer as Germany's focal point up front and sacrificing some of the Flair and creativity of Mario gotzer who was relegated to their bench victories against France Brazil and Argentina obviously followed with Germany's illegal conceded across those three fixtures coming in a 7-1 thrashing of the house Brazil it might have owed in part Arts to the revolutionizing of German football at the start of the 2000s in large part in fact but in many ways this was Germany just as we had always known them pragmatic hard to beat and the ultimate tournament shaft there was a degree of conflict if you like despite that success between the style of football and Personnel that jochim love seemingly wanted to play and the style of football and Personnel that was required to win love had struck upon the latter mid tournaments in Brazil but he could never quite do so again a semi-final appearance at Euro 2016 was followed by one of the most abject World Cup defenses of all time in Russia in 2018 where Germany lost against both Mexico and South Korea before finishing bottom of their group and in his final tournaments in charge of the national team loves Germany were knocked out in the first knockout round of Euro 2020. since Miroslav closest retirement in 2004 14 Germany a flat out failed to replace him and it's not just upfront that their conveyor belt of talent so dependable over the preceding decades appears to have hit a snag closer was not a product of Germany's revamps Academy system though he was a late bloomer he was already playing first in football for Kaiser sloughton by the time that Germany were humiliatingly dumped out of Euro 2000 since that overhaul which put great focus on players technical abilities Germany have had midfielders coming out of there is but a real dearth of sensor forwards and Defenders just take the current Germany team which can boast the likes of Yoshua kimack Kai Hubbards Leon goretzka Jamal masiala Julian Brandt LK gundawan and Florian verts in Midfield amongst many others but up front is now dependent upon Nicholas volkrug who is 30 years old was playing second serve football in the season before last and only made his International debut in 2022 they are a total shambles defensively where Antonio rudiger looks fairly nailed on but all around him is chaos with sensorbacks playing out of position midfielder's shoehorned into Wing back rolls and system experimentation only adding to Germany's sense of vulnerability in this conflict between ideals and pragmatism jock him loves successor and former assistant hansi flick fell firmly on the side of the former of the 2022 World Cup opting pretty much for all-out attack despite their lack of a focal point Germany actually created an enormous number of chances in Qatar they scored goals in all three of their group games their XG against Costa Rica was over six which is practically unheard of and even in their solder feat against Japan Germany dominated statistically football is a game that is won and lost in both boxes is though and in both boxes Germany fell well short of expectations for a national team once synonymous with those clutch moments and producing when it mattered most that has become an all too common theme in recent years flick who enjoyed extraordinary success during his brief stint with Bayern Munich but has still failed to convince many Germans that he is up to the job both before and since being appointed national team head coach was also criticized for his loyalty to big name players even when perhaps they weren't performing Thomas Muller is perhaps the most notable example but Nicholas Zula had a torrid world cup and a significant chunk of Germany fans felt that it was time for Mark andreita stegen to start ahead of Manuel Neuer Muller Zula and Neuer were all parts of Flick's treble winning campaign at Bayern whilst many of the problems are the same as in love's latter years the national team's relationship with Germany's biggest club Bayern Munich certainly isn't one of them love famously went to war with Bayern or at least that's how the German press betrayed it in 2019 when he very publicly froze out Bayern Trio Thomas Muller Jerome Boateng and Hummels in the mid-2010s German football made the dominant ticketakura approach of the Spanish game looked very rapidly dated not only did Germany win the 2014 World Cup whilst the reigning Champion Spain were dumped out in the group stage Borussia Dortmund beat Real Madrid 4-3 in the semi-finals of the 2012-13 Champions League with Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals in a single game meanwhile in the same season Bayern Munich thrashed Barcelona seven nil over two legs in what felt like and in many ways actually was a Changing of the Guard within the European game at the 2022 World Cup by contrast it was Germany that appeared stale and outdated whilst almost every other top team has adopted some variation of a 433 formation including Argentina who won the World Cup with bags of energy and Industry Midfield and typically invert fullbacks Germany adopted a more 2010s Vibe four two three one formation deploying three different Midfield pairings in three different games three different right backs in those three games and three different Center forwards you could be forgiven for thinking that hansi flick wasn't sure what his best team was in the opening game LK gundawan partnered Yoshua chemical Midfield in a pairing which lacked bytes and legs and was all too easily overrun by the much more energetic Japanese Midfield meanwhile Nicholas Zula looked like a cartel sir right back and Kai havart's a little lost as a false nine against Spain Germany were much improved this time with bayern's own pairing of kemek and Leon gratzgar Midfield Who provided some much needed balance tilo Keira starting but not finishing the game at right back and Thomas Muller who also isn't a center forward replacing Kai habert's upfront and finally against Costa Rica because you know why the hell not flick played Yoshua kimmick in his former role at right back dropped LK gundawan in alongside leongoretzko Midfield and eventually introduced Nicholas volkrug up fronts volkrug isn't the most fashionable of forwards nor is he the most gifted or decorated in truth it has taken him until the age of 30 to hit double figures for only the second time in the Bundesliga but the reality is that he led the line better and provided far more of a goal threat as a focal point at the World Cup than either Kai haverts or Thomas Muller ever did he scored the equalizer Off the Bench against Spain and a winning brace also Off the Bench against Costa Rica and the reality which has now dawned on most Germans following seven goals from nine caps for the national team is that if volkrug had started in all three of Germany's group stage matches they most likely would have at least made it through to the knockout whether he will be as important by the time Euro 2024 comes around or whether Germany will have any viable Alternatives Still Remains to be seen what is less ambiguous however is that expectations will be at pretty much an all-time low despite the fact that Germany will be hosting the Euros for the first time since 1988. last time out they lost against Rivals the Netherlands in the semi-finals now even that then humiliating fate would seem like an overly ambitious prediction sometimes low expectations can be a good thing it proved that way for Gareth Southgate in England at the 2018 World Cup for example and even Germany in 2002 but recent results don't provide much hope for some quiet optimism following the 2022 World Cup hansi flick who just about managed to hang onto his job unlike the national team's director Oliver beerhoff who had his contract terminated promised to be more open to giving young an inform players opportunities he also binned the traditional 4231 that had proved to be so ineffective replacing it with a back three with various different setups in front of them to say that Germany's experimentation with new players and systems hasn't so far worked out would be a fairly sizable understatement given that in their last four matches Germany have lost against Belgium drawn with Ukraine lost against Poland and most recently lost tunil against Colombia in gelsincushion all of those games were friendly since Germany qualify automatically for Euro 2024 as hosts without requiring any qualifies based upon their recent results that's probably a good job of course there is a cyclical nature to football and particularly the international game Brazil reached three successive World Cup finals between 19 94 in 2002 winning two of them but have gone out in the quarter-finals of four out of the last five World Cups losing 7-1 in the semi-finals of the sole exception England had more than a decade of being Europe's ultimate banter team and suffering ever more humiliating tournament exits until a recent Revival under Gareth Southgate which has now made them the developmental Envy of much of the continent including Germany and Italy Europe's second most successful national team laugh in the face of Germany's recent travails since despite winning Euro 2020 they failed to even qualify for either the 2018 or the 2022 World Cup what usually happens is that teams start to fall behind the competition take proactive measures to resolve the situation improve compete maybe even win something and then complacency sets in again whilst the competition enters their Improvement stage and so we start the cycle all over again what is actually unusual about Germany isn't that they were really good for over 20 years and now they're not but that historically they have managed to avoid the worst excesses of the negative side of that cycle until now previously regardless of personnel you always felt that Germany had a chance going into a tournament purely because they are Germany it no longer feels as though that is the case a little bit like Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson retired they've lost that Fear Factor and mental battle that for so long gave them an edge according to many former German Internationals that is because this Germany team lacks Leaders with the mentality required to win games according to Rudy voller who replaced Oliver beerhoff as the Director of the national team it's just because the players in this Germany team aren't as good as the players in 4 normal sides that might not seem like a huge vote of confidence from the team director but it was stated as a defense of the results of hansi flick and it's also probably true whilst there is no lack of talent in this German team it's highly concentrated in Midfield and I've certainly never seen a less well-balanced Germany squad during my lifetime Matthias Ginter who didn't play a single minute of football at the 2014 World Cup is the only World Cup winner who made Germany's most recent Squad closer Lam Schweinsteiger murtasaka parulsky Neuer Cadera Boateng urzil Hummels Muller and crows have all either retired from football retired from International football or are approaching the end of their careers there has been no seamless transition from that generation to the next due to early demises EG in the case of Mario gotzer early International retirement EG Tony crows and internal conflicts such as the dfb's war with Bayern that saw Mueller Boateng and Hummel's exiled which I mentioned earlier on even what seemed like the most seamless transition of all at one time from Philip lamb to Joshua kimack hasn't quite turned out like that due to Chemex rapid move from right back where alarms still played for Germany when he retired into holding Midfield it is a positional shift which has been great for chemic who has starred in Midfield for Bayern but Germany have had persistent right back problems ever since it's not just other senior International level that Germany is struggling of the 2023 under 21 Euros which England just won Germany finished bottom of their group below England Israel and the Czech Republic with just one win to their name Germany's under-20 team meanwhile failed to even qualify for the 2019 and 2020 3 under 20 World Cups the only team providing any hope at all are the under 17s who have qualified for this year's under 17 World Cup in Indonesia and won the under 17 Euros in Hungary last month and it is perhaps telling that the only green shoots of optimism have come from Germany's youngest age groups of all in later recent failures and obvious developmental problems Germany has looked to rectify those issues just as they did in the early 2000s this time seeking to emulate the successful Youth Development programs found in England and Spain it is a welcome intervention but it will also take time possibly more than a decade for that labor to really begin to Bear fruits even at Club level there are worrying signs for the German game since Bayern Munich won the Champions League in 2020 no German team has made it beyond the quarterfinals of the competition in last season's Champions League iron were the only German team to make it through to that stage where they were well beaten by Manchester City the previous season Bayan were again the bundesliga's sole Representatives at that stage this time losing 2-1 to Via Real the last time that a German sea made it through to the semi-finals not even the final of the UEFA Youth League was in 2019 and none have ever made it to the final since the competition was founded in 2013-14 Bayern themselves have now won 11 Bundesliga titles in a row after Dortmund did what Dortmund so often do on the final day of last season whilst there is much to Envy in terms of how German Football has resisted the worst excesses of commercialism and falling over foreign billionaires and cynical State ownership regimes that does not constitute healthy competition and nor is it beneficial for the national team it's important to note as always that there are far margins in football Germany had an almost identical World Cup to Spain beating Costa Rica losing to Japan and drawing with each other the only difference was in terms of goal difference even at Euro 2020 if Thomas Muller hadn't uncharacteristically dragged his shot wide against England when one-on-one with Jordan Pickford the outcome of that game could have been very different and then there's every chance that Germany could have reached yet another Euros final there are also lots of players who it seemed would carry Germany into their next Generation who just haven't lived up to their potential Mario gertzer suffered a steep decline following His World Cup glory in 2014 largely through no fault of his own it should be said meanwhile Julian Brandt Max Meyer Timo Verna Kai habertz and Leroy sane were all supposed to be world-class players at the age they are now almost all have had their moments Werner scored 34 goals in a single season for Leipzig Harvard scored the winner in a Champions League final and Sonic had an unforgettable 2017-18 season at Manchester City but none have reached the level of consistency or contribution that was once expected of them in the short term the dfb has decided to stick with flick so to speak at least until Euro 2024. instead replacing administrative staff but that loyalty is being tested to the limits for friendlies without a single win three of which ended in defeat and opened Ascent from his own players who have stated that they want to go back to playing a back four rather than a three is reflective of the state of chaos that Germany is in if flick doesn't win at least one of Germany's Next Three friendlies against Japan France and the United States with greatly improved performance levels as well it's hard to see how his job can remain tenable he faces the task of having to shore Germany defensively first and foremost they concede far too many chances and goals whilst also facing calls to accommodate Jamal masiala Kai habits and Florian verts who are widely perceived in Germany as being the country's three most talented players it is almost certainly impossible for flick to start all three in a functional and offensively solid team and even two will require sacrifices elsewhere ushering in a new era on the dawn of a home tournament is a daunting task made all the more difficult by so many of Germany's big name players still being part of Flick's consideration following a second successive World Cup catastrophe it was expected that the likes of Thomas Muller LK gundwan and others might retire from International Football and that flick might replace Manuel Neuer with Marc andreita stegan for example a skiing accident has forced the latter for the time being though where the Nile will return for the euros and his final tournament is another big decision flick still has to make but Muller and gundawan the latter of whom has just had the season of his life at Man City before signing for Barcelona have kept themselves available unable to resist the temptation seemingly of bowing out to the home tournament so there you have it then the reason for all of Germany's struggles is because they made a three second gesture in support of free speech of the World Cup in Qatar or at least that is the collective conclusion of an assortment of the world's most brain dead morons in reality whilst Germany's decline feels sharp and shocking it has actually been a long time coming even in 2014 when they were crowned as world champions the seeds of their decline had been sown in the lack of Alternatives or replacement for Miroslav closer the force decisions to play Benedict Herbert as outer position at left back and the pending lack of leadership after losing the likes of best Ian Schweinsteiger and Philip Lam Germany haven't always dazzled there are times when that football has even been a little bit dour and offensive but they have always been functional effective and hard to beat well not anymore the Germany team has players who can Dazzle now must see all averts and Sade amongst others and all of their games were actually very enjoyable at the World Cup just not for Germans perhaps they are no longer functional effective or hard to beat though in seven years Germany has gone from being the world's most consistent national team to replacing England as Europe's bansa nation and as we English know all too well that can be a difficult reputation and mindset to shake off for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching I hope you enjoyed it probably not if you were German but I hope you found it informative if nothing else hit the like button if that was the case it is much appreciated let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and it goes without saying make sure that you're subscribed and have notifications turned on both for this Channel and my backup Channel both of which are probably on your screens or about to appear on your screens along with a couple of videos that you might want to watch after this one you can also find me on Twitter or on Instagram via the username at hrtc7s on both should you wish to do so

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 400,876

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Germany, Decline, Downfall, National Team, German, Euro 2024, World Cup, What On Earth, Is Going On, Documentary, Hansi Flick, Bundesliga, Bayern Munich, International, Leroy Sane, Deutschland, Fußball, 2022 World Cup

Id: EqH_Mc14BXc

Length: 30min 42sec (1842 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023