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Germany’s loss to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup caused change of direction and significant funding boost 

THEY have won eight of 19 World Cups on offer, yet Brazil and Germany have only met once on the big stage — the 2002 final.

Had Rudi Voller’s team won it would stand a four Jules Rimet trophies apiece, but the loss not only saw Brazil edge ahead it signalled the end of an era for Germany, in a game that was watched by almost 3 million Australians.
There were several triggers for Germany’s revolution, kickstarted by the 3-0 loss to Croatia in the France ’98 quarter-finals, where 17 of the 22 were 28 or older, the youngest player was 24 and legends Lothar Mattheus and Jurgen Klinsmann went a tournament too long.
The Euro disasters of 2000 (finished bottom of their group) and 2004 (exited in group stage) only underlined the importance of the directional change.
This and the 5-1 home qualifying loss to England in 2001 made the 2002 final appearance an exception.
It was a dour, ageing German side that reached the final and though they had chances before Ronaldo’s second half brace, it was keeper Oliver Kahn’s heroics and Michael Ballack’s class that got them there.
Two things happened that led to the German team that faced Brazil 12 years on enter the game as the more balanced, dynamic and threatening team.

A radical overhaul of the youth system, proposed by a Franz Beckenbauer-led delegation, with tough regulations introduced by the German federation

The youth restructure, which has seen over $1 billion tipped in since and led to all Bundesliga first and second division clubs requiring academies with minimum 12 players who were eligible for the national team, led to a higher quality and quantity production line.
With the conveyor belt rolling, Klinsmann rejuvenated the national team squad ahead of the home World Cup and switched the an attacking style, which the Germans weren’t noted for.
Just nine of the 2002 squad remained, and most were fringe players, as Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski signalled the first batch from the new talent factory.
An even more impressive generation emerged at South Africa 2010 with Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Jerome Boateng, most of whom had claimed the Euro U-21 title a year earlier.
And the class of 2014 are collectively the hottest batch of kids in world football right now, with Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle, Julian Draxler, Matthias Ginter, Christoph Kramer and Erik Durm all under 23.
Toni Kroos, 24, has been linked with Real Madrid and Marco Reus, 25, was injured on the eve of the World Cup but appears Barcelona bound.

“I got the chance to decide on the direction we took together with my assistant and current manager Joachim Low, we began the whole regeneration process by trying to give our national team an identity,’’ Klinsmann said.
“We eventually decided to go down an attack-minded route, passing the ball on the ground from the back to the front line as quickly as possible using dynamic football.
“We made our plans very public and made it clear that we were trying to rebuild from the bottom up.
“The German Football Association (DFB) helped us by putting a lot of pressure on all the first and second division teams in the Bundesliga to build academy programs and ensure talented young players were coming through, but we still had to decide on our playing style.’’

Tomorrow is Germany’s third consecutive World Cup semi-final, while they were Euro 2008 finalists and Euro 2012 semi-finalists.
And if Beckenbauer decides to proclaim Germany to be “unbeatable for years to come” should Germany win a fourth World Cup, his comments would hold more sway than 1990, when he led the team to glory.
Despite the East German amalgamation, perhaps due to complacency it went the other way.
It won’t happen this time.
Recap
BRAZIL 2 (Ronaldo ’67, ‘79)
GERMANY 0
2002 World Cup final
Yokohama, Japan
Germany: Kahn, Linke, Ramelow, Metzelder, Frings, Schneider, Jeremies (Asamoah 77), Hamann, Bode (Ziege 84), Neuville, Klose (Bierhoff 73).
Brazil: Marcos, Edmilson, Lucio, Roque Junior, Cafu, Kleberson, Gilberto, Carlos, Ronaldinho (Juninho Paulista 85), Rivaldo, Ronaldo (Denilson 90).
Attendance: 69,029.
Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)