Germany 5

 

Mesut Özil (Real Madrid, Spain)
vs. Greece (4:2) | Euros | 2012 in Poland

In my opinion, German football was at its peak in 2010 and 2012. While we only got the trophy in 2014 in Brazil, I still believe the football Germany played at the World Cup in South Africa and the Euros in Ukraine and Poland 2012 was the best any German national team has ever shown. I was almost certain that we will make it to the final at both tournaments and was utterly disappointed to lose the semis twice. Especially at the 2012 Euros, where I think Italy played a rather poor tournament in general, but still absolutely dominated us in the semis and rightly kicked out Germany.

This shirt is a reminder of that tournament and it does carry the name of my favourite player at the time, Mesut Özil. I absolutely loved the way he played, he directed the game and he scored, when needed. A true leader at the time and one that was constantly talked down over nonsense like "the way he walks does not look very motivated". He was simply incredible. Now, Özil has taken a lot of bad decision since, basically becoming besties with the Turkish autocrat Erdogan first and getting a fascist tattoo later. That is probably one reason why I got this shirt for as little as 20€.