The Giant Germans

The Junkiez continue to analyze International teams and link physicality to style of play and next on the list is Germany. There's only one thing that these guys have in common. They all remind you of that freak at your gym. Germany has always produced the biggest footballers and despite the valiant and admirable attempts made by Ozil and Lahm to break the trend, Germany still stands safely at the top of the "Average Weight" and "Average Height" rankings. Here's the line-up: Manuel Neuer ( 6ft 4" and 200lbs), Mats Hummels ( 6ft 3" and 200lbs), Per Mertesacker (6ft 6", 187lbs), Bastien Schweinsteiger ( 6ft 0", 174lbs), Mario Gomez ( 6ft 2 1/2", 187lbs). Really? Is this the WWE?

Now, when 9 of 11 players on the field are above 6ft tall, its easy to see why Germany are always a great threat from set pieces, especially when they always seem to have a Ozil to swing the crosses in. Their vertical dominance, however, seems to be best expressed defensively. At six feet plenty, Germans are defensively well placed. Set pieces are defended easily, and their long reaches mean that their sliding tackles stretch to infinity and beyond. Their weight also allows them to push the opponent off the ball and play a more physical game. Its also more defensively assuring to have a giant between the sticks. Oliver Khan (6ft 2"), Jens Lehmann (6ft 3") and Manuel Neuer (6ft 4") represent commanding penalty area presences. Germany are known for their powers of penalty taking. The specialist say penalty taking is about psychological as much as technical dominance. So the secret behind Germany's penalty success is absolutely crystal as a man 6ft 6" is much more intimidating than one 5ft 7''.

There is only one possible downside to the German style of play. In this era of obsession with player protection and "beautiful" football and the increased number of Olympic divers in the sport, Germans are quickly penalized by referees for as much as rubbing on another player. No matter how good a team is......if you're 1 man down, you're gonna find it hard to win games.

Kareem.......signin' out!