Battered, bloodied and bruised but far from broken, Bastian Schweinsteiger had gone through the entire gamut of emotions in Rio de Janiero on 13th July, 2014. As he emerged from the final battle with the Nationalmannschaft securing the coveted golden
The victorious German team are back home or on holiday, the World Cup trophy is safely in the locker for another four years, and it’s now time for what will be one of most memorable tournament post-mortems. The recent retirement
When the World Cup began more than a month ago, the thought of Germany being in the final would be little more than a dream. Placed in the toughest half of the draw with a possible quarter-final against France and
It’s a warm and bright late afternoon in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the day has arrived. After over a month of competition, the two best teams are here compete for football’s biggest and most famous prize: the
Germany’s World Cup goes on, but their second phase encounter with Algeria would produce yet another dramatic chapter in what has so far been an incredible tournament – arguably the best for a long time, possibly since Mexico 1986. Expected
I had promised to just watch every match as it comes and not get too involved in the ongoing discussions regarding the selection choices and tactical decisions being made by Nationaltrainer Jogi Löw, but as the tournament enters the knockout
Having been brought back down to earth by Ghana in their second match, Joachim Löw’s side would knuckle down and turn out a highly professional performance in their final group game against the United States in Recife. With the Americans
It is a very wet afternoon on Brazil’s north-eastern coast, with the city of Recife being hit by a massive rainstorm that has brought widespread flooding to the area. Reports and images coming in before the match have shown flooded
Franz Beckenbauer. Lothar Matthäus. Jürgen Klinsmann. Jürgen Kohler. Thomas Häßler. Miroslav Klose. Lukas Podolski. Philipp Lahm. Bastian Schweinsteiger. A mix of legends and, potentially, legends-in-waiting. Nine names to have graced the Nationalmannschaft. But can you guess who comes next in
In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, the mood in Germany and among supporters of the Nationalmannschaft would be laced with the usual dose of pre-tournament pessimism. In recent campaigns there would be always be at least one
So finally, the show begins with the opening match against Portugal. It’s a bright afternoon in Salvador, the port city in north-east of Brazil and capital of the Bahia region. It is the second game to be played at the
Finally, after all the pre-tournament hype, we have seen some football. The opening game would see the hosts Brazil record a 3-1 win over Croatia, but the score would not really reflect what had happened over the ninety minutes. Two