Those of you who saw my article on The 8 Players Who Can Win World Cup 2014 For Their Country will be familiar with this point. For those who missed it, I'll copy the opening paragraph of Scweinsteiger's point for Germany:
Joachim Löw has found himself playing the role of the nearly man for quite some time now. Having taken over the German national side from Jurgen Klinsmann following World Cup 2006, Löw has seen his progression of majors result in: a runners up medal, a 3rd-place finish and a semi-final exit, this super-talented squad of players suffering the most of any from Spains dominance of the international football world.
Whilst the Germans are used to late finishes in international tournaments, it remains since 1996 that they won one and, with Bayern's reestablishment as a force in European football, this is perhaps the perfect moment in evolution for this current crop of extremely talented players. With Lahm and Schweinsteiger advancing in age and the likes of Reus, Götze and Hummels all entering their peaks, it could well soon become now or never for this current batch of Germans (and Polish & Turks). As the man at the helm throughout this generation and, as of yet, without a trophy to his name, Löw is the man whom will take the blame should these Germans fail to win an internation medal. Whether rightly or wrongly, he is the man who has yet to take them to the top and he's down to one last tournament to do so, lest he be remembered as the nearly man who couldn't get the job done.
Betting on being a brilliant brother to Bodhi since 2008 (-1 Asian Handicap). Find me @LiamJJohnson on Twitter where you might find some wonderful pearls of wisdom in a stout cocktail of profanity, football discussion and general musings. Or you might not. Depends how red my eyes are.
