Germany: Why they are still contenders for the World Cup

With football now returning to club action, the pick of the World Cup qualifying fixtures was undoubtedly the 4-4 draw between Germany and Sweden, which left not just Germany, but the whole world stunned. Yes, Spain, Portugal and England drew, but here, after 55 minutes of action, a listless Sweden were down 4-0, with goals from Miroslav Klose (2), Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil. But from Zlatan Ibrahimovic (the real special one) to Rasmus Elm in the 92nd minute, the fans of Germany were left stunned. And why not? There is a genuine reason for that, which was their defence.

The German attack is just mind-blowing; the bags of experience Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski have, combined with the youth of Marco Reus, Andre Schurlle and Mario Gotze. And if I start off with the midfield, with Bastian Schweinstiger, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, it will never end. So the attack has nothing to do with the spectacular collapse (well, that’s obvious!)

Now before talking defense, let’s switch to goalies. Manuel Neuer, Marc ter Stegen and Roman Weidenfeller are some names that come to mind. Even Spain don’t have such a number of good goalies! Now the defense. The culprits for this horror show: Jerome Boateng, Per Mertesacker, Holger Badstuber, Mat Hummels, Philip Lahm; regular members of the squad. Boateng was a flop at Man City, and it is not hard to see why. Per Mertesacker, even as an Arsenal fan, I feel is a tad too slow, even with his intelligence in reading the play. Badstuber is not benefiting from playing at left-back at Bayern, as he will forget how to be a center-back. Mats Hummels was injured that day, and that could have been the difference. As for Lahm, I am confused as to whether he should be playing right-back or left.

Now the perfect German defense would be Lahm on the right, Hummels and Badstuber at the center and Schmelzer of Dortmund at left-back. I believe Joachim Loew should have more faith in this consistent player who deserves a chance. Fuchs of Schalke should also be considered. Now, the German defense should be forgiven, as this is quite a young bunch of guys representing their country. I believe this team will have enough experience under their belt before the 2014 World Cup.

By no means are Germany are out of WC qualification. But for Loew, it’s all about perfection of his defense that will determine whether they manage to stop the Spanish Armada. For like Spain, Germany have great offensive talent, but lack in defense. If Loew gets his defense to be better than that of Spain’s, they shouldn’t be counted out of the WC challenge. So here’s to Germany stopping the unstoppable Spain.