Germany's jewels: Mario Götze and Toni Kroos

Germany's recent past and near-future look everything but grim

It's still some time to go until the next major European football competition next year, but chances for Germany probably never have been higher to end up winning the highest honors at both the European championship and the World Cup. Although their last win dates back to 2006, their achievements of the last decade were truly remarkable: Runners-up in the 2002 World Cup, third-placed in the 2006 and 2010 editions and runners-up in the Euro 2008. What other country can present an equal record over the last ten years? Quite correctly, people attribute this success to a new generation of young football players, completely adapted to the new way of playing the game, leaving behind old German stigmata and attributes, adopting an attitude only found outside the country and increasingly self-confident. The World Cup last year gave evidence to this neo-German play, when England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0) were defeated in a manner that stunned experts and fans alike. This neo-German strength finds also it's demand elsewhere: Never since the winning generation of 1990 has such an amount of Germany internationals played for so many top foreign-league Teams. Klose (Lazio), Khedira, Özil (Real Madrid) and Mertesacker (Arsenal) surely deserve some credit for Germany's success (Michael Ballack is too often forgotten these days). But also domestic-based Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Müller (Bayern München), just to name a few, should not be forgotten here.

The striking news for German football fans who don't look behind but ahead is this a good one: Bundesliga features some more jewels which could very well contribute to the national team playing a significant role in mayor competitions, let alone dominating them for the years to come and even winning them. This series, Germany's jewels, features a couple of them,  and the prospects they have. It kicks off with the two most striking talents of young German football players: Mario Götze and Toni Kroos.

Mario Götze (19, Borussia Dortmund, 9 caps)

Hailed as Germany's "Messi", Mario Götze is probably the most striking young talent of contemporary German football. Fast in running, extremely creative in thinking, dangerous in scoring and gifted with a superb technique hardly ever seen in Germany, and truly comparable with Messi's, this 19-year old has the brightest future prospects of all young German players. Everyone who followed Borussia Dortmund's success story in the 2010/11 campaign knows what I am trying to say. Now, Götze has still a long way to go until ending up anywhere near the likes of Messi, but the has the ability and talent to shape both German and international football of this decade. To be entirely honest, I think he would fit perfectly well into FC Barcelona's style of playing and it wouldn't surprise me if one day he ended up at a club of that category. Of course, this would depend on a whole lot of things. Setbacks are part of every football players career and Götze will eventually have to deal with them as well, and take strength and confidence out of them. He also still has to prove he can handle the increasing attention he is being given from both within and outside Germany. 

Toni Kroos (21, Bayern München, 21 caps)

More experienced than Mario Götze is midfielder Toni Kroos from Bayern München. Kroos first entered the spotlight as skipper of the sub-17 German side that reached the semifinals of the 2007 World Cup, where he was awarded with the Golden Ball as best player of the tournament. Equally gifted as Götze in terms of viewing the game and also very dangerous in front of the goal when it comes to distance attempts, he ranks among the most talented midfielders of this generation. What he lacks though is a certain drive towards the goal which other players, including Götze, possess. He is more effective by giving deadly passes, controlling the game or shoot from the distance and not so effective when it comes to dash into the area. The reason for this is that Kroos is more effective as a creative mind behind passes instead of being the ultimate recipient. Another strength is his immense tactical flexibility. He can play as defensive midfielder, central midfielder or even as left winger, only the right wing, Götze's position, might be an exception. Unluckily, he failed to entirely convince public and respective coaches of his talent, maybe partly due to the invisibility of his game at times, which resembles Barcelona's Xavi in parts. However, now in his 2nd time at Bayern Munich he might prove truly a jewel in the club's campaign this year - if not denied a spot in Bayern's heavily contested midfield. Concerning the national team: watch Germany's 2-0 against Brazil from August this year, where the elderly South American defence was being overrun by a train driven by the masterminds Kroos and Götze. And that's exactly the sort of neo-German play that converts the national side into an opponent to beat for any national team of the world in order become European or World Champions. Oh dear Toni, if you only had scored in the World Cup semifinal last year ...

Götze and Kroos: likely to form part of the national team for years

The midfield of Germany's national team is full of talented players. Nevertheless, both Götze and Kroos are likeliest to star at the next Euro Championship in their respective postitions: Götze covering the right wing (just like in Dortmund), whereas Kroos can play both in central as well as defensive midfield. So irrespectively if Germanly play a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-1-4-1 formation, both players fit in perfectly well.

Germany's 4-2-3-1 midfield.

Germany's 4-1-4-1 midfield. Note that Kroos can both play in central midfield as well as left winger

Why the current qualification system of UEFA for big tournaments needs to be modified.

Excitement only every two years

There is nothing more exiting for a football fan to see his national team performing in a major tournament on their quest to secure wins, honor and ultimate glory. In Europe, each two years people in millions slam bars, public-viewing areas or whatever spot they can grab to watch the epic and more or less epic battles of their countries on television. Excitement and blood-pressure is fatally high, joy and despair are close and some would argue that even birth rates rise nine months after such an event. While this is yet another story to tell, I'd like to make the case for getting a little bit of that excitement and despair into the two years that preceed such an event.

Why the Euro and World Cup qualifiers need to be modified. 

Now, first of all, I completely understand the current modus of competing the qualifiers. Top teams in Europe are seeded, with one opponent in the group to have an eye on, and up to four other teams, which the most exciting thing about is the return journey home from an away-game. This current system not only favours, but also protects the big nations and secures almost always a spot at a major tournament, with exceptions proving the rule. Probably this protective system is due to economic reasons: no one would benefit from a big nation ruled out of a major championship, neither the federation in question, nor UEFA or FIFA, nor a big bunch of greedy sponsors, nor the fans, nor the country, absolutely no none.

Don't get me wrong on the following points of view. Everyone, including me, prefers a World Cup quarter-final Germany vs. England over, no offence intended, Armenia vs. Latvia. But how about making the qualifiers a slightly more challenging affair for UEFA teams and ultimately much more exciting for fans? For fans and broadcasters of the big nations, the current modus of nearly two years of qualifying has one, maybe two highlights: The home and away game to the second-seeded team. Usually, even those encounters lack of excitement as most of the big decisions are usually settled beforehand. Just look at the current qualifiers and check the groups of England, Spain, Netherlands, Italy and Germany. There is no more excitement in that. And excitement is something we should introduce to the qualifiers. How to do that? Well, I'd make the case for two solutions:

Solution one (less revolutionary): Copying from other associations

In North and Central America, Asia and Africa, the lowest-seeded teams play knock-out fixtures with the winner being allowed to join the big folk in group stages. Why not adopting such a scheme for UEFA? What implications would that have?

If say, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Luxemburg, Andorra, Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan, Färöer and whoever else, would play the same kind of knock-out fixtures, I see two immediate consequences: First, more competition among them with the prospect of actually winning something and getting a well-deserved reward, and second, less painful trips for big nations and less games against those countries, where the only excitement is 'how much to zero' the team is going to win. No fan, broadcaster, sponsor has a real interest in such qualifying games. Not even the teams themselves. I don't argue that small teams don't belong into the qualifiers, not at all, but I see them as major obstacle for qualifier excitement with fans and broadcasters in the big nations. So why not let them play first among themselves to choose the winner who joins the big folk?

Solution two (more revolutionary): less groups, more teams per group

Let's say we would have 4 groups with 8 teams each. That would mean 32 federations covered. The lower-seeded teams could play knock-out games as explained above, maybe with more than one round or even through small groups stages as well. A total of four qualifying groups accounts for four top-seeded teams and, hence, interesting clashes between at least two of the bigger nations. Let's assume the first four teams qualify would qualify for the final tournament. Of course, some adjustments concerning the World Cup needed to be made as UEFA usually gets 13 slots. The host is usually qualified anyway so 4x4 wouldn't work. Say first three teams (12 in total), plus one or two through play-off rounds of the teams ranked 4th. I know this sounds rather complicated, but just think of a group Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Serbia, Bosnia, Ukraine and Scotland! Get my point? I'd totally warm up to that idea, although I can't imagine that readers from Edinburgh and Glasgow share my point.

Now I understand some counter-arguments against that solution: It's doesn't fit into the UEFA and FIFA calendar and some people might say that decisions on who qualifies are settled beforehand as well, just like nowadays, as the strongest teams will grab the spots in question without problems. I completely agree with that point, but's it's not about creating existential threats for the big nations at all, it's just about spicing up things a little. And the likes of Scotland usually perform better against big nations as against the smaller ones, so they will run for their lives for sure and put up some decent fights. The whole mathematical process of rounds, of splitting up seeded teams, might be a fair point, too, although I'd be surprised if there no solution to this problem existed. Someone with more leisure time and more mathematical knowledge than I can perform some of their magic and get this done. And, last but not least, I can't imagine fans of smaller nations warming up to the idea either as their prospect of qualifying doesn't increase at all. They might have their domestic league's champion get lost in the Champions League though, thanks to the mercy of Monsieur Platini.

So now Mr.Platini: you have your Oletul Galatis, Pilsens, Bate Borisovs, Copenhaguens and APOELs Give us Germany vs. England, Spain v. Portugal and Netherlands v. France in return! Such a new modus would provide fans on the whole with more excitement when, for example, such prestigious and thrilling games like the ones above are played not as a friendlies in mid-November, but with actually three points to win for real. Broadcasters would benefit from bigger audiences and more lucrative advertisement revenues with more money in their pockets at the end of the day and all that. And, ultimately, and that's my main concern: the qualifiers would be brought back to the fan's hearts, and the fans back to actually sit in front of the tele, enjoying some decent qualifying clashes with a little sweat on their foreheads, with rising blood-pressure and, towards the end of the process, grim satisfaction, pure joy ... or ultimate despair!