The trajectory of Philipp Lahm’s career is that of someone meticulously ticking items off a bucket list. Bayern Munich, the team he supported as a boy, won eight German championships. He served as captain for six years. He led the club to a domestic and European treble. A year later, he captained Germany to the World Cup title.
Now, a few years after his retirement, Lahm has become a respected figurehead throughout German football: smart, thoughtful, careful in his actions, but also candid when needed. He has held some honorary ambassadorships, but in 2020 he got a real job as Euro 2024 tournament director.
However, despite his other achievements, Lahm will always be remembered by his home country for leading the 2006 Sommermärchen (Fairytale Summer). For the team, he started with a goal in Munich’s opening game against Costa Rica.
Of course, Germany didn’t win that World Cup. The host’s run technically ended in heartbreak. If anything, though, it enhances the meaning given to it later. For Germany, the 2006 World Cup was always less about results and more about – in a surprisingly literal sense – the friends made along the way.
Just one game into this year’s tournament, it is now being asserted that Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz, the hosts’ Euro 2024 opener, is destined to follow Lahm’s lead. It’s still early days for the road.
Perhaps this 5-1 dominant victory over a determined but clearly underdog Scotland will prove to be a false dawn. Maybe one of Wirtz’s teammates will dominate the World Cup, or at least Germany’s games, and he’ll be central to the story. (Jamal Musiala, if you want a name.) Maybe Germany will go on to win the whole thing, the details disappearing from the picture.
Championships are like butterflies, all with their own unique colors and patterns, but it’s only after they emerge from their cocoons that they begin to become clear. (Note: This may not be true for butterflies, but for metaphorical purposes, go with it.) They don’t stay the same either. Over time, they can become shiny, mottled, or fade.
This was indeed the case in 2006. Germany keenly recalls how happy it was then and how unhappy it appears now, with war not far from its borders, a stagnant economy and the rise of the far right.
But this is a trick of light. In 2006, the country was also restless, unsure of how the game would be played and uncomfortable with the idea of celebrating itself in public. It was Ram’s intervention that changed the situation. Only then did Germany begin to discern the colors of that bright and vivid summer.
Well, whatever the outcome of Germany’s story, we can hope that Wirtz’s goal will have the same effect 18 years later. This game will not solve any of the problems plaguing Germany and Europe. No matter how exaggerated UEFA’s mission statements and slogans, it’s a tall order for the sporting world. It’s not a panacea.
That doesn’t mean it can’t provide welcome relief next month. Wirtz’s goal, and the four that followed, calmed Germany’s sporting nerves – a lingering feeling that humiliation on the pitch might be waiting – and for now, that might be enough .
Despite all the worries, all the anxieties, Germany still holds on to a glimmer of hope, promising something inspiring, happy, and – in the best way possible – amazingly trivial that might be exciting . That might be all it takes to help the country embrace the World Cup: it feels like this might actually be a few weeks to remember.
Euro fever: patient observations
Some thoughts as we started:
get ready to have fun I don’t think this is the first men’s tournament in nearly a decade that will represent a major logistical undertaking for fans in most of the participating countries. The past two World Cups, held in Russia and Qatar, were financially tight, practically challenging, and morally complex. The last edition of the European Championships, which was held across the continent, was stifled by travel restrictions.
Not since France and Euro 2016 has participation in a tournament – or even necessarily a competition – looked so simple. As the slogan goes, Germany is at the heart of Europe. Both the Netherlands and Poland will attract huge crowds of fans following them, but a special mention must also be made of Scotland.
On Thursday morning I flew out of Manchester Airport (which, you will know, is not in Scotland). My flight, like the airport, was packed with Scotland fans, most of whom were in full tartan attire. This was especially notable since my flight was to Rome. This was not the only detachment of the Tartan Army to take a circuitous route: it was estimated that as of Friday there were around 200,000 Scots in Munich. In other words, that’s 4% of the country’s population.
orange house Just before I left, my son and I met a neighbor who asked which European Cup team had the wider support of the Smith family. Of course, he was looking forward to England, maybe Scotland.
Instead, my son proudly announced that next month he will become Dutch. I have to explain: my son is British, of course, but at six years old, country is still a vague, nebulous concept. Presumably he was loyal to that to some extent, but he didn’t feel it as immediately and keenly as his loyalty to the greater glory of Virgil van Dijk.
returned home? Gareth Southgate’s attitude towards the England manager’s job is perhaps best summed up by the way it might end. Regardless of how his (surprisingly) audacious side performs in Germany, it is widely believed that this could be his last game.
However, this decision need not be made hastily. Southgate’s contract expires in December, an unusual timeframe for international coaches (who usually work from one major tournament to the next). This is very much Southgate’s style: once the excitement/regret subsides, he and the English football authorities have a chance to re-examine and reflect on the correct course of action.
Likewise, the fact that his employer has a succession plan in place deserves credit. Less laudably, it was suggested that they would be more than happy to appoint a non-British manager to replace him. It is one of my few firm beliefs that major footballing nations should not have foreign coaches.
I realize, this sounds terrible, but rest assured, it’s not rooted in some kind of neolithic conservatism. International football competitions are designed to test a country’s sports and cultural strength. If major countries cannot produce good managers, then they should address this shortcoming organically rather than importing them from a capable country. (Yes, Belgium and Portugal, I’m looking at you.)
United States 1, Brazil 1 If preparations for the European Cup felt relatively low-key until the very last minute, it’s safe to say that the upcoming Copa America hasn’t really captured the imagination of Europeans yet.
But that doesn’t mean the U.S.’s draw with Brazil was ignored: If this feels like a sign that the Selecao are still a work in progress, it should be a sign that Gregg Berhalter — and his ball team and his country – bringing considerable rewards to encourage participation in the competition.
So far, his reign has felt like it lacked a signature result: a proof of concept, a sign of what might be coming. A draw with Brazil, against a slightly weaker team, even in an adjusted game, wasn’t quite up to par. However, it suggests that the Copa America may be a stage where Team USA can find its way.
