Die Mannschaft 27 full of exciting youngsters
Columnist
By Tony Tannous, 7 May 2010 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert
The forwards of the German nationa soccer team nominated for the World Cup. AP Photos
The first indication of what the Socceroos can expect in our World Cup opener against Germany in Durban June 13 was revealed last night when Joachin Low announced his provisional 27 man World Cup squad.
What was most revealing about the selection was the generational shift, with the inclusion of so many exciting youngsters, most of whom have graduated from the nation’s successful youth teams over the past few years.
To hell with it, Low has gone for broke. Take the midfield for example.
Not content with including Mesut Ozil, 21, who was expected to be picked, Low has also called up Christian Trasch, 22, Toni Kroos, 20, Sami Khedira, 23, and Marko Marin, 21.
Stuttgart’s Trasch is a versatile player who can play as a fullback or holding midfielder, Germany’s version of a Luke Wilkshire or Rhys Williams.
Some will remember Kroos as the winner of the player of the tournament at the Under 17s World Cup in 2007. An attacking midfielder, he is contracted to Bayern Munich but has been on loan at Bayer Leverkusen, and doing brilliant, scoring a goal every three games, many from long range.
Toni Kroos. Try Toni Shot!
Here’s a compilation to give you a taste.
None other the Der Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer, has labelled him the “next Michael Ballack”.
Ozil, meanwhile, has been the next big thing for the past couple of years. He is a more creative type, a playmaker in the mould of Thomas Hassler.
Khedira is another with great youth pedigree, captaining the German under 21s side that was crowned European champions last year.
Marin, a wide player, has also been knocking on the door for a couple of seasons.
It is some line-up of emerging midfield talent, and will be complemented by the experienced trio of midfielders in Michael Ballack, Piotr Trochowski and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Not that the latter two, as 26 and 25 respectively, are exactly over the hill. Schweinsteiger, converted from a wide man to a central midfielder, has had some season.
Expect plenty of on the ball quality and plenty of run.
Low doesn’t stop there. While the defence features a bevy of established names in Per Mertesacker, Heiko Westermann, Philipp Lahm, Arne Friedrich and Marcell Jansen, they are complemented by an equal number of youngsters; Holger Badstuber, 21, Dennis Aogo, 23, Serdar Tasci, 23, Jerome Boateng, 21, and Andrea Beck, 23.
Many will be familiar with left sided defenders Badstuber and Aogo thanks to Bayern Munich and Hamburg’s respective runs in Europe.
Low hasn’t been shy to reward them. The same goes for exciting 20-year old second striker Thomas Muller, who has made such an impression under Louis van Gaal, combining beautifully with Ivica Olic and keeping Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez on the bench.
Klose, Gomez and Lukas Podolski get a reprieve here, but there is no such fortune for Thomas Hitzlsperger, who has been out of favour at his new club Lazio.
Torsten Frings and Kevin Kuranyi are others from the old-guard that missed out, while Simon Rolfes hasn’t recovered from a mid-season knee injury.
But Low hasn’t completely washed his hands of the veterans, re-calling Munich custodian Hans-Jorg Butt after a great season.
While there remain a couple of problems up front, Low has otherwise assembled a youthful and vibrant squad, and is likely to give Pim Verbeek a few headaches between now and June 13.
Die Nationalmannschaft will prepare for the Socceroos clash with three warm-ups, against Malta on May 15, Hungary on May 29 and Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 3.
Here is the full provisional squad:
Goalkeepers: Hans-Jorg Butt, Manuel Neuer, Tim Wiese
Defenders: Per Mertesacker, Heiko Westermann, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Andrea Beck, Arne Friedrich, Serdar Tasci, Marcell Jansen, Holger Badstuber, Dennis Aogo.
Midfielders: Michael Ballack, Sami Khedira, Piotr Trochowski, Marko Marin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christian Trasch, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos.
Forwards: Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Stefan Kiessling, Cacau, Thomas Muller, Mario Gomez.
Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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jupiter53 said | May 7th 2010 @ 1:18am | Report comment
As my daughter would say: OMG!!
Beat that squad? LOL!!
If we get anything out of playing Germany it will be a miracle. At best a reprise of the stonewalling and luck we had against Holland in Sydney might get us a point. We’ll have to get our wins to get to the second round against Ghana and Serbia.
Isn’t it interesting how young so many of their squad are…we haven’t had anybody with international class at their early 20s since Kewell.
rovingto2011 said | May 7th 2010 @ 5:59am | Report comment
A fantastically talented squad, its brave to choose so many of the younger players. An opportunity for our boys potentially, as maybe Loew is expecting the group phase to be not so rough and a chance to allow these guys to find some form together.
But yes on paper they look very impressive, not much dead wood there at all and very much chosen on Bundesliga form, with the exception of Kuranyi. Cacau and Muller as ones to watch up front (over Poldi and Klose).
st.penguin said | May 7th 2010 @ 8:44am | Report comment
“Mannschaft” – always makes me giggle.
ando said | May 7th 2010 @ 2:06pm | Report comment
hah. thats awesome. giggletastic even
Kazama said | May 7th 2010 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
The title of this article sounds a bit wrong…
Die Mannschaft 27: Full of exciting youngsters!
(Sorry. I’ve had too much coffee today)
Aljay said | May 7th 2010 @ 9:12am | Report comment
…Meanwhile the Australian camp will name young up and coming midfielder Dario Vidosic, who can barely crack the starting lineup of the B2.
But seriously, good luck to the Roos
jimbo said | May 7th 2010 @ 11:13am | Report comment
Dario will be lucky to make the squad.
Tim cahill and Harry Kewell will tear that German defence apart.
whiskeymac said | May 7th 2010 @ 9:12am | Report comment
an embarrasment of riches from ze germans. their youth policy seems to be about to reap rewards for them, and good on the coach fro rewarding them. not so much a next generation policy as simply giving players regardless of age/ old reputations a run in the team. (i always think talking of generations implies entrenched players sitting in the team regardless of form and waiting to retire en masse on their own terms at the end of a tournament.)
jimbo said | May 7th 2010 @ 9:41am | Report comment
A lot of new players picked – only a handful would be well known players.
Yes, young and exciting – but inexperienced on the biggest world stage. The Socceroos may be ageing, but they will be one of the most experienced squads.
Will youthful exhuberance triumph over calm and steady experience?
I’d still give the Socceroos a chance to hold on for a draw.
whiskeymac said | May 7th 2010 @ 10:24am | Report comment
the players chosen are in the squad, not necessarily in the first 11.
Players like Klose, Ballack, Lahm etc will give our boys a stern enough test, and when we start to get tired… they can then bring on the youngsters. Hopefully we hold on and still have enough in the tank to get results agaisnt Seria and Ghana.
David said | May 7th 2010 @ 10:56am | Report comment
Whos afaird of the big bad Germans? Not the socceroos!
Ben of Phnom Penh said | May 7th 2010 @ 11:12am | Report comment
Better to face them now than in 2014 (should we get there)
Thomas Conlin said | May 7th 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Great looking line-up. The starting 11 will be a perfect mix of youth and experience.
Despite loosing thier first choice goalkeeper to injury, the Germans will certainly be a formidable contender – as they always are at World Cup time.
As Ben mentioned; if nothing else, this will put the German side in a great position for the next two world cups [Brazil 2014 and Australia 2018 ; ) ] with all these youngsters getting valuable experience.
CANT WAIT FOR JUNE! Early-onset World Cup Fever has struck….
Kazama said | May 7th 2010 @ 2:00pm | Report comment
The Germans certainly have a lot of talented youngsters emerging. Compared to where our younger guys are at it is frightening, but also they are (in my limited vision) ahead of most of their European rivals.
It will be interesting to see where they finish in this World Cup. Hopefully they will have a slow start against us, though I believe the Germans have a very good record of winning their early matches at the finals.
Roll on June 11…