Lahm on Algeria match: "Pressure is a good thing"

With the knockout stage of the World Cup now well underway, it is all or nothing for the remaining teams – a prospect footballers like Philipp Lahm relish. Germany’s captain has won a host of major titles and has made decisive contributions to many crucial matches in his career so far. Will tonight’s Round of 16 game against Algeria (live on ZDF from 22:00 CEST) be another?

In DFB.de’s Interview of the Week, the 30-year-old spoke to reporter Steffen Lüdeke about his feelings in the hours leading up to the match, explains how the team has developed and sounds a warning about Algeria’s potential.

DFB.de: This evening, Germany face Algeria in the last 16 of the World Cup. Which are you feeling most right now – nervousness, tension or anticipation?

Philipp Lahm: Anticipation, definitely. The World Cup is huge and doesn’t come around very often. The group stage is over and the tournament is entering the knockout stage – it’s all or nothing now. One bad day and you’re out, and that makes these matches so interesting. For me, there’s hardly anything better. I’m incredibly excited about this evening and can hardly wait to get the game underway.

DFB.de: As you said yourself, you’ve experienced so much at right-back that nothing can surprise you anymore. By comparison, you’ve been playing in a defensive midfield role a much shorter time. When playing in this position, are there situations you don’t have an immediate solution for?

Lahm: No, it’s really quite similar. I’ve always said that you have to have played in a position for years to master it completely, but that’s the case for me in this position in front of defence. I played there in my last few years as a youth player and with Bayern’s amateur side, so it was nothing new to take over the role at a professional level. I’ve now played and trained for an entire season in front of the defence at Bayern, so I’m not short of solutions for the things a No6 is required to do. Sometimes you manage to execute these solutions well, other times less so, but that’s the case in any position. It wouldn’t be any different if I was still playing at right-back.

DFB.de: Isn’t the situation in that role somewhat different for Germany than for Bayern, as the football being played here at the World Cup is less possession-based than what you’re used to in Munich?

Lahm: There are definitely differences, but they’re small details such as how to occupy space. But again, these differences affect every position, and we’re talking about nuances here so it really isn’t any problem.



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With the knockout stage of the World Cup now well underway, it is all or nothing for the remaining teams – a prospect footballers like Philipp Lahm relish. Germany’s captain has won a host of major titles and has made decisive contributions to many crucial matches in his career so far. Will tonight’s Round of 16 game against Algeria (live on ZDF from 22:00 CEST) be another?

In DFB.de’s Interview of the Week, the 30-year-old spoke to reporter Steffen Lüdeke about his feelings in the hours leading up to the match, explains how the team has developed and sounds a warning about Algeria’s potential.

DFB.de: This evening, Germany face Algeria in the last 16 of the World Cup. Which are you feeling most right now – nervousness, tension or anticipation?

Philipp Lahm: Anticipation, definitely. The World Cup is huge and doesn’t come around very often. The group stage is over and the tournament is entering the knockout stage – it’s all or nothing now. One bad day and you’re out, and that makes these matches so interesting. For me, there’s hardly anything better. I’m incredibly excited about this evening and can hardly wait to get the game underway.

DFB.de: As you said yourself, you’ve experienced so much at right-back that nothing can surprise you anymore. By comparison, you’ve been playing in a defensive midfield role a much shorter time. When playing in this position, are there situations you don’t have an immediate solution for?

Lahm: No, it’s really quite similar. I’ve always said that you have to have played in a position for years to master it completely, but that’s the case for me in this position in front of defence. I played there in my last few years as a youth player and with Bayern’s amateur side, so it was nothing new to take over the role at a professional level. I’ve now played and trained for an entire season in front of the defence at Bayern, so I’m not short of solutions for the things a No6 is required to do. Sometimes you manage to execute these solutions well, other times less so, but that’s the case in any position. It wouldn’t be any different if I was still playing at right-back.

DFB.de: Isn’t the situation in that role somewhat different for Germany than for Bayern, as the football being played here at the World Cup is less possession-based than what you’re used to in Munich?

Lahm: There are definitely differences, but they’re small details such as how to occupy space. But again, these differences affect every position, and we’re talking about nuances here so it really isn’t any problem.

DFB.de: There was a great sense of euphoria after the Portugal match; you didn’t just view the performance as positive but were also happy with how the game unfolded. Although there was criticism after the encounter with Ghana, you also saw the positive side of Germany’s performance there. You haven’t yet given your opinion on the match against the USA; how do you rate the team’s display in that game?

Lahm: Portugal was definitely a good match for us, but it wasn’t all positive as I mentioned at the time. In the USA game, we took a big step forward compared to the Ghana match. We were much more aggressive again, we dealt with our opponents much better and controlled the game over 90 minutes. It’s great when you can control your opponents’ play and give them hardly any goalscoring chances. It was the result of good defensive work from the entire team. Everyone worked well at the back, and that’s important – it’s crucial at a tournament like this.

DFB.de: You said that the team are on the way to finding their feet. How far have you developed since then?

Lahm: I think we’ve made very good progress. I think we have shown in the past three matches that we work well as a team both in attack and defence, but of course we know there are always things we can improve upon.

DFB.de: Much has been said about team spirit and the behaviour of Germany’s bench has been particularly praised. How much of that support do you feel while on the pitch, and how much does it help?

Lahm: It’s much more than just their behaviour during the matches themselves. That’s very important, but it is the whole thing that counts. When you look at how all the players – absolutely all of them – dig deep in every single training session, that’s a factor that lifts the level of the whole team. The fact that every single player is so committed pushes the team forward. The standard in training is so high that it means we can substitute quality with quality in our matches. It’s normal for the team to encourage each other, but it was great to see Mats Hummels run to the bench to celebrate with all the players there after his goal against Portugal. They all jump up, celebrate and generally spur the team on. They’re all 100 per cent there for us and all completely ready to perform, and that’s exactly how it should be – we’ve got to work as a team.

DFB.de: This is now your third World Cup, but the first time you’ve been part of a Germany team considered one of the top favourites. How do you feel about the additional pressure that brings?

Lahm: Pressure is a good thing. It reminds you just how much confidence people have in you. I only ever consider pressure to be positive. We know we have the potential to go a long way in this tournament, and we know we have the potential to win the title, even though there is still such a long way to go.

DFB.de: How do you rate the appeal and standard of matches at the 2014 World Cup compared to the tournaments in Germany and South Africa?

Lahm: What has really surprised me is how many strong European sides failed to make it past the group stages. The trend we’ve seen in past tournaments is continuing, with “small” sides moving ever closer to the big teams, and the differences are now very slight.

DFB.de: You face Algeria this evening, who beat Burkina Faso in the play-offs to reach the World Cup. Before the play-off second leg in Algeria, the stadium was completely full six hours before kick-off. What does that say to you?

Lahm: It shows how huge and important football is there. For the Algerians, the World Cup is a chance to show their potential to the world, and that’s how they play their football. They don’t hold anything back; they throw everything they have at every game. Their fans do the same; they’re intensely passionate and support their team however they can. All this means we can expect an interesting match.

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DFB.de: Only seven of the team’s 23 players were born in Algeria, the rest in France, and many of them competed in several junior national tournaments in France. Is it fair to say that Germany will be facing a lot of French players in the tournament from here onwards?

Lahm: Because we could meet France in the quarter-final? Let’s take one thing at a time! Right now, we’re focused on facing Algeria. What could happen after that is completely irrelevant to us. The fact that many of Algeria’s players grew up in France just shows the quality of the team, nothing more.

DFB.de: You have won many titles as a footballer, but the World Cup still eludes you. What would it mean to you to achieve this goal?

Lahm: So far, there have only been three Germany teams who became world champions. Anyone starting out in football dreams of winning the World Cup at some point. There are so many major titles in football, and I’ve been lucky enough to win some of them. But the biggest dream is to win a trophy with the national team, and there’s no trophy bigger than the World Cup.