Germany coach Joachim Loew and the team management inserted a totally different strategy and philosophy to gel the players into a cohesive unit in their path to the final of the World Cup. Loew ensured that his players remained within the perfect team spirit and kept the momentum high.
Instead of hotels and enclosed bedrooms, the Germans lived in a complex of homes and common areas and spent their day-to-day activities as if they were in a community. The players requested for a miniature golf course and a makeshift room for playing video games. As a result the players were rarely isolated in their rooms and bonding grew amongst all of them.
On the third day of their arrival in Brazil, the German Football Association called on renowned South African-born Swiss explorer and adventurer Mike Horn to give a prep-talk to the players. The motivational conversation took place in a yacht. At that time the Germans were cruising in Bahia near St. Andrews in Sao Paulo. The players themselves acted as crew members. The intention was to encourage fellowship and having an idea about the limits of the human body. “The lecture touched me, impressed me, left me inspired. He gave us an idea of what you can create out of any situation and bear it. A key message was how we need to help each other in difficult situations and how to help our companions,” said defender Per Mertesacker.
The technical committee of the German team innovated different physical, technical and tactical training that saw the players taking on each other in rugby matches, foot-volley (like volleyball but where feet are used instead of hands) and even basketball. On one such occasion, Loew distributed clipboards, paper and pens and divided the players into two groups, led by Thomas Müller and Philipp Lahm. They acted as a coach and had to discuss the tactical issues. In another interesting session the players had to make their own marking while playing rugby but had to score goals like football. Before the quarterfinal against France, the Germans played basketball with a football and there was a session where they had to shoot into trash cans.
A toga teacher was made available for the players to do yoga on a daily basis. The gaps between the matches were fully used for the recovery of the players with perfect regenerative workouts.
Days after the World Cup matches, the German players received family visits at Camp Bahia. Some players were also allowed to go out of the camp while some players chose to go to the beach and had contacts with their fans. Others simply met with family members in a hotel next door. Moreover, the German Association allowed Bastian Schweinsteiger to take a trip to a church in Recife, hours before the match against the United States. Mueller went out for a walk in Porto Alegre with Gremio midfielder Ze Roberto, who was once his teammate at Bayern Munich, on the eve of their round of 16 clash against Algeria.
Keeping the entire family happy and inspiring the very best out of the players seems to be the German policy and it has proved to be a highly successful one.