Revenge is a strong motivating factor for a young Germany squad who are seeking to excel in their semi-final against Spain, at Durban, tonight.
Before the tournament began, nobody gave Germany much chance of doing well, after their captain Ballack opted out owing to injury. The team was seen as an inexperienced outfit that would find it hard to survive amongst more experienced teams such as England and Argentina.
The credit for the fact that Germany have proved their naysayers wrong at this years event must go to a football training program launched 20 years ago to develop young talent. And before the end of this tournament the team has already thrown up several stars of the future who likely to dominate the football horizon in the decade to come.
That said, Germany sprang something of a surprise, in respect of both England and Argentina. Both these latter teams might have been better served by a tactical defensive game rather than trying to match the speed of the young Germans on the run.
Germany lost 1-0 to Spain in the Euro 2008 final at Vienna, with Fernando Torres scoring the winning goal. While Spain have a fairly unchanged side from the one that won the Euro 2008 championship, Germany has since had an infusion of young talent in Oezil, Mueller and Khedira, to name the most prominent. The current German team is much more aggressive, and they have scored 4 goals each against Australia, England and Argentina at this World Cup, to underscore that aggression.
Germany coach Loew feels his team is very fluid now, and his Spain counterpart, Del Bosque agrees. But Loew respects Spain and concedes that they have many star players, whom he compares with the likes of Argentina’s Messi. According to Loew, midfielders Xavi and Iniesta are the most dangerous Spaniards, but he thinks, Germany have the skills to deal with them.
Loew credits the great coordination in the Spain team to the fact that many of the players are from Barcelona and already combined well before coming into the national team. The German coach believes that his side have what it takes to beat Spain and advance to the final.
The German coach says that in 2008, no European team could compare with Spain, but the equation had since changed. But he conceded that his team would miss Muller, out through suspension. He had special praise for the backline under the watch of centre-backs Per Metersacker and Arne Friedrich, especially their organized showing in the Argentina match.