TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – As the country with the second highest number of World Cup trophies, the German national team has become one of the best in the world. The team was in the spotlight in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals after beating Brazil 7-1 and winning the trophy after eliminating an Argentina match that was in its best form.
The 2014 achievements made Germany close to Brazil’s record as the owner of the most World Cup titles in football history. In total, Der Panzer has collected four titles in the 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014 editions.
Germany confirmed their ticket to the 2022 World Cup after topping the European Zone Qualification Group I standings. They collected 27 points with a score of nine wins and one draw. In Qatar, they are in Group E with Spain, Japan and Costa Rica.
The 2022 edition will be Germany’s 20th World Cup participation. The team nicknamed Der Panzer first participated in the World Cup in 1930. They began to show their fangs in the 1954 edition. At that time, West Germany, captained by Fritz Walter, met Turkey, Yugoslavia and Austria. Against favorites Hungary in the group stage, they lost 3-8.
However, the West German team met again with Hungary who was then unbeaten for 32 matches in a row. West Germany finally won 3-2 through goals scored by Helmut Rahn. The success was called the “Bern Miracle” (Das Wunder von Bern).
Hosted the 1974 World Cup, Germany won its second World Cup after beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final which took place in Munich. The group stage, at that time, featured a politically charged match when West Germany against East Germany ended with the score 0-1.
However, West Germany advanced to the final against a Dutch team led by Johan Cruijff and his Total Football. The Netherlands took the lead through a penalty kick. However, West Germany equalized through a Paul Breitner penalty, and won it with Gerd Müller’s perfect finish ending De Oranje’s resistance.
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), UAE (5–1), Netherlands (2–1), Czechoslovakia (1–0) and England (1–1, 4–3 on penalties). That 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 captain of the national team in 1974, became the first person to win the World Cup as captain and manager. He is also listed as the second person to succeed as a player and manager after Mario Zagallo from Brazil.
Coach and Player
The German coaching chair is currently held by Hansi Flick. He replaced Joachim Loew who managed to bring Germany to the 2014 World Title.
Hansi Flick is no stranger to the German national team. In 2006-2014, he was assistant to Joachim Loew. Indirectly, Flick had a role in forming the German squad that became world champions. “I have bad memories with Spain. But I don’t think this will happen twice,” Flick said Football-Espana.
