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Youthful Germany hold heads high and look to future

Germany's national football team revived fond memories of the 2006 World Cup with another stirring performance at the 2010 edition of the tournament in South Africa on Saturday.

The team's refreshing brand of offensive soccer inspired fans of the sport worldwide and made many rethink the way they perceive not only German football, but also Germany itself.

Germany repeated its placing from 2006, the tournament it hosted, by prevailing 3-2 over a determined Uruguay team in Saturday's match for third place.

"We're not going back home to Germany empty-handed, but with a third place finish, which the team has earned," said national team head coach Joachim Loew, the architect of Germany's 2010 showing.

During the 2006 World Cup, Germany showed itself as a friendly and cosmopolitan country, and the event was widely regarded as an overwhelming success from both the organizational and entertainment points of view. This year, the national team earned the world's respect with its exciting, high-scoring style of football.

"Abroad, this team is perceived as being very likeable," said newly elected German President Christian Wulff, who flew to South Africa to watch his country play Uruguay. "Some Africans have told me this team is something of a 'rainbow' team, diverse and convincing," he said.

The stirring performance has even led to a recommendation by Wulff that Loew receive the Federal Cross of Merit for service to the nation, and that the team be awarded the Silver Bay Laurel Leaf, the highest sports award in Germany.

"The team is the best ambassador Germany has in the world," Wulff added.

German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer also praised the national team. "The mood in South Africa was euphoric, and many people have told me that the German team has been the best," he said.

National team manager and former striker Oliver Bierhoff gleaned a similarly positive message from the tournament. "We have managed to create a new picture of Germany, not only in a sporting sense, but also socially," he said.