(Munich) For its Euro-2024 at home, Germany hopes to relive the experience of 2006 when it reached the semi-finals of the World Cup that it had organized, but it will first have to get out of a trap group with notably Hungary, which has been making constant progress for several years.
In the German collective unconscious, the “Sommermärchen” of 2006 is still very present, this “summer fairy tale” during which Jürgen Klinsmann’s Germany, mired in catastrophic results ahead of the tournament (4-1 in Italy just over three months before the World Cup), reached the final four of “her” World Cup, bringing an entire nation behind her for five weeks of celebration between June 9 and July 9.
This competition was the starting point of a full decade of German presence in the last four of major tournaments, with the climax of the 2014 World Cup won in Brazil (semi-finalist in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2016, finalist in 2008, winner in 2014).
When taking control of the German selection at the end of September 2023, at the bedside of a Mannschaft in deep crisis, the new young coach Julian Nagelsmann (36 years old) had slipped that the ideal scenario was a “Sommermärchen 2.0”.
18 years ago, the Germans put their tournament into orbit by winning 4-2 against Costa Rica in the opening match in Munich.
Eighteen years later, the venue will be the same, the Allianz Arena (renamed Munich Football Arena for the occasion), facing a slightly tougher opponent, Scotland, present for the second consecutive time in the final phase of a Euro after an elimination on 1er tour in 2021 and which hopes to reach the knockout matches of a major tournament for the first time in its history.
In this group, the Germans are favorites for first place, but will have to be wary of Hungary, with its players progressing in the biggest foreign championships, like captain Dominik Szoboszlai, transferred to Liverpool in the summer last and who quickly obtained his starting stripes with Jürgen Klopp’s Reds, before being slowed down by an injury at the start of 2024.
Behind Germany and Hungary, Switzerland will also have some good left to show off. Eighth finalist in the last 2022 World Cup in Qatar (decimated by a virus during the heavy elimination against Portugal 6-1), the Nati can rely on the excellent season of its midfielder Granit Xhaka with Bayer Leverkusen, German champion and Cup winner at the end of an almost perfect season, or his goalkeeper Yann Sommer, Italian champion with Inter Milan.