Only three teams have knocked out Germany in the last decade

'Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase the ball for 90 minutes and in the end, the Germans always win', England legend Gary Lineker once said, and one has to wonder just how right he was.

In the last decade, Germany have won a World Cup, a Confederations Cup, they have reached a European final and reached the semi-final of a World Cup and two others in the Euro's.

Joachim Low's team have always been in the mix, fighting to lift the trophy in every tournament they play. The only reason which has held the Germans back in recent times, was the emergence of Spain's most successful generation, who beat them in the 2008 Euro final as well as the semi-final of the 2010 World Cup.

Before that, Italy knocked them out of their own World Cup in 2006, another event in which success eluded them, but they were in it until almost the very last match.

A fantastic performance from Balotelli stopped them from making the Euro 2012 final, but nobody managed to stand in their way in the 2014 World Cup. They reached the European Championships in France wanting to overcome their previous defeats in the competition, but the hosts knocked them out in yet another semi-final.

In this Confederations Cup, even leaving out their most important players to give the youngsters a chance, they have managed to lift another trophy. To sum up, incredible numbers in a fruitful decade for the German national team. Incidentally, the Under-21 side also triumphed in the European Championships on Friday.

Following this victory, Germany are top of the FIFA ranking, and they are favourites to win next year's World Cup in Russia. In the last 11 years, only Spain (twice), France and Italy (also twice) have beaten them in an official tournament, and they have always managed to reach the semi-finals.