With the World Cup just a few days away, we here at Soccersouls in our special coverage to the build up for the show piece event have tracked down the possible starting lineups for some of the pre tournament favourites. Undoubtedly having the best squad going into the World Cup, Germany would look to stake their claim to lift the cup at the Maracana on July the 13th, Joachim Loew’s side have undoubtedly underperformed in major tournaments in the recent memory. Can the Die Mannschaft finally live up to the burgeoning expectations and provide unbridled expectations back home? To do so what would be their strongest possible eleven. Check ou our analysis below.
Goalkeeper:
The Guardian have reported that Germany are confident their World Cup injury problems are receding despite Manuel Neuer missing Friday’s friendly against Armenia, the team’s last game before departing for Brazil which was overshadowed by Marco Reus horrible injury. Neuer has been troubled with a shoulder injury allowing Dortmund’s Roman Weidenfeller to get some much needed game time in the international stage. As the national coach Joachim Loew claimed, “We know how important a good start in the competition is for us”, the Germans would be praying that their number one goalkeeper is fit enough to take the field against Portugal.
Defenders:
While the dynamic and tactically flexible Phillip Laham will start in on the right back role, the Bayern Munich captain is expected to provide his team an attacking outlet with his driving runs on the wings. At the back it should be a close fight between Jerome Boateng who features as a centre back for Bayern, who can play as a deep lying left back or Dortmund’s Erick Durm. Mats Hummels of Borussia Dortmund, after an injury ravaged campaign will play at the heart of the defense for Joachim Loew’s side partnering Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker. The Germans have a tricky group, but the Deutschland outfit are one of the pre tournament favorites and anything less than a semi final appearance will lead to disappoint from the country’s huge expectations.
Midfield:
Given Loew’ squad selection, I believe that Germany will line up in an aggressive 4-3-3 setup with enormous pressing off the ball. While Bastian Schweinstieger will hold fort in midfield, Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil will look to maneuver spaces for the overlapping full backs in the final third. It’s a shame that Marco Reus will miss the World Cup after suffering a nasty looking leg injury against Armenia in the team’s last friendly yesterday after having a stunning season for Dortmund scoring 21 goals and 15 assists in 39 appearances. Thomas Muller will start out wide on the right while Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski will don the left flank as Reus looks set to miss the showpiece event.
Despite Rues’ injury, the German bench will look strong with the likes of Mario Gotze, Sami Khedira, Matthias Ginter, Julian Draxler, André Schürrle and Christoph Kramer are all included in the 23 man squad, which has travelled to Brazil.
Strikeforce:
Miroslav Klose just needs two goals to emulate Brazilian legend Ronaldo to become all time top scorer in the World Cup, The Lazio forward didn’t have a great season in the Serie A but when it comes to the international stage, the 35 year old is quite a handful. It would be interesting to see if Loew prefers to play Klose from the onset or uses Thomas Muller as a makeshift number nine, the role that the latter dons under Pep Guardiola at Bayern. Germany will be taking a huge risk going into Brazil with just one striker but the plethora of midfield option won’t perhaps let that weakness get exposed. One wonders what Mario Gomez might be thinking back home.
