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For those of us who follow football, Germany's win wasn't a surprise by any stretch of imagination. When Mario Gotze controlled the ball on his chest and volleyed it past Argentine keeper Romero, he vindicated the efforts put in place in 2002 to overhaul their youth system. And we've a feeling that this is just the beginning of a new era of domination that just might overshadow Spain's tiki-taka reign. That Germany was the favourite is an understatement after their 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil, but German football's rise to the top was a carefully planned process that saw them dominate tournaments with a brand of exciting football. But this is their first trophy since Euro 96 and you get the feeling that they're just getting started.
The birth of a new German football team
Germans have often been synonymous with efficiency, hardly a team that made your pulse race. Of course now their efficiency is married to amazing attacking football and tactics that take the breath away. The first signs that Germany were going to become something special were seen in the 2009 European Under 21-Championships which saw them beating England 4-0 in the final. That team had six members of the current team: Manuel Neuer, Benedikt H wedes, Mats Hummels, J r me Boateng, Sami Khedira and Mesut zil.
The overhaul of the youth structure following a disastrous Euro 2000 campaign saw Germany focus on producing youngsters with good technique. The German Football Association travelled all over the world in search of the best practices to produce youngsters. The first step was the creation of academies right across the top two divisions.
They've over 1000 part-time coaches who are expected to scout and train talented youngsters. Unlike say England, where the Football Association depends on the clubs for training youngsters, the DFB help even with the clubs' recruitments.
Post-Euro 2000, the focus was on employing more coaches and upgrading facilities and developing fluid formations that require players who think fast on their feet. The approach is also different. Another major initiative was the '50% plus one' rule from 2001 which requires Bundesliga clubs to be owned by their members which in turn helps keep the national identity intact. This also prevents foreign owners whose sole initiative is to win at any costs. And the German national team mainly consists of these youngsters now.
They either play for Bayern Munich or BVB Dortmund who contested the 2013 Champions League semi-final while others like Khedira or Ozil were part of teams that won the league or cup in their respective clubs. The competition for places is so high that a player like Mario Goetze who scored the winning goal actually couldn't make the first team. He would've walked into any other national team in the world.
Before the match against Germany, Brazilian captain Thiago Silva was confident his team wouldn't buckle under pressure thanks to the fact the Brazilians were getting advice from top sports psychologist Regina Brand o from Unicamp in Sao Paulo. He had said: 'If we are not at ease, things won't happen the way we want them to.' Apparently, each member of the Brazilian team had been given a battery of psychological tests to evaluate their emotional reactions in different situations. They were presented with different stimuli and their reactions were analysed and the aim was to put them 'at ease on the pitch'. But all that meant for nothing as Brazil, missing their main men Neymar and Thiago Silva capitulated spectacularly against the Germans. So while the entire nation pandered to Neymar's injury, the Germans waited quietly to take them apart in their own backyard which they did in spectacular fashion.
While Germany didn't hit the same heights against Argentina, their victory almost seemed inevitable. After all, they had worked for 12 years for this. One gets the feeling that this is by no means the end, but just the beginning as Coach Joachim Low promised before the match. Low said: 'We can play on top of the world for a good few years yet, with some young players coming in to reinforce the team. We have players with a fantastic future Ilkay Gundogan, Marco Reus, Ozil, Schurrle and Muller. They can be a force for years.'
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