Bold Type Books Das Reboot: How German Soccer Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World

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.

Raphael Honigstein's Das Reboot: How German Football Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World sets out to explain how German football recovered from its (relative) failures at the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championships. There's lots of good material in here, often well told and packed full of weird and wonderful personalities brought skilfully to life.Two important caveats apply, however.First, if you're not already familiar with the topic the book can be hard to follow as, rather than being written chronologically, it is an account of Germany's matches in the last World Cup, interspersed by different leaps back in time to explain themes related to each match. It's a neat idea for structuring the book and makes for better analysis, but it also results in a lot of doubling back and forth over time which can be confusing if you don't already know the basic story and facts such as the order in which German managers came and went.Second, the book at times falls prey to the widespread trap of 'if X won then what X did must have been right, and if Y lost then what Y did must have been wrong'. Yet with many key Word Cup matches turning on just one goal - a point Honigstein himself makes well - that doesn't necessarily follow. Good luck can rescue the people doing the wrong thing, just as bad luck can sink those doing the right thing.That said, it is a great read and certainly the contrast between the German old guard and the new wave of doing things is a very plausible explanation for Germany's returning to winning ways. For English readers the contrast with domestic football is notable, especially the huge emphasis in the German recovery on teamwork, lack of ego and youth development feeding into the top German football clubs. Notable too is how little smart use of data plays in the story. It's not absent but far from the dominating factor that it is in other sports stories such as Moneyball.

A really fascinating insight to the re-invention of the German national side since it's relative demise around the turn of the century, by their own elevated standards and although the results are now clear for all to see All German Champions League Final 2013 and World Cup Winners 2014, it wasn't a straightforward path in getting there, but the foundations are now in place for years to come. Hadn't read anything by this author previously but certainly impressive and would seek out his books in the future, a real authority on the evolving of football in Germany in past 20 years, thank you!

Could not put this down from the moment I picked it up. The weave of recent German Football history with the build up to and journey through the 2014 World Cup was brilliant. I found myself getting excited getting through the tournament even though we all know the final result. It was also incredibly fascinating reading of the struggle and effort of Klinsmann and Bierhoff getting the changes through and accepted. Honigstein really has managed to weave a brilliant narrative and clearly has both the access to and trust of a huge range of the important characters in this narrative. I loved the book. I would l also like to know if there is a German version as so many of my German friends were really excited about the book when I told them about it but don't quite have the English to enjoy it as much as I did.

Entertainingly and articulately written, the story flits between a chapter-per-game description of each Germany match at the 2014 World Cup finals and an episodic account of the national team's fortunes, and slow recovery, from the time around 1998 when the decline of German football was becoming more and more difficult to deny. Of course, many of the pressures and influences that have affected the modern game in Germany are recognisable to anyone following the game in many European countries, and it's in the debates and battles fought over the future of the game, the different directions the game (eventually) took and the reasons for this that the book really comes into its own for me.