Mario Gomez’s injury will prove just how much Germany needed him

It should come as no surprise that Germany, incumbent world champions and perennial vanguards of international football, have made it as far as the Euro 2016 semi-finals. That’s the very minimum of what was expected of them. In fact, some will label Joachim Low’s side a failure should they leave France without the trophy perched on the dashboard of the team bus. Such expectations don’t quite illustrate the depth of Germany’s travails up until this point.

Germany have made the final four because they always make the final four (at least at their last three major tournaments). But Low and his team have toiled for much of the competition, only turning in one comprehensive performance in five attempts (the 3-0 win over Slovakia in the round of 16). There have been times of strife and much of that is embodied by Mario Gomez.

The Besiktas striker wasn’t even considered part of Germany’s first-team fold coming into the tournament this summer, with Low using the 30-year-old as little more than a back-up option. Mario Gotze was deployed as the focal point of attack for the group opener against Ukraine, struggling to lead the line and find his true role in Low’s set-up.

It wasn’t until the final group fixture against Northern Ireland that Gomez was handed a starting place, keeping his spot for the last 16 clash with Slovakia and the quarter-final penalty shootout win over Italy. But Gomez’s tournament has been cut short, just as he was finally receiving the recognition he truly deserves.

The centre-forward picked up a hamstring injury in the win over Italy, ruling him out for the rest of the competition. That comes as a heavy blow to Germany’s chances of backing up their World Cup glory with European Championships glory this summer. Gomez, up until now, has been their unexpected, unheralded lynchpin.

Without Gomez up front it hasn’t worked for Germany. Gotze is unsuited to playing the false nine role, despite Pep Guardiola’s best efforts to use him in such a way for Bayern Munich, with Thomas Muller yet to hit his stride at Euro 2016. Gomez was the only one who looked in any way comfortable as the focal point and apex of Low’s system. And now he’s sidelined.

Low must now devise another game-plan if Germany are to make it past hosts France on Thursday and into the final. He has already shown a willingness to tactically adapt his side to counter the strengths of his opposition, as he did against Italy, so perhaps he will do the same against Les Blues. Maybe he’ll find a way to compensate for the loss of Gomez.

It’s difficult to see what options he has to do that, though. Germany don’t have Miroslav Klose to draft in as an out-and-out centre forward like they did two years ago at the World Cup. Gomez was the closest thing they had to Klose and now he’s no longer available. They might be world champions, but Low has been left with quite the conundrum.

There are concerns at the back too, with the largely unproven Joshua Kimmich and Jonas Hector drafted in as key members of Germany’s defensive line. Leonardo Bonucci’s penalty for Italy was the first goal the world champions have conceded at the tournament, but there is the sense that a side of genuine attacking caliber - like France - could give them real problems.

France found themselves in a rather similar situation to Germany earlier in the competition. They to have struggled to make things click in the final third, with Olivier Giroud’s importance to Didier Deschamps’ side initially under-appreciated. It wasn’t until the championships moved into the latter rounds that his tactical significance was widely realised. The same could be said of Gomez.

But France, unlike Germany, can still call upon their often maligned centre forward. That could prove a decisive factor in Thursday’s semi-final as Low toils to synchronise his frontline. Gomez could never be championed as one of the world champions’ best players or biggest names, but his absence could ultimately underline just how important he was to their Euro 2016 chances all along.