FIFA World Cup 2018: Germany

As the current holders, plenty of eyes will be on Germany as they seek to bring back the World Cup again from Russia. After their semi-final exit at Euro 2016, there were some questions as to whether Joachim Lows era was coming to a close, with the likes of Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger retiring, only for them to then qualify for this tournament with a spotless record of ten wins from ten and a victory at the Confederations Cup with a second string squad, ensuring expectations remain high.

Germany’s squad

Coach: Joachim Low

Plenty of continuity here. Low has been involved in the Germany set-up since the first changes under Jurgen Klinsmann then succeeded him as head coach following the 2006 World Cup. Hes overseen all of their current period of success, which culminated in victory at the World Cup in Brazil four years ago.

While they began with a quick, vertical gameplan under his stewardship, Low took advantage of many of his squads work with Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich to change to a slower, more possession-orientated style for their victory in Brazil. They at times felt like a Spain-lite though, who got by due to their superior quality of players rather than a perfectly-suited gameplan. Their squad still possesses tremendous quality and depth, but there may be more challengers this time around, with a renewed Spain, a France side that can match their strength in depth and a Brazil team of players at their peak, so Lows tactics may be more significant than before.

Also eats his own snot.

Goalkeepers
Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Kevin Trapp

Defenders
Jerome Boateng, Matthias Ginter, Jonas Hector, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich, Marvin Plattenhardt, Antonio Rudiger, Niklas Sule

Midfielders
Julian Brandt, Julian Draxler, Leon Goretska, Ilkay Gundogan, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Sebastian Rudy

Forwards
Mario Gomez, Thomas Muller, Marco Reus, Timo Werner

Tactics

Although he sometimes used a back three, Low used a 4-2-3-1 in seven of the ten qualifiers, moving away from the 4-3-3 he used in Brazil, with Mesut Ozil brought back into the centre. Having largely been anonymous in the 2014 victory stationed out on the right wing, Ozil is now the main link between defence and attack in Germanys build-up.

The Arsenal man tends not to track back far, instead drifting into a position where he can receive the ball once Germany win it back. The likes of Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer tend to be the men picking up the ball at Germanys base and all of them are capable of picking out long raking passes into the feet of Ozil, so he just maintains the angle to keep himself available and waits. With Timo Werner constantly running in behind ahead him, the wingers making runs to join him and the full-backs bombing forward, Ozil has plenty of options when he does pick up the ball, allowing Germany to quickly spring an attack.

Ozils role isnt generally to play the final pass to set up a goal, but instead to connect the players. This is obvious when Germany are trying to play the ball out from the back, but is also true when they are trying to break down a defence. Ozil will typically hover around outside the box, constantly making himself available for a short pass if a move is breaking down then moving it along with another short pass to change the angle. Much of his play for Germany is similar to that of a pivot in holding midfield despite playing in attack: constantly show for the ball, receive it, move it on quickly and simply.

Hes of course more than capable of picking out a pass, but much of the creativity is left to Thomas Muller and Julian Draxler (although this is likely to be Marco Reus if he can keep fit), who tuck inside between the lines or test the opposition offside line, while the full-backs stay high and wide to maintain the width.

His failure to track back does highlight the key w