Recap: A trip to the Euro’s

Looking back on Germany’s road to the Euro’s, they made it through without much difficulty. Throughout the qualification process, Germany racked up an impressive record. Although they took a loss at home, they battled through the qualification, never losing away. The defeat at home came courtesy of the Czech Republic and it was their only defeat of the tournament. And a defeat that came after Germany had already qualified. They ended up with four away wins, two draws and scored 21 goals while only conceding three. One of the more impressive wins was probably the 2-1 win over Prague. They finished the campaign in second place, comfortably ahead of the Republic of Ireland who trailed by 10 points.

In Group D, the Czech Republic was considered the hardest adversary. Ireland, Slovakia and Wales were the underdogs and some thought they might unsettle the Germans or even the Czechs. None of the smaller countries were able to give Germany a run for their money so they progressed quite easily.

The team probably had a lot of energy and passion still going considering two months previous to the qualifiers, Jurgen Klinsmann had taken the team all the way to the semi finals of the World Cup. After his departure, Jogi Loew took over and we saw several changes fall upon the team that everyone had come to love. Throughout the tournament more changes took place, but one thing was clear, Loew was going to continue on the path that Klinsmann had set in motion. Some of the changes were the announcement of Oliver Kahn retiring from International play and the arrival of Mario Gomez and Manuel Friedrich.

The first game of the Euro qualifiers for Germany was a home game against the Republic of Ireland. Lukas Podolski scored the first of his eight goal streak during the tournament to see Germany win the match 1-0. The possession time was pretty equal, but Germany were the stronger team that day.

The next match was an overwhelming victory when Germany took on San Marino in a 13-0 clinical. Lukas Podolski scored four, Miroslav Klose scored two along with Thomas Hitzelsperger and Michael Ballack. Bastian Schweinsteiger, newly appointed Manuel Friedrich and Bernd Schneider all scored one each. The game against San Marino was a declaration that the new coach and his new changes were in the mood for certain victory.

In Slovakia, Germany picked up another victory. 13 minutes into the match, Lukas Podolski hit another goal for the tournament accompanied by Miachael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Stanislav Varga got one back Slovakia, but once again, Podolski made it a point to find the net again, giving Germany a 4-1 victory.

Their first draw came against Cyprus and it looked to be a loss in momentum, but Germany wasn’t going to let this get them down. Ballack scored early giving Germany a 1-0 lead, but Okkas came through and scored the equalizer. Both teams pushed forward and continued on, but neither were able to score another goal ending the match at 1-1.

And then it was time. Germany vs Czech Republic. At this point in the tournament, both teams had 10 points with three wins and a draw each. Milan Baros scored for the Czech Republic and things seemed to become a little tense. Germany pushed through to win the match 2-1 with both points coming from Kevin Kuranyi.

Another match against San Marino with six goals and another win (2-1) over Slovakia put With a three point lead at the top of the group, Germany pressed home their advantage with six more goals against San Marino and a 2-1 win against Slovakia to finish five points clear of the Czechs.

The next match picked up in the 2007/2008 season and Germany again picked up 2-0 win against Wales. Both goals came from Miroslav Klose. At this point, Germany only needed to pick up a point to gain entry into the 2008 Euro’s which they earned with a draw against the Irish.

Once the qualification was sealed up, Germany slowed a little which allowed the Czech Republic to hand them their first defeat at home. Germany took a 3-0 loss which also put an end to their Euro qualifying unbeaten streak. The streak spanned 24 matches and nine years. After their loss at home, Germany ended he qualification with a 4-0 win against Cyprus and a 0-0 draw against Wales. They finished in second place with 27 points.

Though Germany came through the Euro qualifiers fairly easily, one has to wonder, now that the squad has been named, will they be able to make an impressive run going into the games. It appears that Jogi Loew has something worked out in his head for the team and we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Stay tuned for the final team squad announcement after three players get dropped and the squad is narrowed to 23 men. The final list has to be presented to UEFA on May 28th.