By Ridge Mahoney in Berlin
The players believe. The coach believes. And maybe now, most of the nation believes.
Germany swayed many Germans who doubt their team can win the World Cup by easing past Ecuador, 3-0, to finish atop Group A on Monday.
As they streamed out of the Olympiastadion, site of the final July 9, fans bubbled with enthusiasm and the confidence their team would be back to play for the title. Coach Juergen Klinsmann, maligned for spending much of his two years in charge as a California resident, is generating press support to be re-hired. The support is far from universal but a few weeks ago it was nonexistent. Victory has a way of swaying public opinion.
Miroslav Klose, top scorer in the Bundesliga this past season with 25 goals, nailed his third and fourth goals of the competition, Michael Ballack played some superb balls including one to set up Klose, and a solid defensive effort led by Per Mertesacker shut down an Eucadoran team lacking striker Agustin Delgado and four other starters rested by Coach Luis Suarez.
Klose is brimming with confidence, by far the most vital element in a scorerÆs psyche. With him as a pointman, the more mobile Lucas Podolski can check back and roam underneath to latch onto balls played by Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger and Bernd Schneider, who is one of several role players neatly slotted into the system by Klinsmann. Torsten Frings busily cleans up loose balls and kills opposing attacks with tackles and fouls.
Schweinsteiger usually drifts to the left and is the more aggressive of the two outside midfielders. Schneider can also get to the line but often bides his time as the ball is played on the other side of the field and slides forward at the right moment.
His clever first-time lob provided Klose with a chance to hit a vicious volley over the crossbar, and he flew down the flank before centering a low ball Podolski stuck into the net for the third goal.
KloseÆs skied miss might have intimidated a striker stuck in a dry spell, but he persisted. Later in the match after heÆd scored twice and was one goal short of a hat trick, Klose broke through on the right but instead of shooting instead squared a ball for Podolski. The shot was saved, and Podolski, while frustrated, applauded the opportunity provided by his teammate.
Ecuador played most of the match at half-speed, conserving energy for their round-of-16 match Sunday against England, which twice took the lead but had to settle for a 2-2 tie with Sweden. Germany plays the Swedes Saturday in Munich and off this performance must be confident.
Klinsmann has stuck with Mertesacker, a teammate of U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo at Hannover, while snubbing veteran Christian Worns and assigning Jens Novotny to the bench. At nearly 6-foot-5, Mertesacker appears gangly and awkward, but he turned nimbly to hit a half-volley across goal that Schweinsteiger set up for KloseÆs second score, won a lot of balls in the air, and stepped up to strip away passes as opponents prepared to collect them.
Steel in the middle has been missing in the German lineup since Klinsmann took over two years ago. The back line has been as leaky as the stadium roof that spilled rainwater onto the field at the Confederations Cup last year, and dark mutterings were heard after Paulo Wanchope twice stormed through offside traps for goals in GermanyÆs 4-2 opening-day win over Costa Rica.
The defense toughened up in a nervous 1-0 win over Poland and was seldom threatened by Ecuador, although Philipp Lahm, perhaps the best attacking left back in the competition of European vintage, slipped a couple of times to leave his corner exposed, and right back Arne Freidrich is not universally acclaimed.
The world knows about goalie Jens Lehmann, Ballack, Klose and Podolski and their coach, Klinsmann. But GermanyÆs ultimate fate depends on Schneider, Metersacker, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Frings, the supporting members in KlinsmannÆs cast.