BFW Roundtable: How do you feel about Germany’s chances at the World Cup in Qatar?

With the Bavarian Football Works’ recruitment program, a few known faces from the comments section and some fresh faces have joined the big leagues, now boasting the ultimate flex of writing for BFW. This means people with fresh opinions, writing styles and biases.

The easiest way for us newcomers to showcase our opinions to the audience is through a roundtable and I thought, why not host a roundtable on the hot topic of the year, Germany’s chances at the World Cup?

Our guest of honour, herr Schnitzel will open this roundtable with his take.

Schnitzel

I think Germany are among the favorites to win it all in Qatar, and not without reason. The side has looked different since Hansi Flick had taken over, and the football the play involves the same high-octane gegenpressing approach, aka the “Flicki-flaka” that enjoyed so much success at Bayern. Besides, the squad is littered with world class players and proven matchwinners and has a great mix of youth and experience.

Thomas Müller has been used to perfection in this new setup, where he’s been contributing to every facet of the attack. Kai Havertz has embraced his role as a false 9, while the emergence of Jonas Hofmann and David Raum as one of international football’s most potent fullback duos has been a sight to behold. In fact, I can say without hesitation that they’re definite upgrades over Robin Gosens and Lukas Klostermann or whoever else Joachim Löw used in those positions.

With the new setup, Kimmich always plays at the 6, and bosses that role. There has been no braindead juggling of the spots. No ‘Goretzka at RW’ moments, no more back threes (which didn’t suit Germany well), no more Thomas Müller benching (finally!), and most importantly, an actual plan to attack and destroy the opposition quickly. Granted, the games against Hungary and the first draw against Italy were quite lackluster (and in no small part due to Sane and Gnabry shooting themselves on the foot), but the games against England and Italy (II) showed us that if anything, this squad is the real deal. At least as long as Flick doesn’t insist on starting Timo Werner at the 9.

Muller_Era

As a long-time fan, who has had the pleasure of witnessing the highs and lows of Die Mannschaft, I haven’t been this excited about watching Germany play in a while. The Euros were depressing and cursed, with the infamous #25 Müller kit. The Nations League, in hindsight, is an awful idea, with its congested fixture list. It also has further implications on the energy levels of the players going into the new seasons of their respective leagues.

Nevertheless, it was an opportunity to review Germany’s future, assess options and most importantly, test ourselves against bigwigs like Italy and England. This assessment couldn’t have been possible in friendlies against the likes of Liechtenstein and Andorra.

From having watched these fixtures, certain things remain obvious. Germany are going into this competition as a team of underdogs.

That being said, I feel we are second to none in terms of how concordant we perform as a team and Hansi’s tactics are certainly the mainstay of our performances. In this aspect, we have established ourselves to be ahead of other teams like France, who outclass us in individual player brilliance, which isn’t everyone’s saving graces. The ability to work as a unit is pivotal for success.

This is not to underplay the importance of having exceptionally talented players. The lack of such players in Die Mannschaft will cause us to fall short of other competitors, in perhaps the latter stages of our World Cup campaign.

The realistic expectation out of Germany would be to make it past the quarter-finals.

But who knows what exactly could happen? We might be in for a (pleasant) surprise with this team!

Frank

My hope is that Germany shows progress.

I’m keeping my expectations low, because Germany has really burned me over years of (relative) failure. Going out in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup and getting relegated from the Nations League were absolutely unacceptable for a country of Germany’s stature in the world of football. Going out in the round of 16 was, to me, acceptable, but only because the team had lowered my expectations. Therefore, I’m expecting Germany to bow out in the quarterfinals this time around.

Don’t get me wrong, Germany has a chance of winning the entire tournament. Flick is starting to really show his mark on the team and the team itself seems better than in recent years. The team has struggled for a long time with generating quality full backs (with Lahm the obvious exception), so to see David Raum break into the team and Flick adapting the side to fit Hofmann at right back is great to see.

The midfield looks really strong with Ilkay Gündogan, Kimmich and Goretzka as three top class options. As always, the attack is missing a striker to put the ball in the back of the net, but there are plenty of quality attacking players despite that problem.

I just think this tournament comes too soon. Flick’s ideas are sinking in. The team is starting to look cohesive. The future looks really bright for the first time in a while. If Flick’s team continues to progress, then maybe Euro 2024 is the right time for Germany to challenge for the title. But not yet.

Marclk

We’re 150 days away from the world’s largest sporting event, and all eyes are on Germany. After an embarrassing exit from the World Cup in 2018, Die Mannschaft are looking for redemption this year in Qatar. And then after the early exit in the Euros, Joachim Löw’s 15 years in charge ended. In comes Hansi Flick, a coach who almost single handedly led Bayern Munich to the sextuple in the 2019/20 season. To this date, the German national team remains undefeated. But, will it be a fresh start with the old glories at the end of the road? Or another overhyped, overconfident attempt to attain redemption from the fans?

After the switching of managers, Germany seems to have a renewed energy in their games. Hansi Flick is simply superb when it comes to communication, not only with the players, but also with the staff and the fans. Personally, I feel that it is this skill that has invigorated Die Mannschaft and has given them the fresh energy for all of their games. The coach seems to have everything well organized and it looks like he will be able to build a squad quickly, in time for the World Cup in November. I think that the team has an abundant amount of talent in their squad, especially now that the legends of the game have been called up again. However, I also think that the squad isn’t quite there yet, and might need a little more time to get used to the new coach and to develop chemistry among their fellow players.

In a nutshell, Germany has pretty good chances of reaching far in the tournament, and even potentially winning it (but I wouldn’t bet on that last part!).

RIP London Teams

Let me begin by saying that I’m liking our chances at the World Cup. After being dumped out of the Euros in the RO16 last year, I was unsure of our direction and where we would go from there. But then, the man, the myth, the legend that is Hansi Flick came in and turned our fortunes around. Flick is undefeated in 13 games so far as Germany coach. Compared to the football we’ve seen in the twilight of Joachim Löw’s stint as Germany’s Bundestrainer, I’ve already seen improvement.

The Nations League is the first big test for Flick and Germany to see how they square up against Europe’s heavyweights, and England. In four games so far, they’ve triumphed in one game and drew the other three. Those three draws were mainly unfortunate because those were winnable games, but instead dropped points. There’s always the 5-2 win against Italy to cheer me up.

Now on to our group in Qatar, Group E. Barring any sort of upset (this applies to the rest of the teams), I fancy our chances in the group, and I believe we have the goods to advance to the knockouts. Spain is gonna be close, while Japan and Costa Rica shouldn’t be a problem. If we get out of the group, which I personally see as a victory, we get someone from Group F which consists of Belgium, Canada, Morocco, and Croatia. I can see Belgium easily finishing top, which means they face whoever is second in our group. Not ideal for the RO16. If we finish top, we get one of Belgium’s more manageable groupmates. In the Quarterfinals, we could get Brazil or Portugal (again barring any upsets).

A quick review of our side of the bracket if we’re in the knockouts shows quite a tough road to the final. With that in mind, I will say that we can get to the Semifinals if we’re lucky; the RO16 is the absolute minimum, while the Quarterfinals seems fair.

Zippy

In 2018, Germany were touted to have a three-deep set of teams that could make the semifinals. As it happened, not even the A team made the knockouts.

This time, Die Mannschaft find their luster much diminished. Quietly, though, they have been retooling and reloading. Last year’s gritty performance in the Euros was, in my view, relatively under-appreciated. That’s okay: being overlooked will suit them fine.

Under Flick, questions about roster balance and tactics have been answered in a way not seen in years. Partly that’s the emergence of certain players, namely Raum and Hofmann. Partly it’s the coach: while Löw was a respected tactician as far as NT coaches go, Flick is a treble winner and elite man manager. His crew will be one the of the most cohesive and locked-in of the tournament.

But tournaments are far from assured, and Group E won’t be a cakewalk. There’s no margin for error anyways.

I fully expect an emphatic, convincing display from the Germans once more. Whether that’s enough to take them far? We’ll see. Essentially, the title should be achievable with this group, especially if either Havertz or Werner make strides as the 9. Whatever the case, one thing’s for sure: Germany will be extremely fun to watch, a sort of no-holds-barred, barely controlled chaos. Especially for fans of Bayern and Flick; I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

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What do you guys think about Germany’s chances? Let us know in the comments!