Max Muller: Young,bold & beautiful

There can be no equivocation with such scorelines. There is no doubt that Germany’s team,invigorated by youth and blessed with the refreshing talents of the sons of immigrant workers,is a force on the global stage again.

And when you see Mesut Ozil glide,when you watch how easily Sami Khedira stands in for the injured captain Michael Ballack,you can no longer think of Germany as a soccer machine. Its movement is swifter,somewhat more expressive than on German teams of old.

In Thomas Muller,just 20 years old but already a major influence of Germany’s counter-attacking stealth,can be found a famous name in a fresh physical shape. Gerd Muller,the Bayern Munich and West German striker extraordinaire of the 1970s,was short and stout and could turn on a dime.

Thomas Muller,taller,fitter,more of a player and more likely to set teammates free,is also a Munchener. Indeed,he started there at age 10,coming under the wing of Gerd Muller when he progressed through kindergarten to the youth teams.

They are not related,except in the way that one German striker is a throwback to another. Thomas Muller was not even a full German international until March this year,but like the other young players promoted into this World Cup squad,he came systematically through the ranks of under-16,under-17,18,19 and 20,where the German soccer federation has groomed its talents.

The disappointment at watching Argentina’s entertaining show blow out like a candle in the wind beneath Cape Town’s Table Mountain is compensated in this embryonic German team like nothing we have seen before.

Klose adds experience

Yes,it still has Miroslav Klose,a 32-year-old who was born in Poland,scoring goals in its attack. On his 100th appearance for Germany,all Klose had to do was be there,in position not many yards from goal,to put away chances worked for him by Muller and Ozil.

All Klose did was ghost into the spaces,lurk and sniff the chances before Argentina’s defence — always its Achilles’ heel — knew danger was afoot.

The word “all” neglects the science of scoring,the antenna that guides a Muller or a Klose to prey on the slenderest of offerings. Klose now has 52 goals for Germany,he has just tied Gerd Muller’s 14 World Cup goals and he is closing in on the record of 15,held by Brazil’s Ronaldo. That’s all Klose is. A goal scorer who cannot get a game these days for his club,the very same Bayern Munich,in part because its latest coach prefers younger strikers.

To dismantle Argentina in such a fashion has to be about more than the goal men. It is. The German defence is ordered. The midfield,powered by possibly the most athletic player in this tournament,Bastian Schweinsteiger,is relentless. And if goalkeeper Manuel Neuer looks at times a nervous beginner,his team is there for him at awkward times.

That,finally,is the word that defines Germany: team.

All for one

Every man works,and runs,for the others. Everyone thinks,if he makes a pass,who will run onto it. No one shirks the tackles,no one shies from the work.

These sound like less romantic traits than Argentina had thrilled us with through the first rounds of this tournament. But denial is part of the game too,and Messi can testify that wherever he moved there were always two men at his heels and two in front of him.

Almost always a group of Germans denied him time and space. He couldn’t be Messi without the ball,and without room to create when he had it.

Messi will awake in the nights and see those Germans closing in. More than anyone,he will see Schweinsteiger muscling in. And when even Messi became demoralised by the German strength,Schweinsteiger had a trick or two of his own.

He moved down the left,outpaced two opponents,deceived a third,Gonzalo Higuaín,with a swift turn,and cut the ball back for Arne Friedrich,a defender,to score his first goal in eight years as a German international.