The Germany midfielder Sami Khedira believes the national side are benefiting from greater maturity in terms of tactics and approach than four years ago in South Africa, with their new-found pragmatism offering them their best chance of claiming a major trophy for the first time since Euro 96.
Khedira was a member of Joachim Löw’s side that was beaten by Spain in the semi-finals at the last World Cup, the Real Madrid player going on to score the goal that defeated Uruguay in the third-place play-off. The Germans have reached the last four of the past two World Cups and European Championships, losing the final of Euro 2008 to Spain, suggesting they have become the nearly men of the international game.
While their football has lacked the same expansive approach as in South Africa, there is confidence that the team can eliminate the hosts, Brazil, in Belo Horizonte in Tuesday’s semi-final and go on to claim a fourth World Cup on Sunday. “I think our football has become more shrewd, more mature,” said Khedira when asked about the tweaks to the team’s style of play over the last four years. “If we were playing the same ‘power’ football as in 2010 over here, we would probably already be eliminated because we would be out on our feet.
“Look at the France game in the quarter-final, for example. We went ahead from a good set piece and then had the right gameplan to ensure we progressed. We defended really well and didn’t give the French many chances to come back into the game. When we lost the ball the whole team worked and fought to get it back. Of course, we’d like to play beautiful football still but, in a game like that one against the French when it was also brutally hot, you have to be compact and work hard. We did that very well.
“We will see if it’s our year or not. Brazil will be united by the loss of Neymar to injury but they are still a great team. We lost Marco Reus before the World Cup, so we’ve also had to cope without a key player over here. But we will give everything. We are into the semi-finals of a major tournament for the fifth time in a row, and that’s a great achievement. But that’s not enough for us. Sensing the spirit here, I know we can do it. We are here to be world champions. We are now so close, and we really want that title. We’re desperate to claim it.”
Those sentiments were echoed by the Mats Hummels, whose flicked header had defeated the French at the Maracanã in the last eight. The Borussia Dortmund centre-half should be paired again with Jérôme Boateng of Bayern Munich at the heart of the German defence, with Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker remaining on the bench. “Now the expectation is that we will go out there and beat the host nation,” said Hummels. “That has to be one of the toughest challenges in world football. But we have done so well in each of the last five tournaments, and now we want to take the next step. We are ready.”
Germany (4-3-3; probable): Neuer; Lahm, Boateng, Hummels, Höwedes; Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Kroos; Müller, Klose, Özil.
