WORLD CUP 2010: With their adventurous style, Germany have dispensed with the patient, remorseless methodology of old

THE OLD saying that you know what to expect from the Germans doesn’t apply anymore. It is not just that Joachim Loew’s squad is made up of a rich ethnic cast or that it is the youngest in this World Cup that has distinguished this squad from previous German teams. It is that they are unpredictable.

Germany’s final group match against Ghana made it clear that whatever happens to Deutschland in this World Cup will not originate in the patient, remorseless methodology of old.

Germany were literally unrecognisable as they played in an all-black strip, while the Black Stars of Ghana wore white.

But as well as the visual novelty, this was a new Germany. They looked jittery in defence at times. They played looser and off the cuff. They might have gone behind and rode their luck. And their goal was a thing of wonder.

Since he nonchalantly fired that half-volley, Mesut Ozil has attracted a lot of attention. The Werder Bremen man had just nine caps coming into the tournament but his strike has led to instant predictions that he is a coming star. When Deutschland Uber Allesis played in Free State stadium tomorrow afternoon, Ozil will not be singing it.

He may not even be listening as he recites the Koran during the ceremony.

“It gives me strength,” he said last month. “If I don’t do it before a game, it gives me a bad feeling.”

Ozil is one of 1.7 million Germans of Turkish descent and he grew up in Gelsenskirchen-Bismarck playing football with friends from varying ethnic backgrounds. Although only 21, he has presented himself as entirely comfortable with his dual national loyalties.

“My feeling and talent for football is the Turkish side of my game,” he explained. “The disciplined attitude and go-and-get it fight is the German part.” Against Ghana, Ozil often drifted in and out of the game, reacting to the match as if developed around him rather than acting upon set instructions.

His game was in direct conflict with the old Teutonic clichés of industriousness and organisation.

“He is a different type of player to the others and an important player for us,” said captain Philipp Lahm yesterday.

“I think he could become one of the best. He is young, has talent, good talent so we will see. It’s just his third year in the Bundesliga so we will wait and see.”

Ozil is an instinct player and he has burst on to the German national team with a confidence that might not have been possible a decade ago. And Ozil is just one of many in the German squad with multicultural backgrounds.

Eleven of Loew’s squad could have played for different countries. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski are both of Polish stock – hence their tight-lipped demeanour through the national anthem. Sami Khedira, 23, could have played for Tunisia. Marko Marin, a highly rated young forward who may well get to pit his wits against John Terry and company at some point tomorrow, has a Bosnian-Serbian background. Jerome Boateng was playing against his half-brother Kevin-Prince in the Ghana game last Wednesday.

Four years ago, when Patrick Owomoyela was selected by Jurgen Klinsmann for the 2006 World Cup, his presence provoked the NPD into producing posters with racist slogans, leading to a court case and eventual prosecution.

It was an ugly prelude to a tournament that gave the German people a sense of freedom to celebrate their nationality and their flag without the stigma of old. Germany didn’t win four years ago but their journey to the semi-final caught the imagination of the host people and the sense of new patriotism the tournament engendered was arguably of greater importance than merely winning the thing.

But that was a recognisably German team in the traditional sense, led by a popular hero in Klinsmann. Loew, an assistant four years ago, has done things differently. Injuries to Christian Traesch and Michael Ballack, the decline in form of Torsten Frings and his decision to omit veteran Andreas Beck from his final squad meant he would be taking a very inexperienced side to the world cup.

Lahm, captain this year and marvellous against Ghana, was the bright young star of the team four years ago. Now, with big Per Mertesacker, he is a senior man.

But no player has come to play such a central role as Bastian Schweinsteiger. Four years ago, he ran around the field leaving a tungsten filament glow in his wake. With Ballack and Frings gone, he runs the German team, dropping deep to collect the ball and directing the flow of Germany’s attack.

His availability for tomorrow’s match could be crucial to Germany’s hopes. That Schweinsteiger, at 25, has come to command such a senior role for the team, is down to Loew’s youth policy. And Schweinsteiger’s mindset is to push ahead and attack quickly, a quality which makes him perfectly suited to Loew’s brave new vision of how this German team should play.

So England fans expecting the traditional German game of patience and tactical conservatism and mental strength may be surprised by what they see. The one German concession to their predecessors has been on the subject of penalties.

“Maybe it will go to penalties,” Lahm said yesterday. “That would suit us. I think we are mentally good, we are prepared for it. We practice penalties sometimes, not every player but sometimes. I hope the English won’t be so confident. There is a big history between us, they are always big games, interesting games.

“We will see, we are ready to fight. Then we will see who is in the next round.”