10 July,2010 06:28 AM IST | | Carlos Monteiro
Germany's 'rainbow warriors' may not have won the World Cup but their impact on the 2010 tournament has been phenomenal.
Mesut Oezil's parents are from Turkey. pics/AFP
u00a0Coach Joachim Loew's youth policy transformed Germany and leaves them with a fantastic platform for 2014. He placed his faith in the country's emerging talents, men like Mesut Oezil (21), Sami Khedira (23) and attacking forward Thomas Mueller (20). With their adventurous style, the youngest squad at South Africa 2010 showed that Germans can play beautiful, attacking football while maintaining their organisation and shape in defence.
Though they failed to subdue the Spaniards in the semi-final, Germany will get the chance to sign off in style when they face Uruguay for the third place decider in Port Elizabeth tonight.
Modern Germany boasts a rich ethnic flavour. And the 23 men, who wear the colours of Deutschland seem to represent that diversity, including players with roots in Turkey, Ghana, Brazil, Poland, Bosnia and Tunisia among other countries.
Eleven of Loew's squad could actually have played for nations other than Germany. The pick of the lot is Oezil, a German of Turkish descent. The Werder Bremen man with the sweet left foot had just nine caps before the WC but he leaves South Africa a celebrated star coveted by Arsenal among other European giants.
Marinke and Martin from Munich were part of the thousands who flew in from Europe to support their heroes.u00a0 "This team is much like our society todayu00a0-- very diverse and well integrated. It reflects modern Germany, where a lot of second-generation or immigrant Germans play an integral part in daily life," said Martin.
"Klose and Podolski started this trend in 2006 and Joachim Loew's team has carried it forward, helping Germany redefine its identity," said Martin.
"During the last World Cup in Germany 2006, we managed to reassert our national pride through our football team. The whole country is behind them, irrespective of our ethnic background," said Marinke.
"We always knew what they were capable of, especially after the season that Bayern Munich had in Europe," said Marinke. "But their adventurous style of football made us all proud."
I was in Germany for the entire 2006 World Cup and the wave of patriotism it engendered was incredible.
Though Germany didn't end up winnersu00a0-- they beat Portugal 3-0 to win third placeu00a0-- their journey to the semi-final fired the imagination of the nation as the black, red and gold flags came out with spirited fervour. It clearly seemed like the country was shedding the stigma of its inglorious past to embrace a brave new world.
