Das Reboot: How German Football Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World Paperback – 19 May 2016

Das Reboot tells the story about German football that led up to their incredible victory in the World Cup of 2014. Many forget that up to 2014 Germany had not won a major football title since 1996, despite being one of the great powers of World football. Despite making the 2002 World Cup final (which they lost 0-2 to Brazil) German football was in crisis since their last major tournament victory in the 1996 Euro. In 1998 they had been eliminated from the World Cup in humiliating fashion by Croatia, and in 2000 and 2004 they had fallen in the group stages of the Euro.This was not the Germany that everyone expected to win, not least themselves. Amid this two forces faced one another, the conservative forces that argued that German football should continue with its values and style that had before led them to victories, and a more reformist group of coaches and football managers that wanted to adapt German football to a more modern attacking style, and not least to a changing Germany. The book traces the likes of Dietrich Weise, who helped set up a reformed youth system for spotting and nurturing talent, including working with schools, in that footballers should also have education, as aptly put by Volker Kersting, the youth director at Mainz (one of the clubs that gave birth to much of the renewed focus): “...the brain is the most important thing a footballer possesses. What doesn't happen upstairs can't happen down below at the feet either.” But Weise is not alone, but notably a group of managers who promoted youth at club level, Ralf Rangnick, Jurgen Klopp, Thomass Tuchel and Mattias Sammer, all had important roles in the transition of German football.The 2006 World Cup in Germany plays a central role in the tale. Jurgen Klinsmann became the unlikely manager who wanted to change German football. As much as ever, Germany had to win the World Cup at home, but when they didn't, it was not a catastrophe. Quite on the contrary, the 2006 team became one of the most popular teams of German history. Its attacking style, flat hierarchy, relaxed attitude and friendly players became a symbol of a marvellous World Cup, greatly described in the documentary “Ein Sommermärchen”.In 2006 football in Germany was no longer about winning only, but captured the wider imagination of Germans.Germany built on the 2006 World Cup “success” for the following years. Under Klinsmann's assistant, Joachim Low, they continued building on the attacking style and involving players in decision-making. In 2008 and 2010 they lost the Euro final and World Cup semifinal, respectively, to the best Spanish side of all time. In 2012 they lost in the Euro semifinal to Italy, but one could already see the potential of a technically skilled and confident team before the 2014 World Cup. The fruits of the focus on youth could already be seen in 2009, when German youth sides, who had never performed well, in one year won the u-17, u-19 and u-21 European championships. The victories counted up to 10 players who would eventually be part of the 2014 triumph.The book is excellent as it inter-changes chapters on the background, and then the actual build-up to the 2016 final at the Maracana. Each of the major matches gets a chapter, with the matches against Algeria and Brazil being very interesting. Against Algeria Germany was under enormous pressure against a team that had read well their style. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved Germany, who in the end with patience and ball possession wore down the brave Algerians.For the Brazil semi-final it is interesting it is to read how the German team had studied Brazil's weaknesses. Brazil had indeed not been strong in the tournament, and the German's downplayed their chances, while knowing that Brazil was under enormous pressure to build the World Cup at home, something that the Germans had themselves been under in 2006.The description of the final is fascinating, also considering that it was never a given that Germany would win; Argentina had one of the best teams in the world, and had it not been for Higuain's misses history might well have been different. But the description of Mario Gotze's winning goal is excellent. Gotze himself a fruit of the youth system and an avid user of a computer simulation where players were made to repeat a move similar to the goal move, is in the book the ultimate proof of the successful transformation of German football.I like the book because unlike many other books it does not go into gossiping or some pseudo-psychological analysis of people. The focus is on football. In that regard it may be too detailed for the un-initiated. The book requires some prior knowledge of older German players, results and teams, or one will have a difficult time appreciating all the changes and details. But f you have that knowledge and an interest beyond German football, but also on football in general (I could not stop thinking why Brazil has not engaged in similar reforms that are very needed), this is a great book.

I initially bought this book to try and understand quite how Germany has set about overhauling their entire football structure in the aftermath of successive disappointments at the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships, in order to see what England could do differently going forward. In that regard Honigstein's work is a useful overview, setting out the changes performed at youth level specifically with club academies, regional scouting of the very best players and how football is integrated into the wider education system.In essence though, that element is only a small part of the story. Here Germany's success at the 2014 is intersperced with chapters on the journey made since 2004 as first Jurgen Klinsmann and then Joachim Low sought to overhaul the Nationalmannschaft, to initially make the team competitive at the 2006 World Cup and then to return them to the dominance that followed victory in 1954. Honigstein benefits in doing this from great access to many of the key protagonists. Extensive interviews have been held with Klinsmann and team manager Oliver Bierhoff, as well as players such as Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker. There are even chapters written by Thomas Hitzlsperger and Arne Friedrich on life at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups respectively. The only person we don't really hear from is Low himself.Ultimately, it's a well told tale, giving real insight into the inner workings of the world champions and bringing to life lots of what happened behind the scenes. My only fault was that it perhaps lacked in the practical analysis of whether the changes made at youth level were the real route to success or if it was more a case of a natural cyclical return to strength for the most populous nation in Western Europe. Overall though an engrossing read and an important work on a fine side.

Great read, well written, with lots of participation by players and managers. Of course a large part of the story is well known, but there are lots of additional insights and anecdotes that make this especially worthwhile.As a HSV fan: We should have all seen it coming when Geislingen kicked our asses. ;)Editing could have been better - the 2010 WC was in South Africa, not Australia, Mr Friedrich, and all the spaces behind the f in VfB are weird.