Hamann: Current crop more dangerous than 2002 side

Dietmar Hamann believes the current Germany squad are much more creative than the side which reached the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.

Hamann played in the team that were runners-up in Yokohama, Japan, 12 years ago, as two goals from Ronaldo earned Brazil their fifth World Cup triumph.

In Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, the two sides will meet again – this time in the semi-final – as Germany bid to disappoint what is sure to be a passionate home following.

Germany have progressed to the last four for the fourth finals in succession, and Hamann believes the current crop have many more options going forward than the side he played in.

“Back then we were a very efficient group that worked well together, but we had nowhere near the same kind of flair our lads have today,” he told FIFA.com.

“Our creative department consisted primarily of Bernd Schneider, and to a certain extent Torsten Frings, but he played at right-back. And that was it.

“Today we’ve got five or six players who can create chances: Mario Gotze, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Andre Schurrle, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marco Reus, who unfortunately had to stay at home due to injury.

“We were a solid team with a decent defence and Oliver Kahn in goal.

“The only way we could win our games was by keeping things tight at the back and maybe scoring one ourselves at the other end.

“Today they have enough quality to score four, five or six in a game if necessary.”