SCOTLAND will get a close look at the foundations of a potential dynasty tonight in Dortmund, but if those foundations start to appear shaky they may quickly hear the noise of disapproval. Less than two months since Germany became champions of the world some of the bunting has come down, the lead-up to their first competitive match tarnished by a disconnect between public and team.
In mid-July, that public turned out in huge numbers in Berlin to cheer “Jogi’s Jungs,” head coach Joachim Löw’s youthful World Cup winners. Last Wednesday, though, as Germany lost 4-2 to Argentina in a friendly in Dusseldorf, significant numbers repeatedly booed and whistled one of Jogi’s Not-So-Youngs, the striker Mario Gomez, 29, who has returned to the German team after a year out injured.
Splashed over yesterday’s German newspapers was Gomez’s response. The player had invited reporters to record his unhappiness at what he sees as a habit formed in an era when Germany were not world champions but rather serial semi-finalists and finalists in major tournaments, and at one of which — Euro 2008 — he suffered a run of misses, in front of goal, that drew particular criticism.
“It has become almost a cult thing to whistle me,” Gomez said, hurt that his role as pantomime villain has survived his lengthy absence and found its way into Germany’s post-Brazil period, where Löw seeks to gather the momentum of the Rio triumph and lead a group of even more Jungs to triumph at the 2016 European Championships and at the 2018 World Cup. Gomez has an important role in the medium term and appealed for his lampooners to allow him to set his mind to it without distraction.
He had not had his sharpest night against Argentina, Gomez acknowledged, but added: “The jeers have nothing to do with my play, it’s a historical thing. I’m sure the missed chances just acted as a release for them. But it’s got personal and it’s a cliché.” And it hinders him. “I don’t know many players who play freely when that’s happening,” Gomez said. “I have got used to it, it’s been going on for years. I fight against it. But when my parents are watching, that hurts.”
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But he has a good record for his country: 25 goals from his 60 senior caps. Löw did not take him to the World Cup because a knee injury had kept him out for Fiorentina for all but two months of last season. So Germany travelled to Brazil with the veteran Miroslav Klose as their only centre-forward. The rest is history.
Klose scored the goals that made him the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup finals; plenty of goals came from the stellar collection of young mobile attacking players – Thomas Müller, Andre Schurrle, Mario Gotze and Mesut Ozil — whose all-round abilities have persuaded Löw that he can go into matches without a conventional No 9.
But he is reluctant to prepare for his next tournament without one. Gomez is one of few on his radar, now that Klose, 36, has retired from international football, rendering Jogi’s Jungs even younger, on average. Gomez also represents the sort of senior figure Germany are short of. Philipp Lahm, the captain for the past four years, has also withdrawn, as has Per Mertesacker, the Arsenal defender. Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger, 30, is the new captain, though his fitness problems mean he is unavailable for the meeting with Scotland. Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper, will wear the armband today.
If the retirements of Klose, Lahm and Mertesacker leave gaps for Löw to fill, they suggest that the 2014 champions will resist some of the mistakes made by the last German squad to win a World Cup and set about consolidating their position at the summit.
In the heady aftermath of Rio de Janeiro, it was easy to forget the absence of Gomez. Some supporters may have felt indifferent, even positive, about their favoured boo-boy not being there; but Germany’s injured Billy Whizz, the lightning-fast Marco Reus, was missed at times.
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Dortmund’s Reus is fit and should start against Scotland. He is 25 and can look forward to more opportunities to make up for the medal he missed out on. His colleagues in the two lines of midfield Löw is likely to start with can likewise think about being part of a dynasty that endures into the 2020s. Toni Kroos and Muller are 24, Christoph Kramer 23, Gotze 22.
Löw hopes the return of Jerome Boateng, absent last Wednesday, stabilises a defence that looked loose against Argentina. World champions earn the right to treat friendlies more lightly. Gomez would like to think Germany gained the right to be treated as friends by all their compatriots.