‘Football is a straightforward game; 22 guys chase a ball for 90 moments and by the end, the Germans generally earn’ -Gary Lineker

13 July 2014, World Cup Final, the final ten minutes of more time: Germany forward Mario Götze, receiving a floated move from his international teammate André Schürrle, jumps slightly to meet up the ball and cushioning it along with his chest. Getting on his left foot, he requires a step with his correct, swivels, and in one fluid motion, without the ball touching the ground, volleys it past the about Das Reboot: How German Soccer Reinvented Itself and Conquered the Globe onrushing Argentine goalkeeper into the significantly corner of the web. The goal wins Germany the World Cup for the very first time in nearly twenty-five years. In the aftermath, Götze looks dazed, unable to comprehend what he has done.

In Das Reboot, journalist and tv pundit Raphael Honigstein charts the return of German football through the international wilderness of the late 1990s to Götze’s moment of genius and asks how did this happen? How do German football transform itself from its efficient, but unappealing and defensively minded customs to the free-flowing, attacking football that was on screen in 2014? The response requires him from California to Stuttgart, from Munich towards the Maracaná, via Dortmund and Durban. Packed with distinctive interviews with the key protagonists, Honigstein’s reserve lifts the lid over the secrets of German football’s achievement.