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Run to finals began 14 years ago for Germany

Plan put in place back in 2000 close to completion

by Kadeem Simmonds

Germany’s 7-1 mauling of Brazil will be all for nothing if they fail to beat Argentina tomorrow in the World Cup final.

Their reaction after the quarter-final win over France and Tuesday’s semi-final victory over the hosts told the world that they know the job isn’t done yet and the celebrations will start only if they lift the Jules Rimet trophy.

They have arguably been the team to watch this summer and fully deserve their place in the final. 

But the hard work didn’t start on June 16 when they easily defeated Portugal 4-0. It started 14 years ago.

Ironically it was the Portuguese who taught the German’s a lesson, defeating them 3-0 in the final group stage of the 2000 European championships and condemning them to an early exit in the group stage.

Germany went back to the drawing board and started again. The emphasis was on bringing through a new generation of technically gifted footballers and implementing a system throughout all age groups of the national team.

Euro 2004 they were once again knocked out of the group stage but four of their 23-man squad for this tournament played in the final group game against the Czech Republic.

Phillip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger started in the 2-1 loss while Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose came off the bench.

By time the 2010 World Cup came around manager Joachim Loew, who had taken over from Jurgen Klinsmann, had decided it was time to unleash the new generation of players onto the field.

Their 4-1 victory over England in the round of 16 was followed by a 4-0 drubbing of tomorrow’s opponents. Their lack of tournament experience showed in the 1-0 defeat to Spain in the semi-finals but this was a team built for the future.

Euro 2012 was meant to be when the team kicked on but they were easily defeated 1-0 by Italy in the semi-finals and many thought that this group of players may lack that little extra to reach the next level.

But over the past month they have gone about their business in the most professional fashion. 

They dominated from start to finish in the quarter-finals against Les Blues and barely had to come out of second gear against Brazil.

They built their own training complex out in Brazil, showing the rest of the nations that they are here to win. And they are 90 minutes away from completing a dream which began in 2000.

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