In 2000 Germany were in a group with Portugal, England and Romania. Portugal had their Golden Generation, Romania were decent and England were ... well, maybe that’s stretching a bit. On to 2004, then - and that year Germany were in a group with a good Holland side and Pavel Nedved’s Czech Republic, who really should have won the whole thing. This time they’ve lost to South Korea, who are no great shakes, and finished behind Sweden, who weren’t expected to make much of an impression. Let’s hope my Swedish boss, Marcus Christenson, didn’t read that last comment.
