By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Not only under-fire German national football coach Joachim Low is benefitting from Die Mannschaft's latest successes. Looking at German club football, 2013 treble winners Bayern Munich are getting the most out of the upswing.
This, many assume, could well be a decisive factor when it comes to the 2018/2019 Bundesliga title race, with the Bavarians now narrowly ahead of their rivals Borussia Dortmund.
While the Black and Yellows might be able to count on England's new hope Jadon Sancho, their only representative in the new German team was attacker Marco Reus.
This situation stands in sharp contrast to Bayern, who have Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Niklas Sule and Serge Gnabry in the Germany squad.
The national team's recent successes have given Bayern several reasons to celebrate. Just like Germany, Bayern is undergoing its own struggle to replace established stars with youth prospects.
Low's decision to give Sule, Kimmich, Goretzka, and Gnabry more responsibility mirrors the changes that Bayern coach Niko Kovac is attempting to implement in Munich.
After all, golden-agers such as Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and the newly-omitted national team trio of Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller are to some extent seen as a burden, as they approach their career end but still demand to be considered for selection.
Looking at Manuel Neuer, things don't seem much different, but the 32-year-old is still one of Bayern's essential forces. His perfect performance in a 3-2 away win against the Netherlands helped him to return to his best level after a long period of indifferent form.
Neuer's determination to shut out rival Marc-Andre Ter Stegen of Barcelona shows the Bayern goalie is not yet willing to write his final chapter.
Meanwhile, Kimmich looks set to continue to develop into one of German football's true leaders, Sule is gaining more and more confidence in following in the footsteps of Hummels and Boateng, and Goretzka has shown he can't be ignored when it comes to the new midfield for both his club and the national team.
Serge Gnabry's challenge seems tougher, as he has to fill the shoes of Ribery and Robben. But now he has put any doubts that he might not yet be ready for international football to bed. Together with Leroy Sane of Manchester City, the 23-year-old is part of "Germany's new magic duet", to coin a phrase used by some German media after the 3-2 victory in Amsterdam.
With much discussion earlier in the season centering on whether the balance of power in German football had shifted from Bayern to Dortmund, the Bavarians are proving that they should not be written off just yet.
While the German national team does not play now until the beginning of June, the Bundesliga moves towards its final stages. On April 6, Bayern cross swords with Dortmund on home soil for a match whose outcome could well decide this season's title.
With nine league games remaining, an inspiring relationship between the national team and Bayern has developed. At present, it looks like as if both sides are significantly benefiting from the new coalition.
