On the second day of their arrival in Brazil, the German Team held their first training session.
And the player who replaced Reus in the starting left-wing position was none other than Götze!
With Götze moving to the left, Müller, who was originally on the right, moved to the arrowhead position.
In addition, Özil moved to the right, and Kroos shifted forward to the number ten position.
In the defensive midfield, Captain Lahm and Khedira formed a partnership.
During training, Marc could clearly see Götze, Kroos, and Özil frequently interchanging positions behind Müller in the front, taking turns to attack.
Clearly, with Reus's injury, Löw was even more determined to implement the false nine tactic.
As for the reform of Lahm playing as a defensive midfielder, it was simply Löw copying Guardiola's homework at Bayern.
The German National Team has always been built around Bayern players.
Many times, more than half of the starting eleven were Bayern players.
In the football world, there is even a saying, "When Bayern is strong, Germany is strong."
Of course, in recent years, with the rise of Borussia Dortmund's young squad, Bayern has not been able to continue its dominance.
Although he believed himself to be stronger than Götze in the left-wing position, Marc also knew that he was inexperienced, lacked major tournament experience, and was far from comparable to Götze, the prodigy on whom the entire nation's fans had placed high hopes.
Therefore, he could only work hard to impress the coaching staff with his performance on the training ground, earning himself valuable playing time.
Brazil in June, with the scorching sun overhead.
Several days had passed since their arrival in Brazil.
With a week left until the first match, the team began to reduce physical training and focused mainly on tactical drills, increasing cohesion and understanding among the players.
The main focus was on the cross-positional changes of the attacking quartet and Lahm's positioning and responsibilities in the defensive midfield.
Although Guardiola had transformed Lahm into a defensive midfielder at Bayern, Lahm had extensive experience in playing that role.
However, considering this was his first time playing a new position in a major tournament like the World Cup, some details still needed to be ironed out.
And every half hour of training, the players would come to the sideline, grab a cool sports drink from the cooler, and rehydrate.
Although it wasn't too hot, professional players consume a lot of energy after high-intensity exercise and must replenish fluids at all times.
While everyone was rehydrating, Löw and the coaching staff would provide one-on-one adjustments and guidance based on the players' condition and tactical execution.
For example, if Götze consistently drifted into the center, overlapping with Kroos, he would remind Götze to stay wider.
Another example was when Khedira and Lahm were defending in midfield, they were asked to maintain a parallel stance as much as possible, focusing on preventing the opponent from creating chances in the area at the top of the box.
The German Team's false nine tactic placed great emphasis on off-ball movement and positional interchange in the attacking third.
Löw required the front four to always maintain a triangular attacking unit, with Khedira also pushing forward appropriately in the center to create a numerical advantage.
It is worth mentioning that for Marc, who already enjoyed interchanging positions with De Bruyne at Wolfsburg, the freedom of flexible movement allowed him to thrive even more in this tactic.
It's important to know that with the acquisition of the powerful [King of Free Kicks] card, his lethality in dribbling through the middle would only increase!
Because once he was fouled after dribbling past a player at the edge of the box, he would be able to win a perfectly positioned set piece for the team!
It is worth mentioning that during training, there were also changes in the personnel and routines for set-piece attacks.
Originally, Kroos was the primary set-piece taker for the German Team.
Özil was next in line.
However, after Marc showcased his free-kick skills in training, Löw immediately decided that all direct free kicks would be handled by Marc!
And for set-piece attacking routines, several players from the Bayern contingent devised a very complex tactical combination:
First, Müller would pretend to fall, attracting the opponent's attention, then Schweinsteiger would make a dummy run, and finally, Kroos would deliver a chipped pass over the wall to find Müller, who had charged into the box, to complete the shot.
At the time, while watching the World Cup, Marc was deeply impressed by the German Team's set-piece tactic, which commentators called "the worst free-kick combination in history."
Initially, Marc thought Müller's sudden fall at the beginning was just an accident.
Now, witnessing the entire set-piece tactic unfold on the training ground, he realized that it was all part of a complex tactical design!
In fact, this specially designed set-piece attacking tactic worked well in training.
It even genuinely created goals!
Unfortunately, training is training, and matches are matches.
Even after hundreds or thousands of repetitions in training, it might not be perfectly executed in a match.
Life at the Bahia training camp was very fulfilling.
Besides training with the team, Marc chatted with Hisch every evening.
Their conversations weren't limited to sharing his experiences in Brazil.
As his popularity and fame grew, many well-known domestic fashion brands also extended invitations to Marc.
For example, German high-end menswear brand Hugo Boss, outdoor brand Wellensteyn, and so on.
To be less stiff when posing for photos in the future, and to have common topics, Marc also talked about fashion with Hisch.
Hisch was not averse to Marc's proactive sharing; on the contrary, she found it refreshing.
After all, this was her first time interacting with a guy outside the modeling world.
Time flew by quickly.
On June 13th, the Brazil World Cup, watched by hundreds of millions worldwide, officially kicked off!
In the opening match, the host nation's "Samba Army" Brazil faced the "Plaid Army" Croatia.
Brazil's new generation leader, Neymar, scored a brace in the match, leading this new generation Samba Army to a three-to-one victory over the "Plaid Army" Croatia, which boasted stars like Modric, Rakitic, and Perišić, securing a winning start.
Two days later, the "German War Machine" German Team welcomed their first group stage match at the Arena Fonte Nova.
Their opponent was the "Five Shields Army" Portugal, led by Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo!
It is worth mentioning that Group G, where the German Team was placed, was truly a group of death.
Germany, Portugal, USA, Ghana!
Apart from the relatively strong German Team, the squad strengths of the other three teams were quite similar.
And for Germany, their goal was certainly not just to advance from the group stage.
The day before, after repeated discussions between Löw and the coaching staff, they also announced the starting eleven for the first match against Portugal!
Tactical formation: 4-2-3-1 (False Nine)
Goalkeeper: Neuer; Defenders: Jérôme Boateng, Hummels, Mertesacker, Höwedes; Midfielders: Lahm and Khedira; Wingers: Götze (left), Özil (right); Attacking Midfielder: Kroos; Lone Striker: Müller.
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