World Domination

Not only has the dust settled on it, Brazil 2014 now feels like a lifetime ago. In the last seven days, Phillip Lahm has gone from preparing for the biggest game of his life to the elation of lifting the World Cup and now he's announced his retirement from the national team. A week is a long time in football.

Germany are an easy team to sleep on, not least of all because it doesn't seem to take much for them to reach the latter stages of any tournament. Consistency often gets overlooked and even if this current incarnation isn't quite as robotic as generations past, they are every bit as consistent. What's remarkable for me is that they only really played well over the course of two halves. Their opening bursts against Portugal and Brazil were but glimpses of Germany at their best (and also front row seats to established nations at their worst) which then makes me wonder just how far they can go.

Suggestions of emulating Spain I think are wide of the mark, both in terms of winning tournament after tournament and the kind of impact that they had on the international game. To win the next European Championships would be some achievement, especially given that it's expansion now all but eliminates the threat of a major side missing out. Not only that, France on home soil will be among the favourites and have a particular score to settle with the Germans should they meet. 

No doubt Joachim Löw's team will be well placed for a while. There are still players breaking through and the current generation (the retiring Lahm aside) still have years at the very top. The wealth of good young talent is why many envisage the world game again being controlled by one power so soon after Spain's grip has been broken.