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Germany national team. UEFA (Europe). Nationalmannschaft (the National Team) / die Adler (the Eagles). Home jersey: white with black, red, and gold trim.

-Germany is in Group G (with Ghana, Portugal, and the United States). ‘2014 FIFA World Cup/Group G‘ (en.wikipedia.org).

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification: 18th qualification out of 19 possible tries.

(1930, did not enter; 1950, banned due to sanctions imposed on West Germany [and East Germany] after WW II). (1990: East Germany football merges with West Germany football, with East Germany national team records retired, and Germany national football team inheriting West Germany national football team’s records and titles.)

Previous World Cup: 2010, Semifinals / 5-0-2.

Highest World Cup finish:

1954, Champions / 5-0-1.

1974, Champions / 6-0-1.

1990, Champions / 5-2-0.

2014, Champions / 6-1-0.

Population of Germany: 80.5 million {2013 estimate}.

Capital and largest city: Berlin, pop. 3.2 million (city pop.)/ 4.5 million (metro-area pop.) {2011 census}.

Largest metro-area in Germany: Rhine-Ruhr Metro region (in west-central Germany, in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia), metro-area pop. ~12.9 million {2007 figure}.

-Germany coach, Joachim Löw. Joachim Löw.

-Germany squad captain, DF Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich). Philipp Lahm.

Below: Theoretical Best XI for Germany (with 8 other player-options further below) -

[Note: the chart below is updated to reflect final roster selection for 2014 WC, with caps & goals updated to 13 July 2014, following Germany's 1-0 World Cup Final victory over Argentina; with the exception of one injured player (Marco Reus), all the players shown below comprise all Germany players (18 players) who played for Germany in their successful 2014 World Cup campaign ('Germany national football team/Current Squad' (en.wikipedia.org).]



Photo and Image credits above -

Germany 2014-15 home jersey badge, photo from footballkitnews.com/10826/new-germany-home-kit-2014-adidas-germany-wc-2014-jersey.

Germany 2014 home jersey, photo from footyheadlines.com/2013/05/germany-1314-2013-2014-world-cup-home.

Germany/EU map, by NuclearVacuum at ‘File:EU-Germany.svg‘ (en.wikipedia.org).

Germany map by TUBS at ‘File:Relief Map of Germany.svg‘ (en.wikipedia.org).

Coach,

Jogi Löw, photo by Getty Images via mirror.co.uk/sport/football.

Goalkeeper,

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), photo unattributed at footballstar85.blogspot.com.

Defenders,

Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), photo by SID-IMAGES/Firo via focus.de/fotos.

Mats Hummels DF/CB/DM (Borussia Dortmund), photo unattributed at skysports.com.

Jérôme Boateng (Bayern Munich), photo unattributed at khelnama.com.

Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), photo by bundesliga.com/en/liga/news.

Midfielders,

Mesut Özil (Arsenal), photo by Nick Potts/PA via london24.com/sport/arsenal.

Bastian Schweinsteiger MF/AM/CM (Bayern Munich), photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), photo by pixel8photos.photoshelter.com.

Forwards (incl. Attacking MFs and Wingers),

Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Miroslav Klose (Lazio), photo unattributed at starplayer-profiles.blogspot.com.

Marco Reuss (Borussia Dortmund), photo unattributed at ftbpro.com.

Other player-options,

Mario Götze MF/AM/RW (Bayern Munich), photo by AP via scmp.com.

Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Lukas Podolski LW/FW (Arsenal), photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Shkodran Mustafi DF/RB (Sampdoria), photo unattributed at twicsy.com.

André Schürrle FW/W (Chelsea), photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.

Christoph Kramer CM/DM (Borussia Mönchengladbach), photo unattributed at beinsports.tv.

Julian Draxler LW/AM/RW (Schalke 04), photo by uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/photos.

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Thanks to the contributors at ‘2014 FIFA World Cup qualification‘ (en.wikipedia.org).

Thanks to the contributors at ‘Germany national football team‘ (en.wikipedia.org).

Thanks to http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/, for player-position details.

Thanks to Soccerway.com, for recent squad line-ups (with positions-on-the-field graphics), at int.soccerway.com/international/europe/wc-qualifying-europe/2014-brazil/1st-round/r15653/.

Thanks to the contributors to this thread at Reddit, http://us.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1yj7c8/germanys_wc_starting_11/.

Thanks very much to two commenters at reddit/r/soccer: Svorky and Roland 1405, for helpful tips on Germany Best XI (Hummels and Schweinsteiger and Müller should be in starting lineup instead of Mertesacker and Khedira and Götze; with Gündoğan left out of options-section [injured]).