Mario Götze won his 63rd cap for Germany in Cologne on Tuesday almost a year to the day since his last outing for the national side. Mario Götze is back in the national team circle, and won extra praise for himself from national team manager Joachim Löw because of his technically proficient assist that helped get the score to 2-2 against France. Löw believes the Dortmund man is on the right track and is returning to his former strength.

"His class lies in the way passes the ball on directly to the next man", commented Löw with regard to the scene in added time. Götze had received a fine pass from Mesut Özil, and set up goalscorer Lars Stindl in a similarly impressive and technically demanding manner. It was the assist that got them a late equaliser for 2-2 against their rival World Cup favourites, meaning the DFB eleven achieved a clean sweep in 2017 by not losing an international fixture throughout the year.

image

Götze had only come on as a substitute for the last 25 minutes of the year's international fixtures. Previously, he was last in the DFB team for the 0-0 against Italy on 15 November of last year. A lay off lasting months followed due to a problem with his metabolism, after which came a similarly long rehabilitation period during which the workload expected from the BVB professional in training and when playing games was gradually raised. 

Götze's physical condition has continuously improved since then. That was something that Löw acknowledged by calling him up for the final national games of 2017, after having left Götze out of previous matches on talking with the midfielder and the club. "He is certainly on the right path", said national team manager Löw after the fixtures against England (0-0) and France (2-2). "He needs a couple more games in order to reach his highest level. But I am very satisfied with him. He is getting better and better."

This assessment is one that Götze himself believes to be true, even if he formulates it a little differently from Löw, a bit more defensively. When he fields the now almost obligatory question from a journalist as to how fit he is expressed as a percentage, something he has to do on a weekly basis, he replies first with a professional chuckle. "I'm fine, the best I could be. Getting back into the national team was an important step for me", he deflected subsequently. That he was able to crown his comeback with an assist has made the "positive feeling" he had a little bit better still.

There was just one thing that annoyed Götze though on this cool November evening in Cologne: the result in a game that was good to watch for the spectators, and which was very testing for the players against a strong France eleven. "That", he says, "could have been a bit better."
Source: kicker-Sports Magazine, Author: Matthias Dersch