UEFA EURO 2016: Germany team preview

Germany are one of the most decorated teams in terms of European Championship winners medals, having won the tournament in 1972, 1980 and 1996. Above that the Germans won the World Cup in 2014 and with, what looks a very strong squad, will be looking to continue the winning thread. It’s not a surprise that William Hill have them priced as second favourites at odds of 4/1. Many of that World Cup winning squad from four years ago will be in France, with Marco Reus the only notable absentee through injury.

Last time in the Euros (2012) the Mannschaft were eliminated in the semi-final (1:2) by Italy when Mario Balotelli scored twice. And a lot of the players from that tie are also likely to appear in France. They also went deep into the competition in 2008, only to be denied by Spain in the final. Only one player from that line-up remains in this squad and that is Bastian Schweinsteiger. Germany are one of those countries who are either winning the competition or going very close to doing so, rarely are they seen crashing out at an early stage. Here in France big things will be expected from the Bundesteam and as always they are likely to be there or thereabouts at the business end.

Interestingly Germany will meet Poland in Group C, just as they did in qualifying, where it was all even after both sides recorded one win over each other. Another interesting match-up lies ahead and this is likely to be the crucial game for determining who finishes in first in the group.

EURO 2016 Squad

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen).

Defenders: Jonas Hector (Cologne), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Antonio Rüdiger (AS Roma), Emre Can (Liverpool), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders: Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Andre Schürrle, Julian Draxler (both Wolfsburg), Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich (both Bayern Munich), Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United).

Forwards: Mario Götze (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (Besiktas), Leroy Sane (Schalke)

Key Player: Thomas Muller

Bundesliga champion and DFB Pokal (German Cup) winner Thomas Muller is a critical part of this German side and having enjoyed another good season domestically, one that ended with him scoring the winning penalty in the cup final, he will be at the forefront of Germany’s achievements this summer. Muller may well have scored 20 league goals this season (only Lewandowski and Aubameyang managed more in the Bundesliga), but it was his link-up play and assists that were crucial for Bayern Munich.

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With 31 international goals to his name the 26 year old is also the second highest goalscorer in this squad and was unsurprisingly the country’s highest scorer in qualifying with nine goals.

Qualifying

Germany came close to missing out on first place in qualifying but eventually they were able to get the better of Poland and finished one point ahead. Two games between them ended differently: first Poland secured 2:0 victory at home, but then Germany revenged 3:1 in Frankfurt. The Republic of Ireland were also close, stealing four points from Joachim Low’s team.

Group Matches

Germany v Ukraine, June 12, 2016

Germany v Poland, June 16, 2016

Northern Ireland v Germany, June 21, 2016

Click here for the full Euro 2016 match schedule. 

Verdict

As mentioned above, history tells us that Germany are a side who consistently perform well at major tournaments. They’ve reached at least the semi-finals in each of the last four World Cups (two finals) and have made the final and semi-final in the last two European Championships. There’s no doubting that they have a strong squad and you’d be hard pushed to find someone who doesn’t think they’ll do well at this tournament. The Germans also have a squad that is hard to pick holes in, all of their top players have enjoyed good seasons at club level and there appears to be very few weaknesses. They are priced at 7/4 to reach the final and, on reflection, this looks a good bet.