By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
June 20 – Will the real Super Mario please stand up. That is the clarion cry among German fans ahead of the misfiring world champions’ final Euro 2016 group game against Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland here Tuesday.
Two years ago, Mario Götze came off the bench to become an overnight hero when his sublime extra-time winner in Rio delivered the World Cup to Germany. Fast forward, however, and there are now nagging doubts about whether Joachim Loew’s continuing use of Götze as a False Number 9 will wreck Germany’s hopes of making it a World Cup-Euro double on July 10.
Götze was given the responsibility of leading the line for Die Mannschaft against both Poland and Ukraine but came up short both times as his team again played without an orthodox striker.
Spain may have successfully played the same way when winning the Euros in 2012 but Loew is under pressure to ditch the system and restore Mario Gomez, the only out-an-out striker in his squad, to the attack.
Germany has long boasted an illustrious list of world-class strikers: Gerd Muller, Rudi Voller, Jurgen Klinsmann and, more recently, Miroslav Klose.
Gomez seems ready-made to pick the baton after scoring 28 goals for Besiktas last season, but Loew has so far resisted bringing the 30-year-old out of the international football wilderness.
By the time he came on as a late substitute against the Poles, Germany, who have twice dominated possession in group games without being convincing, had run out of steam. “We could not get chances in the last third of the pitch,” said Loew. “We could not combine and play our football. It was not what I expected.”
Loew’s problem is that Götze’s biggest strength is also his biggest weakness: the adaptability to either play in a variety of positions without nailing down any of them. Aside from scoring the goal to win the World Cup, he has starred in very few high-pressure games.
It almost cost Germany dearly last time out. Without the classy defensive interceptions of man-of-the-match Jerome Boateng, they could easily have lost to the Poles for only the second time in 81 years. Gómez may be used as an impact sub but putting him on too late reduces that impact.
“Normally we combine well but against the Poles we simply couldn’t impose our game,” said Loew. “We have until Tuesday to address the next game.”
Götze, meanwhile, brushed off criticism of his lacklustre performances after failing to carve out a single meaningful chance in Germany’s first two matches. He said footballers were invariably praised one moment then knocked off their perch.
“That is how football works,” Götze told reporters. “Sometimes you are the dog and sometimes you are the tree. Criticism is part of the profession and we can deal with that.”
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