Usually the first early season friendly fixture sees a German side packed with youngsters, but for what I think is the first time in his tenure as Nationaltrainer Joachim Löw has named a close to full-strength starting eleven – with
It’s difficult to believe how quickly the last few months have gone – maybe it has been the exceptionally decent weather. When I last looked at the match countdown there would be more than ninety days until Germany’s opening friendly
There’s no coverage here in the UK once again – ESPN are showing Scotland against Serbia – so it’s find the stream time again. I manage to find a pretty stable one from Al Jazeera, with commentary in English. Bonus.
Having suffered the ignominy of blowing a four-goal lead in Berlin against Sweden at the end of 2012, Joachim Löw’s German side would look to get the 2013 leg of their campaign off to a winning start against Kazakhstan in
Fritz Walter. Uwe Seeler. Gerd Müller. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Rudi Völler. Jürgen Klinsmann. Oliver Bierhoff. Miroslav Klose: over the years, Germany has always been blessed with a centre-forward that anyone can call world class. For as long as we all can
As had been the case in 2012, Germany would kick off their footballing year against France – the second in two pre-arranged friendly encounters between the two sides. In Bremen the French had gone away with a 2-1 win against
After a winter hiatus lasting the best part of three months, the Nationalmannschaft’s schedule for 2013 would finally get underway in Paris against France, an opponent against which a victory was long overdue. The French had spoiled Germany’s party in
This was billed as a prestige friendly to end the calendar year, and seen by some as the third chapter in a three-part series that had started with the Mannschaft’s 3-0 win in Hamburg a year previously. Given the almost
So, it’s the final piece of what has been a dramatic and ultimately disappointing year for the Nationalmannschaft – and the third act of a three-part show against the Netherlands that started just around this time last year in Hamburg.
Having handed out six of the best to the Republic of Ireland four days earlier, confidence in the German camp would be high ahead of a return home to Berlin and the game against Sweden.
There’s one burning question leading up to the World Cup qualifier in Berlin against Sweden: with skipper Philipp Lahm returning from his one-match suspension, is he going to return to the right or switch out to the left? Will Jérôme
After the semi-final failure at Euro 2012, a disappointing friendly home defeat to Argentina and two fairly insipid and uninspired performances in September in their opening two World Cup qualifying matches, Nationaltrainer Joachim Löw found himself under pressure for what