2:00 a.m. June 13, Germany - Ukraine: Regaining prestige?

(Baonghean.vn) - As the reigning world champions, the German national team is certainly a strong candidate in the race for the championship. However, looking at the preparation process before the EURO, fans cannot help but doubt their ability to win the title. The opening match against the Ukrainian national team is an opportunity for the Mannschaft to regain the prestige of the world champions.

Loss of form

Since winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, coach Joachim Loew's team has been inexplicably losing form. The team has lost the image of an "invincible" team with a 19-match unbeaten streak in all competitions. Instead, the German "tank" has only won 10 matches, drawn 2 and lost 7 matches. This is a poor result that does not match the strength of the team that reached the top of the world at the 2014 World Cup.

The German national team is very confident entering the conquest of the EURO 2016 championship.

The start of that series of erratic matches was the humiliating away defeats to the Republic of Ireland and Poland and the draw against the "weak" Republic of Ireland in the qualifying round. This inadvertently made the reigning world champions face many difficulties in the campaign to win a ticket to France. Coach Joachim Loew and his team were only sure to top the group after a 2-1 victory over Georgia in the final match to finish the group stage in first place with 22 points after 10 matches, 1 point more than the second-placed Poland.

Most recently, in the friendly matches to prepare for France to attend the biggest football festival in the continent, coach Joachim Loew's team could not make the home fans feel secure when they lost to England with a score of 2-3 right at home in a match where their defense played very poorly. Losing to a team with great ambitions in EURO this time like England is acceptable because this is mainly a test match. But the 3-1 defeat in Augsburg against the team participating in a EURO for the first time in history, Slovakia, is an alarming thing for the true strength of the German "Tank" on the way to conquering the EURO Silver Cup.

Regain reputation

Putting aside a series of problems that the German "Tank" has encountered in recent times, the Eagles marching to France this time do not hide their ambition to win the championship to add to their glorious achievements after dominating the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Currently, coach Joachim Loew has in his hands the squad that made miracles at the 2014 World Cup such as Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Mario Goetze, Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller... to create a cohesive team capable of defeating any opponent they encounter.

The German tank will have an easy match against the Ukrainian team.

For the Ukrainian team, this is only the second time they have participated in the continent's major football festival. However, that does not mean that the former Soviet Union team should be underestimated. When they overcame the Slovakian team to take second place in Group C, a group with the participation of the reigning European champion Spain, to win the second ticket to France to attend the continent's football festival. The biggest strength of coach Mykhaylo Fomenko's team is their cohesive collective play, with high fighting spirit. In addition, Ukraine also owns Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka, two star wingers with technique and speed that are very suitable for the defensive counter-attacking style of play that they have built.

Having to face a team with a superior level like the German "Tank" in the opening match is a huge obstacle for coach Fomenko and his team. When considering all aspects, this team from Eastern Europe is completely inferior. Besides, the voice of the history of confrontations between the two teams is not in favor of the Ukrainian team. In 5 meetings, the Eastern European team has not once enjoyed the taste of victory, they had to accept 2 defeats, the remaining 3 teams were indecisive.

A notable point is that the German team under the leadership of coach Joachim Loew always has a good start in major tournaments. Since EURO 2008 until now, in 4 opening matches in major tournaments, the "German Tank" has "sung a triumphant song", scoring 11 goals and not conceding any. Especially at the 2014 World Cup, Germany made a strong impression with a 4-0 victory over Portugal.

With a superior squad and a relaxed mentality in the opening match, Coach Joachim Loew's team will not have difficulty defeating the team from Eastern Europe, Ukraine, thereby regaining the prestige of the big team after a series of recent poor matches.

Cao Anh