When Schüller picked the ball into the box and Götze stopped with his chest, ARD commentator Tom Bartles shouted into the microphone: "Kill him" and people saw Götze's goal. This moment was the peak of the career of all German players and the coaching staff of the German team at that time. At this moment, Klose was sitting on the bench at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, watching the 2014 World Cup final, Germany vs. Argentina.
In the 88th minute of the match, Loew made one of the most significant substitutions in German history: under Klose, on Götze.
After Germany won the championship, many media discussed this substitution in the 88th minute. In a later report, Loew said to Götze on the sidelines: "Go and prove to the world that you are better than Messi." In another report, Klose told Götze after the first half of extra time: "You can score. ”。
Seven years on, if you look back on this momentous moment from a historical perspective, you may be able to get more insights. Loew replaced real center Klose with "Pseudo-Nine" Götze. This is the high point of the Loew era, but it is also the beginning of the decline.
On Tuesday night, when Loew lost to England in the quarter-finals of the European Cup and desperate to change the situation, he sent Gnabry, Sane and Musharra. These players are masters of ball possession and know how to send the ball to the opponent's penalty area. Their technical characteristics remind people of Götze, not Klose. In the end, Germany lost 2-0. This time, Loew had many substitutions, but did not write a success story.
This was Loew's last stage in the German team. Over the past 15 years, his coaching career can be divided into two stages. One is before the 2014 World Cup and the other is after the 2014 World Cup. Before the World Cup in Brazil, Loew did a lot of things right, and after the World Cup, he also did a lot of wrong things, and there are many reasons for the team's rise and fall. But one thing will not be accidental: the former stage was the era when the German team had Klose, and the second stage was without Klose.
That Tuesday afternoon, four hours before the match against England began, Klose, 43, gave an interview to the media. He mentioned four european cup strikers who appreciated. The first name is Lewandowski, who worked as an assistant coach at Bayern last season and watches the Poles train every day. Tottenham Hotspur's Kane is second, Bayer Leverkusen's Hick is third and Frankfurt's A Silva is fourth. Klose believes that these four players fit his understanding of the striker: a keen sense of the situation on the field, balanced shooting ability with both feet in the box, good speed and strong header ability. Klose said: "I think it's a very good match. At the same time, it also explains the situation of the German team, four forwards, a Pole, an Englishman, a Czech, a Portuguese, no German.
The great honours of German football are often associated with a great striker. This is not the result of scientific research, but it is so from an empirical point of view. 1954 World Cup winner: Fritz Walter, 1974 World Cup winner: Gadder Müller, 1990 World Cup winner: Rudy Worrell, 2014 World Cup winner: Miloslav Klose. Four great strikers, four World Cup titles, by chance?
In the summer of 2018, Germany was out of the Group Stage of the World Cup, with Gomez playing just 88 minutes. Many underestimated Gomez's worth, believing he could not be juxtaposed with Walter, Mueller, Worrell and Klose. But when Gomez also left, germany no longer had a center forward who could meet the level required by international competitions.
One question: Why can Germany produce so many good players, but can't find a center who can meet the requirements of the highest level of competition?
This answer can be found back at the Maracanã Stadium. Before Löw replaced Klose with Götze in the 88th minute, germany had spent several years imitating Spain's tactical style. Spain won euro 2008 and 2012 titles without a classic centre-forward, as well as the 2010 World Cup in the middle. Spain's possession was so good that it looked like they could "pass" the ball into the opponent's goal if necessary. And when Götze came on as a "pseudo-striker" and scored that key goal, Loew was further "deceived", he saw an "illusion" and was convinced that the center was not necessary.
Before the European Championships, people who were very close to Loew talked about this "illusion". Bierhoff, manager of the German Football Association and head of the German team, said in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung: "So [Götze's World Cup goal] we have created a trend across Germany. During the player training phase, we leaned towards mario Götze's type and had excellent technical skills, especially outside the box. During this time, we somewhat neglected the development of traditional strikers. Unfortunately, we have a double feeling about this: first of all, sometimes we have less fulcrum in the penalty area, and we don't have players like Lewandowski to attract multiple opposing defenders and create space for their teammates. Second, there is no real No. 9 and we have one less tactical option for a cross-header. Bierhoff himself was a top centre-forward and certainly has a clear sense of the team's plight.
Klose could understand the change. He said: "When a team like Germany or Spain meets an all-out defensive opponent, you have to find a solution. So we need a striker who can hold the ball, can work with his teammates, can do wall-bumping passes in a small space. "That's what Bierhoff said about Mario Götze type striker.
In fact, it is unfair to the player to keep mentioning Götze, after all, he has not worn the national team shirt since November 2017. At the moment of scoring, he was in the right place at the right point in time. The problematic is Loew's judgment that he should not deny the value of another type of player just because a particular type of player is needed at a certain moment (especially if the goal is a certain accident). There will always be times when a team needs to simply pass the ball long into the box and let the centre forward put pressure on the opponent.
Götze scored in 2014 to win the World Cup for Germany, so how many centre-forwards have become the team's deciders in the European Championship finals since entering the century: The Frenchman Trezeguet in the 2000 final, the Greek Charles Steas in the 2004 final, and the Portuguese Eder in the 2016 final. In the final four of this European Championship, which team does not have a good center forward?
Germany is out of this European Championship, will there be any changes at Euro 2024? It's a tournament held in Germany, will there be a good German center forward? How about Nmeicha? He recently helped Germany U21 win the European Youth Championship. Klose was reluctant to evaluate a particular name, saying on a higher level: "A striker needs to be very comprehensive. If the striker only knows how to keep plugging forward, the defender will soon be able to judge his running path and block it. He thinks the downside of the German striker now is that these players are not as comprehensive, he said: "We have a lot of good players, but they usually only have one or two strengths. That said, these players can't quite fit the four aspects that Klose has proposed earlier.
How can the German striker become full-fledged again? This requires the German Football Federation to guide the new training direction, which requires the active participation of Frick. Frick will officially become the German manager on August 1, and if he and his team have requirements for the center forward, they may be able to reverse the trend that began in 2014 and re-set off a wave of center forwards. It's not something that can be successful in a short period of time, though, and Frick still has to think about how to win the game without a center in these years.
(Supine braces/kran)