Der Deutsche Fussball Bund

A few people have asked me what I make of the current state of the German national football team, given that I am a devoted fan.

So as I sit here on the Sports Desk on a slow Sunday afternoon desperatly trying to find a fresh angle on a Kelly Holmes interview from yesterday, and studying the Russian Open for a interesting angle I think I will give you my thoughts.

My starting off point is from an article I read on Goal.com ,a fantastic football, website. The article argues Germany's decade of not winning anything is abit of a failure, as this is the first time we have doen this since the 60's. My arguement is ...

Germany have done what is expected of them over the past decade and Euro 08. In Euro 08 specifically, we got to the the final relatively comfortably and were beaten by a better team.

We truimphed over our weaker opposition such as Turkey, Austria and Poland efficiently and as we knew we would face Portugal at some stage, we were prepared and stepped up our game for them.

The squad, however, did not have the strength and depth to evolve and beat Spain. It also could be argued this was the only game in the competition we could not really prepare for given the nature of the draw.

As for the squad we took to Euro 08 and in previous tournements Michael Ballack is our only World Class player, but other players have stepped up in other individual tournements.

In 2002 it was Oliver Kahn and Klose, in 2006 Podolski and Klose ran were the heroes, and in 2008 Schweinsteiger was the man.

Obviously it can be argued who did what in these tournements, but fundementally the German teams have been solid units from which only Ballack can consistently be considered a class above.

Euro 08 was no different, and our limitations were obvious, Lehmann is a stop gap Keeper likewise Fritz and, when he is not fit, Frings.

But our unit was one of the strongest in the tournement.

To go one further and win the competition like in 2006 and 2002 what we have needed is an additional World Class offensive player, someone who could play up front and allow Pod to play on the wing or on the wing so Pod could go upfront.

I thought it would be Gomes this time around, needless to say, it wasn't. In 2002 we needed a pace merchant like Podolski but he was still in nappies.

And in 2006 we needed... i dunno, something. But then again we were at home so everyone stepped up.

A decade of failure? No !, A decade of success? Not really.

I'm willing to put our poor performances in Euro 2000 and 2004 down as results of internal disputes, a tough draw and a gearing up for hosting the World Cup.

It has been a decade of beating teams that are worse than us and losing to better teams, very German.

The next Generation will be of a similar ilk, Neuer, Kroos and Marin will be just as effective and good, plus a few guys like Klose will come good out of nowhere.

But like all German teams , and this is sitting on the fence abit, they will do as well as can be expected and maybe abit better. A very high quality of average sometimes crossing over to World Class.