Sports Weekly all-media reporter Huang Sijun
The 2022 Qatar World Cup group draw ceremony was held in the early hours of this morning at the Doha Convention and Exhibition Centre, and The German national team record holder Matteus drew his country into the seeded team in Spain's Group E, with Three Gears against Japan in the third gear and Costa Rica or New Zealand in the fourth gear. Although Spain seems to have replaced Italy as Germany's number one nemesis in international competitions in the last 10 years, it is not a bad thing to be in the same group. After experiencing the "major accident" of the bottom of the previous group, the "4-star Germany" with the goal of winning the championship should be careful to deal with each opponent, and should not feel excessive pressure and even fear about the basic task of qualifying from the group. As coach Flick said: "The task is not so easy, but we have a lot of plans for this tournament. ”
It's good not to draw an African team
With the latest edition of the world rankings only 12th, germany could only finish second in the draw. Mateus, the draw guest in charge of drawing the second bracket team, "lived up to expectations" and drew Flick's team into Spain's Group E. With Mateus's eerie smile, the audience was full of discussion. At this time, the expression on Flick's face was somewhat intriguing, and he did not show unpleasantness, but seemed to have a little uneasiness.
Mateus drew Germany into Spain's Group E.
Subsequently, with the winners between Japan and Costa Rica and New Zealand in succession, Group E did not appear to be the so-called "death group", at least not to draw African teams (especially African champions Senegal), which is a good thing for both Germany and Spain. Former Germany international Harman was thankful that he didn't draw an African team (Cameroon or Ghana) in the last slot, "We drew New Zealand or Costa Rica, and I think it's a good treatment." ”
In the just-concluded international match week, the German team originally planned to play against South Africa or Côte d'Ivoire to simulate the African opponents that may be encountered in the World Cup, but in the end, due to epidemic prevention considerations, they only found Israel and the Netherlands on the same continent to warm up. Nowadays, there are no African teams in the group (and the probability of touching African teams in the knockout rounds is relatively low), making this small flaw in preparation negligible.
In the process of winning the 2014 World Cup, Germany faced two African teams in a bitter battle, the second round of the group stage against Ghana to rely on Klose to come off the bench to equalize 2-2, 1/8 final is to rely on Neuer's god-level play, playing overtime to avoid being knocked out by Algeria. In the 2010 World Cup, Germany only narrowly defeated Ghana in the final round of the group stage. In short, today's "technical flow Germany" will often play harder against African opponents who are not weaker (or even stronger) in physical fitness and physical fitness and often do not play by the routine.
Germany fell into E3 and opened the game against Japan.
However, if the dominant Costa Rica successfully eliminated New Zealand in the play-offs and entered this group, the composition of the team in this group would be exactly the same as the F group of the previous German team - 2 European teams (sweden last year), 1 Asian team (South Korea) and 1 Central And American and Caribbean team (Mexico). In the World Cup in Russia, Germany was defeated 1-0 by Mexico as soon as it came up, and then relied on Kroos' free kick to defeat Reddy 2-1, and finally was eliminated by South Korea 2-0. This time, Germany will play Japan in the first round (21:00 Beijing time on November 23), Spain in the second round (03:00 on November 28), and face Costa Rica or New Zealand in the last round (03:00 on December 2). If the first 2 rounds are 1 win and 1 loss like the last two competitions, the final battle will be a life and death battle with great pressure.
All put 0 to 6 on their lips...
Undoubtedly, playing Spain, the German team is the most uncertain. Although Germany has a slight advantage of 9 wins, 8 draws and 8 losses against Spain 25 times in history, since Spain established a "dynasty" in the 2008 Euro 2008 Final 1-0 victory over Germany, Germany has faced the "Matador" in official matches with 3 losses and 1 draw - the 2010 World Cup semi-finals were again lost 0-1 in the absence of Thomas Müller, and in November 2020, it was a 0-6 away defeat in the UEFA Nations League group stage, which almost led to Loew's early dismissal. In the UEFA Nations League in September 2020, Germany, sitting in Stuttgart, was equalized 1-1 by Gaya in the 96th minute. In those 14 years, Germany has won only one friendly match (1-0 away in November 2014, Kroos scored from distance in the 89th minute), plus a draw (1-1 at home in March 2018).
The 0-6 defeat to Spain in the Europa League in November 2020 was one of the darkest moments in German football.
In the past 10 years, it is no accident that the German team has "won every time" in the competition, because from the perspective of football genre, Spain has been a German master during this period, not only Loew learned Spain, Pep Guardiola, but also the entire German football world. How easy is it for an apprentice to win the master? Spain, now coached by Luis Enrique, is still unwavering in its pass control, and Flick's football philosophy is also based on pass control, but incorporates many of the traditional elements of German football - strength, speed and physical fitness - and has been a great success with Bayern as the carrier. However, it will take more time for Flik to fully transplant Bayern's successful experience to the German team, and whether it can be completed before the start of this World Cup and before facing Spain still has to be marked with a big question mark.
German team manager Birkhov said: "Spain is definitely not the opponent we want, whether it is 2008 (Euro 2008), 2010 (World Cup) or the UEFA Nations League, we have encountered difficulties. But Hansey (Flick) will take this very seriously. Every Time you play a World Cup, you'll expect to run into tough opponents. Other opponents should not be underestimated, after 2018 I will not take any group for granted, but we have to break through from the group. Captain Neuer, who has suffered 0-6 humiliation, said: "Obviously, we drew a strong first-gear opponent. We have some bad memories against Spain, but this kind of thing doesn't happen a second time. ”
German coach Flick attended the draw ceremony.
Schweinsteiger, who experienced the 2008 Euro 2008 final and the 2010 World Cup semi-final, said: "It was a dark day to lose 6-0 to Spain in the UEFA Nations League. Spain continued to improve, losing to Italy in the European Championship until the semi-finals. There is a good blend between their old players and their young players. All of them have good technical skills. And Luis Enrique's tactical arrangement is also great, but of course we can beat them. We have that strength. The game will be very different from that 0-6 game. ”
What does Flick think? He did not comment directly on Spain, "Since you want to draw lots, you have no choice. Whatever the outcome, we must accept it. It's a stimulating, fun group for all of us. Flick also joked that he wanted to have a good talk with Mateus, who was not so good-tempered. And the old horse, who was a teammate of Bayern and Flick for 3 years, said: "Of course, Spain is a signing. But I also told him (Flick): if you want to be a world champion, you have to beat all the opponents. I think it's also important to draw an exclamation point from the beginning. ”
The "Bundesliga United" cannot be underestimated
Even if they still can't beat Spain, the German team must take Japan, Costa Rica or New Zealand, which are not as theoretically as good as themselves. Japan is currently ranked 23rd in the world, Costa Rica 31st and New Zealand at 101st. Historically, Germany have only met Japan twice in a friendly match, a 3–0 win in Yokohama in December 2004 and a 2–2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in May 2006 – Naotai Takahara, who played for Hamburg at the time, scored two goals in a row with Klose and Schweinsteg.
Before the 2006 World Cup, Germany warmed up with Japan, and Naoya Takahara and Schweinsteiger scored successively.
Although it has been a long time since they played against Japan, Flick and his disciples will never be unfamiliar with Japanese football, after all, in the past 10 years, Japan has been the most important foreign aid exporter in the Bundesliga (including the Bundesliga), such as Endo Hang (Stuttgart), Haraguchi Genki (Berlin Union), Kamada Daichi (Frankfurt), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Endo Keita (Berlin Union), Itakura (Schalke 04), Muroya Seiji (Hanover 96), Current internationals such as Tanaka Bi (Düsseldorf) are currently playing in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga, with the bundesliga veterans such as Yuya (former Munich 1860, Cologne, Werder Bremen), Hiroki Sakai (former Hanover 96), Yoshiki Muto (former Mainz 05) and Don Anlu (former Bielefeld).
Flick also pointed out that there are a lot of players in Japan playing in the Bundesliga, "so they have a lot of quality." We actually wanted to play a friendly match with Japan, but of course, it's not possible now. On the other hand, Japanese coach Hoshiichi Mori, who uses Düsseldorf as his "overseas headquarters" and often observes his disciples up close in various Bundesliga and Bundesliga venues, is also familiar with German football. Harman pointed out that Japan must not be underestimated, "You all saw that we lost to South Korea in the last World Cup. But at the same time, Harman believes that Germany will not have a problem qualifying from the group, "We will beat Japan in the first game." ”
The celebration after Lahm's opening record is the only classic scene of Germany and Costa Rica meeting before.
Costa Rica or New Zealand, by contrast, will indeed make the German team very unfamiliar. Germany and Costa Rica have played each other once and only once, in the 2006 home-grown World Cup opener, when Ram opened the record and Klinsmann's side won 4-2. "Costa Rica were our opener opponents in 2006 [the World Cup], and we all have fond memories of that," Flick said. It is worth mentioning that Bochum right-back Gamboa, who scored a world wave on the Bayern goal in mid-February, is the Costa Rica international. However, the veteran (32 years old), who has participated in the World Cup for two times as a main player, is now on the edge of the national team and has not played for the country for more than a year.
Schweinsteiger said: "Costa Rica will eliminate New Zealand, I'm sure. They beat the United States 2-0. Like Costa Rica, New Zealand has only played once with Germany before, when goals from Pretz and Mateus helped the "worst Germany of all time" win 2-0 in the 1999 Confederations Cup in Mexico.
Quarter-finals against Brazil?
According to the knockout route map, Germany will enter the top half if they can win the first place in Group E, the 1/8 final will be the second place in Group F (Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada), the 1/4 final will face the winner between the top place in Group G (Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon) and the second place in Group H (Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana), and the semi-final opponents will be the first place in Group A (Qatar, Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador), and the second place in Group B (England, USA, Iran, Wales/Scotland// Ukraine), group C (Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia) or group D (France, Denmark, Tunisia, Peru/UAE/Australia).
If they qualify in Group E, Germany will face the first place in Group F in the quarterfinals, the winner between the first place in Group H and the second place in Group G in the quarterfinals, and the second place in Group A, Group B, Group C or Group D in the semifinals.
Route map of the 2022 World Cup knockout rounds
Assuming that each group is determined according to the current world rankings, the top 2 groups are: Netherlands and Senegal in Group A, England and the United States in Group B, Argentina and Mexico in Group C, France and Denmark in Group D, Spain and Germany in Group E, Belgium and Croatia in Group F, Brazil and Switzerland in Group G, Portugal and Uruguay in Group H.
Then, the knockout line for the second-placed German team will be the quarter-final against Belgium, the quarter-final against Portugal/Switzerland, and the semi-final against Senegal/England/Mexico/France. If Germany pushes Spain into the top half, the quarter-finals will face Croatia, the quarter-finals will be Against Uruguay/Brazil, and the Semi-Finals against the Netherlands/USA/Argentina/Denmark. Bild, which doesn't like to save people's character, has longed to play Brazil in the quarter-finals and repeat the scene in the semi-finals of 8 years ago.
Which half is relatively easy? After the failure of the past two competitions, the German team has no so-called ability to choose the route. Step by step, the group will come out of the line.