2011: The Year of the Wunderkinder

January 24th, 2011 | by: Anne | Comments Off

Many apologies for the extended absence – I just went through the toughest month of my graduate career to date. But I survived intact and have returned to pick up where I left off!

We kick off 2011 with quite an exciting list of fixtures, presented in suitably dramatic form (complete with Flaming Font!) in the video above from the DFB. The schedule for the next couple of months looks like this:

February 9th: Germany vs Italy (Friendly) – Dortmund, Germany – 8:45 PM CET

March 26th: Germany vs Kazakhstan (EURO Qualifier) – Kaiserslautern, Germany – 8 PM CET

March 29th: Germany vs Australia (Friendly) – Mönchengladbach, Germany – 8:45 PM CET

If you’re so lucky as to be in any of those locations on those dates, information for purchasing tickets is also in the video.

Germany vs Italy is of course a classic fixture, although a little of the wind is taken out of it by Italy’s… ahem, lackluster performance in South Africa. That said, it would seem they have something to prove at the moment, so perhaps we’ll have a relatively exciting “friendly” on our hands. On Germany’s side of the ball, we may perhaps get a first taste of what Jogi’s starting to envision for his EURO 2012 squad.

The U-21s have a parallel schedule with some equally juicy fixtures:

February 9th: Greece vs Germany (Friendly) – Athens, Greece – 6 PM CET/12 PM EST

March 25th: Netherlands vs Germany (Friendly) – Location and time TBA

March 29th: Germany vs Italy (Friendly) – Kassel, Germany – 6 PM CET/12 PM EST

Though the U-21s have nothing important to prepare for at the moment, the relentless theme of youth! in German football means the squad is more important than ever, and yours truly will be keeping a keen eye on these friendlies.

Jogi’s been busy getting prepared for the senior fixtures – let’s see what he’s been up to.

Last week, Jogi met with several of the Bundesliga coaches to have an open dialogue about cooperation between the national team and the league. Eleven of the 18 trainers were present (not including Bayern’s Louis van Gaal). Jogi promised to keep in mind the interests of the clubs in the post-World Cup year, and it was mentioned specifically that Lahm and Schweinsteiger have had grueling international calendars. Perhaps one or both will be left to van Gaal for the Italy game. There was also mention of the period between the end of the Bundesliga season (May 14th) and two EURO qualifiers on June 3rd and June 7th against Austria and Azerbaijan, respectively. It seems likely that Germany will be in quite a comfortable position in their group by that stage, but they remain important games so Jogi faces the challenge of keeping his squad fit for those two weeks. An additional wrench in the works is the DFB Pokal final (May 21st) and the Champions League final (May 28th) which could potentially both involve key Nationalelf players (fingers crossed!), who would then be unavailable to train with their teammates.

At this meeting, Jogi made a comment that I feel captures a lot of what we’re seeing in German football at the moment: “It’s the quality of the player, not his age.” That attitude, which stands in contrast to, for example, England, who left 18-year-old wunderkind Jack Wilshere behind for WC2010 because he was “too inexperienced,” allows talents like Müller and Özil to step into the limelight when their talents are ready, not when some artificial age limit is reached. Of course injuries to others pushed them forward somewhat prematurely, but Jogi trusted the talent he saw and didn’t fall back on older, perhaps more experienced but less capable options. It also opens the door for players like Mario Götze, currently busy dazzling in the Bundesliga at a very tender age indeed. This is one of the things I find most attractive about German football, and I look forward to the philosophy paying dividends for years to come.

While this year may not have any major tournaments in store, it is nevertheless key, and the future lies in Jogi’s hands. Germany finished 2010 third in FIFA’s world rankings, and this is largely down to the beautiful performance delivered by the Nationalmannschaft in South Africa. Now the football world is abuzz – Germany is the next big thing. With a flourishing youth program, an unpredictable and exciting domestic league, and a team already overflowing with talent with more waiting in the wings, all of the ingredients are there to finally bring home a long-awaited major trophy. EURO 2012 is the first target, and it is certainly achievable, but the development work this year will be crucial. Jogi has an embarrassment of riches in several positions – attacking midfield and center back, most notably. The question is: what is the best eleven? Which combination will gel into an even more fluid, exciting attacking machine? I have faith that Jogi will find the answer, but it will take careful work over the course of 2011. In this year, a handful of stalwarts will remain constant, but the rest is up in the air. Which of Germany’s many wunderkinder will prove themselves indispensible? I, for one, can’t wait to find out.