Soccer World Cup 2010 / Germany

This article covers the German national soccer team at the 2010 soccer world championship .

qualification

The team qualified for the World Cup in South Africa through the qualifying matches of the European football association UEFA .

Games

In the first round, Germany met Russia , Finland , Wales , Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein in Group 4 . In the ten encounters that resulted, Germany won eight and two draws, qualifying as group winners for the World Cup finals. The biggest win in the group stage was a 6-0 away win over Liechtenstein in the first game. The Germans achieved both draws against Finland (3: 3 and 1: 1).

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers
09/06/2008	Vaduz	Liechtenstein	-	Germany	0: 6 (0: 1)	Podolski (21st, 48th), Rolfes (64th), Schweinsteiger (65th), Hitzlsperger (75th), Westermann (86th)
09/10/2008	Helsinki	Finland	-	Germany	3: 3 (2: 2)	Johansson (33.), Klose (38.), Väyrynen (43.), Klose (45.), Sjölund (53.), Klose (83.)
10/11/2008	Dortmund	Germany	-	Russia	2: 1 (2: 0)	Podolski (9th), Ballack (28th), Arshavin (51st)
10/15/2008	M'gladbach	Germany	-	Wales	1: 0 (0: 0)	Trochowski (72nd)
03/28/2009	Leipzig	Germany	-	Liechtenstein	4: 0 (2: 0)	Ballack (4th), Jansen (9th), Schweinsteiger (48th), Podolski (50th)
04/01/2009	Cardiff	Wales	-	Germany	0: 2 (0: 1)	Ballack (11th), Williams (48th, own goal)
08/12/2009	Baku	Azerbaijan	-	Germany	0: 2 (0: 1)	Schweinsteiger (11th), Klose (53rd)
09/09/2009	Hanover	Germany	-	Azerbaijan	4: 0 (1: 0)	Ballack (14th, FE ), Klose (55th, 65th), Podolski (71th)
10/10/2009	Moscow	Russia	-	Germany	0: 1 (0: 1)	Klose (35.)
October 14, 2009	Hamburg	Germany	-	Finland	1: 1 (0: 1)	Johansson (11th), Podolski (90th)

Final table of the qualifying round

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	10	8th	2	0	026: 500	+21	26th
2.	Russia	10	7th	1	2	019: 600	+13	22nd
3.	Finland	10	5	3	2	014:140	± 0	18th
4th	Wales	10	4th	0	6th	009:120	−3	12
5.	Azerbaijan	10	1	2	7th	004:140	−10	05
6th	Liechtenstein	10	0	2	8th	002:230	−21	02

Contingent

A provisional contingent was announced on May 6th in Stuttgart in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The FIFA the national coach was up to 30 players called up to the May 11 From this squad he then had to select the 23 World Cup players by June 1st. The final roster was announced by FIFA on June 4th.

The team from 2010 showed a different face in terms of personnel. Many of the last World Cup players were either out of shape, injured or had reached the end of their national team careers. In the goalkeeping position, after the death of Robert Enke , national coach Löw initially opted for René Adler from Leverkusen as No. 1, who was not available due to a rib injury. In the run-up to the World Cup, a return of Kevin Kurányi was discussed in particular . Löw had previously excluded the striker from the team. On May 3, the national coach announced that Kurányi would definitely not be at the World Cup. Torsten Frings was no longer considered for the national team for reasons of age. Problems arose on the position in the defensive midfield, as Simon Rolfes was out due to an injury and Thomas Hitzlsperger was not even nominated due to his poor form. In addition, team captain Michael Ballack (after an ankle injury in the English Cup final), Christian Träsch (after an ankle injury in an unofficial DFB friendly match against FC Südtirol ) and Heiko Westermann (after a scaphoid fracture in his left foot in a preparatory game against Hungary ) had to take part in their tournament cancel. On June 1, 2010 it was finally announced that Andreas Beck was removed from the provisional World Cup squad in order to reach the maximum contingent of 23 players.

The 2010 German World Cup squad was the first since 1978 to consist exclusively of Bundesliga professionals. After the World Cup, Jérôme Boateng ( Manchester City ), Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil (both Real Madrid ) moved abroad. While Boateng's change was already clear before the World Cup, the changes from Khedira and Özil came about after the World Cup.

No.	player	society	International matches *	Länderspiel- gates *	Date of birth	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Manuel Neuer	FC Schalke 04	5	0	27 Mar 1986	6th	0	0	0	0
12	Tim Wiese	Werder Bremen	2	0	Dec 17, 1981	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Hans Jörg Butt	FC Bayern Munich	3	0	May 28, 1974	1	0	0	0	0
Defense
2	Marcell Jansen	Hamburger SV	31	2	0Nov 4, 1985	4th	1	0	0	0
3	Arne Friedrich	Hertha BSC	72	0	May 29, 1979	7th	1	1	0	0
4th	Dennis Aogo	Hamburger SV	2	0	Jan. 14, 1987	1	0	0	0	0
5	Serdar Tasci	VfB Stuttgart	12	0	Apr. 24, 1987	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Holger Badstuber	FC Bayern Munich	2	0	13 Mar 1989	2	0	0	0	0
16	Philipp Lahm	FC Bayern Munich	65	4th	Nov 11, 1983	6th	0	1	0	0
17th	Per Mertesacker	Werder Bremen	62	1	29 Sep 1984	7th	0	0	0	0
20th	Jerome Boateng	Hamburger SV	5	0	03rd Sep 1988	5	0	0	0	0
midfield
6th	Sami Khedira	VfB Stuttgart	5	0	0Apr 4, 1987	7th	1	1	0	0
7th	Bastian Schweinsteiger	FC Bayern Munich	74	21st	0Aug 1, 1984	7th	0	1	0	0
8th	Mesut Özil	Werder Bremen	10	1	Oct 15, 1988	7th	1	1	0	0
15th	Piotr Trochowski	Hamburger SV	31	2	22 Mar 1984	4th	0	0	0	0
18th	Toni Kroos	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	4th	0	0Jan. 4, 1990	4th	0	0	0	0
21st	Marko Marin	Werder Bremen	9	1	13 Mar 1989	2	0	0	0	0
attack
9	Stefan Kießling	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	4th	0	Jan 25, 1984	2	0	0	0	0
10	Lukas Podolski	1. FC Cologne	73	38	0June 4th 1985	6th	2	0	0	0
11	Miroslav Klose	FC Bayern Munich	96	48	0June 9, 1978	5	4th	0	1	0
13	Thomas Müller	FC Bayern Munich	2	0	13 Sep 1989	6th	5	2	0	0
19th	Cacau	VfB Stuttgart	8th	3	27 Mar 1981	4th	1	1	0	0
23	Mario Gomez	FC Bayern Munich	34	12	July 10, 1985	4th	0	0	0	0

(*) only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given.

Crew quarters

During the World Cup, the German team moved into their base camp at the Velmore Grande Hotel in Erasmia . The hotel was between Pretoria and Johannesburg .

Finals

Durban (VR + HF) Port Elizabeth (VR + S3) Johannesburg (VR) Bloemfontein (AF) Cape Town (VF) Erasmia

Venues (blue) and district (red)

Preliminary round

In the preliminary round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the German national football team met in Group D in Australia , Serbia and Ghana .

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	2	0	1	005: 100	+4	06th
2.	Ghana	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
3.	Australia	3	1	1	1	003: 600	−3	04th
4th	Serbia	3	1	0	2	002: 300	−1	03

Sun., June 13, 2010, 8:30 p.m. in Durban
Germany	-	Australia	4: 0 (2: 0)
Friday, June 18, 2010, 1:30 p.m. in Port Elizabeth
Germany	-	Serbia	0: 1 (0: 1)
Wed., June 23, 2010, 8:30 p.m. in Johannesburg (Soccer City)
Ghana	-	Germany	0: 1 (0: 0)

Against Serbia there was a reunion for Germany with faces known from the Bundesliga. For the Serbian squad Neven Subotić ( Borussia Dortmund ), Zdravko Kuzmanović ( VfB Stuttgart ), Zoran Tošić ( 1. FC Köln ), Gojko Kačar ( Hertha BSC ), Antonio Rukavina ( TSV 1860 Munich ) and the former Hertha striker Marko Pantelić nominated. Serbia took part in a World Cup for the first time; the former Yugoslavia is Germany's most common World Cup opponent. In six games there were four wins for Germany, one draw and one defeat with a goal difference of 11: 4. Germany played against Serbia only once. During the preparation for the EM 2008 there was a 2: 1 in Gelsenkirchen .

Dario Vidosic ( 1. FC Nürnberg ) played in Germany among the players from Australia's provisional squad . Even Michael Beauchamp was able to gain experience in the Bundesliga, he played 2006-2008 at 1. FC Nuremberg. Joshua Kennedy , who played for various German clubs from 2000 to 2009 , was also able to do this . In 1974 Germany and Australia met in the preliminary round of the World Cup. At that time, Germany won 3-0. In addition, there was a 4: 3 in the preliminary round at the Confederation Cup in 2005 .

During the game against Ghana, there was a duel between two half-brothers for the first time in World Cup history: Jérôme Boateng , who plays for Germany, and Kevin-Prince Boateng , who was nominated for Ghana, but previously several German U-national teams up to the U21 had gone through. The Ghanaian Kevin-Prince Boateng was previously noticed at the English Cup final between Chelsea and Portsmouth by a foul on German national team captain Michael Ballack. Ballack was injured so badly by the foul that he was out for the entire World Cup.

Other Bundesliga players in Ghana were Hans Sarpei ( Bayer 04 Leverkusen ) and Isaac Vorsah and Prince Tagoe ( TSG 1899 Hoffenheim ). The previously only game between Germany and Ghana took place in Bochum in 1993 and ended 6-1 after 0-1 at halftime.

The German team made a convincing start to the tournament against Australia. The Australians were outnumbered early on because of a failed tackle on the part of the Australian record goal scorer Tim Cahill against Bastian Schweinsteiger , who would be punished with red. Thanks to a good offensive performance, they achieved a 4-0 victory. An early expulsion for goal scorer Miroslav Klose and many unused chances, including a missed penalty, threw the Germans back in the second game. There was also a serious defensive mistake, so that Serbia lost 1-0. In a nervous play-off against Ghana with chances on both sides, the group favorite was finally able to qualify as first in the table for the rest of the tournament thanks to a targeted shot from Mesut Özil 1-0. Özil's goal was then voted the third most beautiful goal of the World Cup.

Final round

Round of 16

Sun., June 27, 2010, 4:00 p.m. in Bloemfontein
Germany	-	England	4: 1 (2: 1)

prehistory

In the round of 16 there was a classic against England. At world championships, the balance was previously balanced. In four games there was one win (3: 2 a.s. in the 1970 quarter-finals ), one defeat ( 2: 4 a.s. in the 1966 final ) and two draws (0: 0 in the second round in 1982 and 1: 1 n.V. in semi-finals 1990). In 1990 Germany won the game 4-3 on penalties. The previous game between the two teams on November 19, 2008 ended with 1: 2. Alongside Italy, Germany and England were the only teams at the World Cup with only players from the domestic league in their squad.

Four of the German players used were also in the team in 2009 that had won the final of the U-21 European Championship 4-0 against England. On the side of the English, there was also a current player in the game with James Milner .

Course of the game

During the round of 16, the early attacking and quickly combining German team was able to take the lead through Klose, who after a long tee shot by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer prevailed against his opponent and got the ball just before goalkeeper James. The 2-0 win by Podolski was preceded by a series of quick passes, in which Klose Müller and Müller served Podolski. Podolski was able to fire a strong shot with his left foot against the inside post from an acute angle. After a corner kick in the 37th minute, central defender Matthew Upson headed the surprising goal for England and scored his second international goal. In the period that followed, up to the half-time break, the German team, which had been safe until then, showed significant concentration problems. The German team was lucky when the ball crossed the goal line in full diameter after a crossbar shot by Frank Lampard, but the referee and assistant did not score, which brought back memories of the Wembley goal . In the second half, England increased the pressure, but Germany played safe combined football again and began to counter England. Müller scored two goals after counterattacking in the 67th and 70th minute and thus led the scorer list of this World Cup. After that, both teams made largely no more efforts to improve the result in their favor. National coach Löw changed Gómez and Trochowski as well as Kießling, who came to his first World Cup appearance.

Quarter finals

Sat., July 3, 2010, 4 p.m. in Cape Town
Argentina	-	Germany	0: 4 (0: 1)

prehistory

As in 2006, the quarter-finals met Argentina, where Germany won on penalties. Both met for the first time in 1958 at a World Cup. Germany won in the preliminary round as the reigning world champion 3-1 against the reigning South American champions. The second game between the two was also a World Cup preliminary round, in 1966 the two separated 0-0. 1986 and 1990 both faced each other in the finals and each team could win once. The final victory in 1990 was also Germany's last victory against Argentina to date. Argentina won the last meeting before the World Cup on March 3, 2010 1-0.

Course of the game

While Germany had to make up a deficit in 2006 after losing 1-0 in the 49th minute, this time the German team took the 1-0 lead in the 3rd minute thanks to Thomas Müller's fourth goal . Then the German team came up with further chances, but could not use any. When Argentina increased the pressure in the second half, the German team scored two more goals in quick succession to the decisive 3-0 lead (2-0 by Miroslav Klose, 68th), with Arne Friedrich scoring his only international goal in the 74th minute . In the final minutes Miroslav Klose scored his second goal in this game, which made him equal with Gerd Müller in the all-time World Cup ranking with 14 goals. The 4-0 win was the highest German win against Argentina to date and the third at a world championship. While the World Cup balance remained positive for the German team, the overall balance against Argentina remained negative with six wins, five draws and eight defeats.

Semifinals

Wed 7 July 2010, 8:30 p.m. in Durban
Germany	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 0)

prehistory

Spain were the first opponents in the knockout round against whom Germany had an overall positive record. In 20 games, there were eight wins and six draws and six defeats. Even at World Cup tournaments, the balance before the game was positive (two wins, one draw). On the other hand, the record at the European Championship finals is negative (one win, two defeats) and the lost European Championship final in 2008 was also the last encounter between the two teams before the semi-finals. For the first time since 1962, those teams met at a World Cup that had already faced each other in the final of the previous European Championship. Also in 1966 , at the first meeting of the two teams at a World Cup, which Germany won 2-1, the Spaniards came as European champions . Both teams had lost a game in the preliminary round, but then won all games.

Course of the game

The German team started nervously and, due to the outstanding combination game of the Spanish team, hardly got possession of the ball and when they did, the balls were passed too imprecisely, so that the Spaniards were able to continue their passing game. In particular , they did not have the new Pedro on the team. Except for a chance through a pass into the free space to David Villa , which Manuel Neuer was able to defuse by running out in time, Spain also had no great scoring chances. In the second half, the German team played a little more courageously, but only had a great chance of scoring with substitute Toni Kroos , who failed because of Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas . Three minutes later, the Spaniards scored 1-0. Defender Carles Puyol headed a corner. Then the German team tried desperately to equalize, but repeatedly had problems to recapture the ball. In the end, as in the European Championship final, the German team had to acknowledge the superiority of the Spaniards.

3rd place match

Sat, July 10, 2010, 8:30 p.m. in Port Elizabeth
Uruguay	-	Germany	2: 3 (1: 1)

prehistory

As in 1970, Uruguay and Germany met again in the “small final” . Both had previously faced each other three times at World Cup games: Germany had two wins and one draw. The overall balance was also positive with six wins, two draws and one defeat. The only defeat comes from the first encounter at the Olympic Games in 1928 . Germany lost 4-1 in the quarter-finals to the eventual Olympic champion and lost Richard Hofmann and Hans Kalb by being sent off, with Kalb being the first German to be sent off in an international match. Since the Uruguayan José Nasazzi did not see the end of the game on the pitch, it is the game with the most dismissals in German football history. The 1966 World Cup quarter-finals did not go off without being sent off. There it met the two Uruguayans Héctor Silva and Horacio Troche , who then ended up in the German leagues for a few years. The last game between the two teams on October 13, 1993, in which Lothar Matthäus set Franz Beckenbauer's record with 103 international matches, went 5-0 to the German team.

Germany had to do without three regular players in the game: Lahm and Podolski were absent due to a flu infection, which also affected coach Löw, and Klose had to do without due to back problems. He missed the chance to catch up with the Brazilian record holder Ronaldo with a possible 15th goal at a World Cup . Dennis Aogo was on the grid for the first time. A substitute goalkeeper should also get a chance to play, but number 2, Tim Wiese , had to pass due to a knee injury. So was with Hans Joerg Butt the oldest player of the team in goal and made his first World Cup match ever at the same time his last international.

Course of the game

In a varied game, in which both teams played largely with “open sights”, Germany took the lead in the 19th minute through Thomas Müller . After the Uruguayan goalkeeper ricocheted off a long-range shot from Schweinsteiger , Müller switched the fastest. It was Müller's fifth tournament goal and because he also made three assists during the tournament, he was awarded the “Golden Shoe” after the tournament as top scorer and assists at the World Cup. As a result, Germany had the game under control, but when Schweinsteiger messed up the ball in midfield in the 28th minute, the Uruguayans switched quickly and scored the equalizer. In the 51st minute, Diego Forlán also took the 2-1 lead with the “most beautiful goal of the World Cup” and thus also scored his fifth goal in the tournament. Five minutes later, however, Marcell Jansen headed a 2-2 equalizer, before Sami Khedira secured victory with his first tournament goal in the closing stages and thus the bronze medal. Even a last-minute hit by Forlán couldn't change that.

Conclusion

In the games against Australia, England, Argentina and Uruguay in particular, the German team showed courageous attacking football by dominating the opponent and successfully trying to finish the goal with quick and surprising combinations. With 16 goals it was the most successful team at the World Cup in this respect and the German team's style of play was unanimously praised by the foreign press. In the game against Spain, however, she was also shown the limits, so that it was again not enough to reach the final. On the day after the game for third place, Federal President Christian Wulff announced that he would award national coach Löw the Federal Cross of Merit and the players the Silver Laurel Leaf . Thomas Müller was voted “Best Young Player” of the tournament by the Technical Study Group (TSG) of FIFA. He replaced Lukas Podolski , who had received this award four years earlier. As the top scorer he also received the “Golden Shoe”, which Miroslav Klose had won four years earlier . Mesut Özil and Bastian Schweinsteiger were also nominated for the choice of the best player in the World Cup, while Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were voted into the team of the tournament . In addition, the German selection was voted the most entertaining team of the tournament in an online vote by FIFA and, as announced in the regulations, should receive an official award. However, FIFA withdrew this announcement.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ tz.de: This is Jogi Löw's provisional World Cup squad (May 6, 2010)
2. ↑ kicker.de: World Cup for Adler! OP on Monday (May 4, 2010)
3. ↑ kicker.de: Without Kevin Kuranyi to the World Cup (May 3, 2010)
4. ↑ kicker.de: Simon Rolfes cancels (May 4, 2010)
5. ↑ kicker.de: World Cup out for Ballack (May 17, 2010)
6. ↑ dfb.de: Flick: "Träsch is not available at World Cup" (May 25, 2010)
7. ↑ kicker.de: Westermann is also out (May 30, 2010)
8. ^ Jerome Boateng agrees to a five-year deal
9. ↑ kicker.de: Boateng goes to the World Cup (May 30, 2010)
10. ↑ FIFA.com: Goal of the Tournament ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Kicker.de: Game analysis Germany - England
12. ↑ Wins after penalties do not count as wins statistically
13. ↑ dfb.de: Match record against Argentina
14. ↑ Kicker.de: Report on the quarter-final game against Argentina
15. ↑ DFB.de: Match record against Spain
16. ↑ Kicker.de: Puyol ends the German dream of the fourth star
17. ↑ Spain a number too big for Germany  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
18. ↑ DFB.de: duels against Uruguay: slap, Overath, Olympia
19. ↑ FIFA.com: FIFA World Cup 2010 ™ - The ten best goals
20. ↑ Kicker.de: 3: 2! Third place for the Löw-Elf
21. ↑ Kicker.de: High distinction for Löw
22. ↑ FIFA.com: Hyundai Best Young Player
23. ↑ http://de.fifa.com/worldcup/awards/goldenboot/index.html
24. ^ Contender for the adidas Golden Ball known

Web links

• All games of the preliminary round at a glance