The FIFA World Cup is already underway *Screams of excitement* and all eyes of the World are on Russia who are hosting the World Cup for the first time. For close to one and a half month, 32 teams will fight for the crown and the usual suspects like France, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and England * cough* will be the prime contenders to take the cup home. There could be a fairytale run from the likes of Croatia, Colombia or Egypt but on paper, one doesn’t see these teams going through all the way.
Die Mannschaft just zoomed through their qualifying rounds as they secured their place in Russia in style. They didn’t break a sweat as they won all 10 of their qualifiers and conceded just 4 goals in the process and scored a whopping 43. That’s an average of over 4 goals per game!
They are the second team in history – after Spain in 2010, to win all the game in qualifiers. We all know what Spain went on to achieve in 2010.
Germany will be entering the tournaments as absolute favourites and many people think that they will go on to defend their title which they won for the fourth time in 2014 and there is every reason for their fans and supporters to be confident. Let’s first see the persons who made it to the World Cup with the current World Champions and will vie to bring the title to Deutschland once again.
Top Goalkeepers- Check
World Class Defenders- Check
Dynamic Midfielders- Check
Proven Goal Scoring Options- Check
Depth In Squad- Is that even a question?
Experienced Manager- Check
2018 World Cup- ???
Headline Makers: Leroy Sane and Mario Gotze
Probably the only team in the World Cup who can even remotely think of dropping the young PFA player of the year winner from the last season. The Manchester City winger, Leroy Sane, didn’t make the final cut but even then the team looks formidable and worthy of becoming Champions.
On the other hand, Mario Gotze played the most minutes for any forward, false 9 or otherwise, in qualifying. But now that Joachim Löw has someone like Timo Werner at his disposal, the Germans are likely to start with the RB Leipzig striker upfront. For backup, they have gone for the veteran Mario Gomez.
Formation and Predicted Lineup
Joachim Löw has preferred the formation of 4-2-3-1 in qualifiers and it is unlikely that he will tinker from the original plan. Here is how they will most likely lineup when they take on Mexico in their first game.
Defence
Yup… We have left Manuel Neuer out of our probable lineup as the Bayern Munich custodian has hardly had any game time before coming for the World Cup and when they have an able option like Ter Stegen available, they should make use of it. Probably the only team in the world where Neuer’s absence from the playing 11 can be somewhat justified. However, don’t be surprised if Löw goes on to start with Neuer in between the sticks. That will also mean that he will take the captain’s armband from Thomas Muller.
At the back, we will have two solid ball playing defenders in Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng. Joshua Kimmich and Jonas Hector are nailed on starters in the fullback role.
Midfield
This is where some tough decisions have to be made by Löw but one feels that the likes of Ilkay Gundogan and Leon Goretzka will miss out and the experienced duo of Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira will take their place in the middle of the park.
Attack
Further up front, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil are likely starters with Draxler and Reus fighting for the left winger’s position. Reus should certainly start as he has slowly gone on to prove his fitness and his form in the latter half of the season was tremendous as he scored seven goals in the final 10 games for Borussia Dortmund.
Timo Werner has got seven goals in 13 full international appearances and looks like the youngster will get the chance to shine on the big stage and he is likely to lead the line for his side.
Key Players
If one looks at the team, there is no standout superstar like Messi or Ronaldo or Neymar but that is where the strength lies with Germany. They are not dependent on two or three players to provide a moment of inspiration. However, to pick one we will go with the 22-year-old exciting young striker Timo Werner as the man to watch out for. The Germans had huge boots to fill after the retirement of World Cup record goalscorer Miroslav Klose and Löw initially struggled to find a settled first choice striker. In qualifiers he used Götze, Sandro Wagner and Lars Stindl and all three have missed the plane to Russia.
Werner had a prolific season as he scored 21 goals and even provided a whopping 10 assists in all competitions in the 2017-18 campaign for RB Leipzig and went on to show that his link-up play is as good as his goal-scoring abilities.
Prediction
The squad which they have and the previous record these current set of players have had in big tournaments, it is pretty much certain that the Germans will go deep in the tournament. They will have good competition in their groups from the likes of Mexico and Sweden but they should breeze past them given the quality they have. The other team in the group being South Korea. If things go as expected, they are likely to face Spain in the semi-finals which could be their version of the battle of Stalingrad. If they conquer them, they will be confident of lifting the World Cup.
Let’s see whether Löw and company will conquer the Cup in Russia or falter like they did in World War 2.
Our Prediction- Runners Up (Just Because we don’t want them to win it again!)
