Schweinsteiger seeks era of German domination

David Cooper - Writer 06:08 15/07/2014
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  • On the up: Schweinsteiger (c) feels this generation of German players can win much more.

    Bastian Schweinsteiger is targeting further glory with Germany after finally winning his first major tro­phy with the national side.

    Ever since he made his inter­national debut in 2004, Schwein­steiger had become used to just coming up short in major tourna­ments.

    Of the five he played in prior to Brazil, Schweinsteiger reached the semi-finals on three occasions and at Euro 2008 he was part of the Ger­many team that lost to Spain.

    All that changed on Sunday night, though, when he and his team-mates beat Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup in the Maracana.

    Schweinsteiger does not want this to be the last time he lifts a tro­phy, however.

    With a young squad in place, he feels there is plenty of potential there for Germany to go on and win many trophies in the near future.

    “This will give us hunger now, absolutely,” the midfielder said.

    “We want to do it again at the next tournament.

    “The important thing is that the young guys have the experience of this tournament and we will go to France (for Euro 2016) and try and do it again for sure.

    “We have the experience now from what we have done here and that will help us. I think what hap­pened before in South Africa at the last World Cup helped too.

    “You never know what happens in the future. But we are fit, we are hungry and we have some good players who are 25 years of age and around that age.

    “It won’t be easy because that is a young team.

    “But we also have some play­ers like Philipp Lahm, Mesut Ozil and Per Mertesacker who have the experience. This mix makes a big difference.”

    Having reached the semi-finals at the last two World Cups, plus the final and the semi-finals of the last two European Championships, the Germans arrived as one of the strong pre-tournament favourites.

    And with the pain of recent close calls fresh in the mind there was a tangible sense of expectation with­in Germany that it was the team’s time to go one better.

    Schweinsteiger, however, insists none of that transferred to the squad. Instead he said he felt more under anxious to deliver when he lined up for Bayern Munich against domestic rivals Borussia Dort­mund in an all-German Champions League final in 2013.

    “There was no pressure (in Rio),” he said. “It was different to the game against Dortmund in London. “That was pressure. The 25 minutes in the beginning was not so easy.

    “There was no pressure on us in this game. We just wanted to give our best. Every title is important. I’m happy that we won this title with the guys.

    “Since the tournament was held in Germany in 2006, we always go as far as the semi final, finish in third place or reach the final in 2008 but lose.

    “But now we have taken one step more and that is the most im­portant thing for the whole of this squad.”

    World football has been domi­nated by Spain for a generation now with them tasting success at Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012.

    Yet their early demise in Brazil suggests the end of their golden era, with many believing the Germans can fill the void they have left.

    But Schweinsteiger said: “We have the mentality of the Germans. We can run, we can make pressure, we can defend and the mix between this is the solution.

    “We’re not like Spain, we have a German squad.”

    No European nation had pre­viously lifted the famous trophy on South American soil in four attempts.

    So Schweinsteiger was under­standably proud of his team-mates for writing history in Rio.

    “We are the first European team to win the title in South America, the first team from Europe so it has been special,” the 29-year-old added.

    “We played the final for the Bra­zilians as well because we want to say thank you. We did it.

    “I like the culture of the people. They are happy – not like the Ger­mans sometimes!”

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