Wonder Goal Completes Good Foundations

Piotr Trochowski scored his first international goal to give Germany a deserved 1-0 win over Wales in this past week’s important WC 2010 qualifier. The goal broke through an otherwise compact Welsh defensive back-line consisting often at times of the entire Welsh team. Germany was frustrated to a number of long and ultimately wide attempts (and even more wasted and deflected chances) before the tournament-worthy winning goal brought a collective sigh of relief to the sold-out crowd at Möchengladbach. In fact the goal might just have given Germany the lead of UEFA Group 4 for good.

Indeed Germany ends the year with a good foundation for 2009 and the rest of the qualification campaign.

With the strong international debut of Rene Adler, Germany has a worthy No. 1 keeper for 2010. (Oliver Kahn thinks so.) In midfield Trochowski has finally lived up to his potential with a string of solid performances and has undoubtedly solidified his standing as a permanent fixture in the Nationalelf. Bastian Schweinsteiger is also continuing his motivated contributions demonstrated by his overall world-class interplay, an excellent assist against Russia, and his constant danger against Wales. Not to be outdone, Michael Ballack has returned from injury (and is injured again) to demonstrate his continued importance to the team. With the blood-letting in attack, Germany has come closer to resolving its striker problems. A strong showing from both Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose against Russia was complemented with promising signs from Mario Gomez and Patrick Helmes. In defense Per Mertesacker, who provided a crucial block against Wales, is closer to regaining his full form and Phillip Lahm is continuing to show his attacking prowess and defensive awareness down the flanks.

Of course some problems persist and must be corrected before Germany is ready for 2010, and realistically automatic qualification.

First, the headaches in defense continue. Lahm is prone to the odd and costly mistake, but in reality he is being overworked in defense. Without Marcell Jansen, Lahm must play every crucial Germany (and Bayern) match and this can not help his overall fitness. Lahm looked tired near the end against Wales and was beaten on the right-side of the pitch for a critical moment. Of course Lahm made a last-ditch effort whereas the actual right-back Clemens Fritz (out of position and also to blame) had done little to hinder the Welsh counter. Arne Friedrich did better than Fritz before being substituted but was at times also unable to close the defensive gap. Similarly Heiko Westermann (despite his improvement) needs more experience as his defensive positioning and decision making (notably against Russia) has been sub-standard.

With Keivn Kurányi’s shameful departure it seems the solution has been found to Germany’s attack rotation. The question remains though how consistent Klose and even Podolski can be. Helmes does look promising but wasted some clear opportunities against Wales. Gomez (now more of a threat) is on the other hand still missing the form he has at club level.

Finally, in midfield Germany needs a defensive midfielder who can control difficult situations when the attack is lethargic or the defense is vulnerable. So far this has been Lahm’s job. Simon Rolfes has not been given enough time to play and Torsten Frings due to injury (and perhaps now through sulking) has also been sitting on the bench. Thomas Hitzlsperger has not been criticized for his performances (limited to the occasional wide-non-goal and passing ball) but he is clearly not comfortable in his position. Whenever the tide turns against Germany, Hitzlsperger looks a tad helpless. Indeed when the odds are against Germany and open to a decisive counter-attack (remember that only loss in Dortmund), we need more than just another passer. We need a Dietmar Hamann of 2005 AC-Milan beating vintage. Indeed we are missing someone who can consistently marshal and anchor the inexperienced defense. For the moment Frings (like Ballack) can only come up older and more injury prone.

Luckily on all fronts there is hope primarily from the youth setup. We have contenders, alternatives, and replacements. Not to mention yet another world-class goalie in Manuel Neuer.

Fabio Capello has decided to field promising youngsters for the friendly in Berlin. Let’s hope Jogi Löw does the same.