TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – As the country with the second highest number of World Cup trophies, german national team became one of the best in the world. The team were in the limelight in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals after beating Brazil 7-1 and winning the trophy after knocking out a game against Argentina who were in their best form.
Achievements in 2014 brought Germany one step closer to Brazil’s record as the owner of the most World Cup titles in football history. In total, Der Panzer collected four titles in the 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014 editions.
Germany have confirmed their ticket to the 2022 World Cup after topping the European Zone qualifying Group I standings. They collected 27 points with a score of nine wins and a draw. In Qatar, they are in Group E with Spain, Japan and Costa Rica.
The 2022 edition will be Germany’s 20th participation in the World Cup. The team nicknamed Der Panzer participated for the first time in the World Cup in 1930. It began to show its fangs during the 1954 edition. At that time, West Germany, commanded by Fritz Walter, met Turkey, Yugoslavia and Austria. Against the Hungarian favorites in the group stage, they lost 3-8.
However, the West German team again met Hungary who were then undefeated for 32 consecutive matches. West Germany eventually won 3-2 thanks to goals from Helmut Rahn. The success was called the “Bern Miracle” (Das Wunder von Bern).
Hosting the 1974 World Cup, Germany won their second World Cup after beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final held in Munich. The group stage, at that time, featured a politically charged game when West Germany v East Germany ended 0-1.
However, West Germany advanced to the final against a Dutch side led by Johan Cruijff and his Total Football. The Netherlands took the lead with a penalty. However, West Germany equalized through a Paul Breitner penalty and won thanks to Gerd Müller’s perfect finish ending resistance from De Oranje.
At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, West Germany won a third World Cup title. At that time, Lothar Matthäus was present as captain. They beat Yugoslavia (4–1), United Arab Emirates (5–1), Netherlands (2–1), Czechoslovakia (1–0) and England (1–1, 4–3 on penalties). Toreha saw them en route to a rematch of the 1986 final against Argentina in Rome.
West Germany won 1-0, thanks to a single penalty scored by Andreas Brehme in the 85th minute. Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as national team captain in 1974, became the first person to win the World Cup as captain and coach. He is also listed as the second person to achieve success as a player and manager after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo.
Coach and player
The German coaching chair is currently held by Hansi Flick. He replaced Joachim Loew who managed to lead Germany to the 2014 world title.
Hansi Flick is no stranger to the German national team. From 2006 to 2014, he was Joachim Loew’s assistant. Indirectly, Flick was instrumental in shaping the German team that became world champions. “I have bad memories with Spain. But I don’t think it will happen twice,” said Flick Football-Spain.
“Social media fanatic. Problem solver. Bacon ninja. Communicator. Alcohol evangelist.”
