The two Champions League champions Frick and Enrique had serious expressions, but officials from the World Cup host country Qatar were smiling – after the relative lack of absolute significance of the death group, the showdown between the two European powerhouses of Germany and Spain finally gave the 2022 World Cup group stage the most to watch. It's just that for the German chariot that bears the shame of the last World Cup, this trip to Qatar may not be easy, but the firm belief of head coach Frick has never changed!
[Confrontation: Throughout history, the two teams have won or lost each other]
As the traditional powerhouses of European football, Germany and Spain have no shortage of classic duels and grudges. According to statistics, the two teams have met 25 times in history, and the German team (including West Germany) has a record of 9 wins, 8 draws and 8 losses. Among them, the two teams have met seven times in the World Cup and the European Championship, and Germany has a clear advantage in the last century, beating Spain twice in the 1966 and 1982 World Cups with the same score of 2-1.
However, in this century, with the complete rise of Spanish football and the dilemma of German football for a time, the performance of the two teams on the field naturally traded off. In the final of euro 2008, the strong Spain won the European Championship again after 44 years after beating Germany 1-0 with Torres's goal; in the 2010 World Cup semi-final, the two teams met again, while Spain once again repelled Germany with the header of central defender Puyol.
In these two matches, although Spain won by 1 goal, the completely dominant game situation was like teaching German football on the spot. So just after the 2010 World Cup, strong Spanish football began to deeply touch the then German coach Loew. Since then, coupled with Spain coach Pep Guardiola taking over the coaching whip of The Bundesliga banba Bayern, Loew's German national team has also opened a new route of technical football and pass control system.
In 2014, germany finally won the World Cup as the golden generation matured, while the aging defending champion Spain returned home in the group stage. At this time, it was a good opportunity for Germany to achieve a counter-overtake, so in November 2014, Germany finally beat Spain 1-0 away in a friendly with Kroos's kill near the end of the game, thus ending the embarrassing record of facing the Matadors for 14 consecutive years without a win.
It's just a matter of spending a hundred days – like Spain before that, Loew's paranoia about passing football has also been eliminated by history. In March 2018, Germany drew 1-1 with Spain thanks to Müller's wonderful long-range shot in a friendly match, but did not want to be directly out of the group at the World Cup in Russia like Spain four years ago. However, unexpectedly, the German Football Association, under the anger of the fans, still announced the retention of head coach Loew, and even no one stood up to apologize.
Obviously, Loew's coaching philosophy and tactical design have long been out, so when the Spanish team promotes the replacement of the old and the new and the tactical adjustment under the leadership of the new coach Enrique and others, the old German tank is gradually drifting away on the wrong road. In September 2020, the all-out German team was still finally drawn by Spain at home in the UEFA Nations League; and two months later, the seemingly accidental but in fact inevitable 0-6 defeat occurred!
[Change: Painfully thinking about the pain, Germany has finally changed its coach]
In this UEFA Nations League showdown, Germany not only lost 0-6 to Spain, but also completely exploded in the number of shots on goal 2-23, thus creating the biggest defeat in the history of the German national team! Regardless of the game situation, player play or tactical system, loew's German team has not seen any bright spots and hopes, so the call for "Loew to leave class" quickly reached its peak at this time, and the German media and fans even thanked the Spanish team for "rescue", and believed that the German Football Association forced Loew to resign voluntarily to save face.
However, what is even more unexpected is that after the defeat of this century's shame, Loew not only did not take the initiative to resign, but instead held a "reply" with the German team leader Bierhoff, and the German Football Association even announced the conclusion after the meeting: "A game cannot and should not be a standard for measuring the overall performance of the national team and the manager, and the members of the presidium unanimously agree that Löw continues to be trusted by the German Football Association." ”
What happened next, presumably the public already knows. The tactically backward and unstable German team was destined to collapse again in last summer's European Championship, but Loew's sudden announcement that he would step down after the European Championship finally brought the German tank to an end to years of waste. At this time, the German media once again compared Spanish and German football, and pointed out that although Spain had pains and hesitations after the fiasco of the 2014 World Cup, the return to the right track really dwarfed the self-contained German football...
It is not difficult to see that after entering this century, Spanish football has not only become the dream of the German team, but also set an effective example for the German chariot to correct mistakes. Therefore, Spain and Germany meet again in the Group Stage of the World Cup this time, which seems to be a head-on duel between two former world champions, and it is a key starting point for the former king who has fallen off the altar to prove himself again. Among them, for the German team, which also opened a new era, the past defeats have become history, and this "revenge" battle is particularly important.
Unlike the pessimism of the previous face of Spain, the German team with a strong goal of revenge this time is full of morale and confidence. Captain Neuer said: "It was clear that we had a difficult opponent in the first gear. I have bad memories of Spain, but there won't be a second time what happened last time. We are confident of finishing a great tournament because we didn't cover ourselves up with glory in previous competitions, and we want to make up for that now. ”
The reason why the shamed And courageous German team has regained confidence is obviously inseparable from the change of coach of the German team after the European Championship - the official return of Frick, the assistant coach who won the World Cup in Germany in 2014. It seems that some Bayern fans still scoff at the former manager, but looking back at Frick's takeover of Bayern in the middle of the 2019-20 season, he immediately created the first "six champions" in the history of the team, and I believe that this ability to turn decay into magic is the key to Germany's return to the top of the world.
[Analysis: Strong and weak, avoid the death team]
Since taking over the German national team, Frick led the team not only quickly reversing the situation and qualifying early in the World Preliminary Round, but also set the longest winning streak in 42 years for Germany with eight consecutive wins (scoring 33 goals and conceding 2 goals), which was not ended until the midweek's friendly draw with the Netherlands. Such a performance shows that Frick is replicating his time at Bayern in the national team, and also makes the German media say after the draw: Today's Germany is not only not afraid of Spain, but even doubly eager for this "revenge" battle.
German manager Bierhoff said: "Spain is not an opponent with good memories, whether in 2010, 2012 or in the UEFA Nations League, we have encountered great difficulties, but I believe Frick will solve this problem in a special way." At the same time, the president of the Spanish Football Association, Rubieres, also admitted in an interview, "Germany is a growing team, the level is very high, can beat any opponent." That 6-0 game is history and you can't always live in the past. ”
The authoritative media "Kicker" analyzed that the Spanish team has indeed left a painful memory for German football in the past 20 years, but the matador must not underestimate the German team's determination to take revenge under Frick. "Against Germany? Ha ha. Well, that would be nice! After the initial seriousness, Spain coach Enrique calmly faced the result of the draw and turned to a photo with Frick smiling – a rather complicated smile that may come from the complexity and severity of the situation in the same group, which is far from worrying.
Indeed, in addition to the rivalry between Spain and Germany, the other two third- and fourth-rated teams drawn by this group, Japan and Costa Rica/New Zealand, avoided the birth of the death group. Relatively speaking, although Japanese coach Mori Hoichi still said after the draw that "our goal is to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup", the strength level (not to mention the gap at the head coach level) determines that the best teams in Asia may not be able to shake the result of the Desi team.
"Japan is a team that has always been able to enter the World Cup and has a lot of players who play in the Bundesliga, so the overall level is very high." Frick spoke highly of the Japanese team, but there was still plenty of reason to believe that the German tanks would not make the mistakes of four years ago. As for the Japanese internationals who play in Germany, such as Endo Hang, Kamada Daichi, Takuma Asano, Genki Haraguchi and Itakura, it is beneficial for the German team to familiarize themselves with this opponent from Asia.
Relatively speaking, which team in Costa Rica or New Zealand will eventually qualify in the play-offs is probably a fish belly presence in this group. Costa Rica goalkeeper Navas is unlikely to be a wall of sighs again in front of The German attackers, and will Bayern's loan-out New Zealand youngster Singh have a chance to play against Big Brother? Unfortunately, many German fans originally expected this World Cup to "avenge" South Korea at the same time, but unfortunately the final result was another Asian team.
【Conclusion: No worries about qualifying, the new coach is full of confidence! 】 】
From the overall situation, Germany, which has fallen to the second gear due to poor results in recent years, still has a good signing luck, and while avoiding the death group, it can be expected to qualify worry-free and strive for the first place. Just unlike Argentine fans, who began to calculate how to control points and places in the group stage (to avoid France), germany, the group faced the inevitable danger of the knockout rounds against the strong opponent Spain - the 1/8 final may meet the strong opponent Belgium, and the potential opponent in the 1/4 final is Brazil.
Fortunately, this brand-new German team has set sail again, just as the German chariot that has created countless brilliant achievements in the history of the World Cup is still a championship power that every team should not underestimate. Frick firmly said, "It's an exciting and interesting group, the task is not so easy, but we have big plans. We are happy to start from here and look forward to going further and further until the final. ”