China should copy the German plan

Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil, two 20-year-olds, are set to go down in World Cup history after their stunning displays in South Africa helped send Germany to the semifinals.

I had hoped Germany could reach the final and win the title, not only because of its celebrated diversity of nationalities which included players with links to nine other countries, but more for the capabilities and youthfulness of the young guns, who were a vital part of Germany's Cup campaign.

I don't know what the German Football Federation has done to bring up such a group of talented youngsters which seems set to take Germany a step further at the World Cup in Brazil four years from now. But I did read that Germany boasts a comprehensive and all-around training program which every year dishes out 20 million euros ($26 million) to hundreds of youth training clinics. Nineteen of the 23 World Cup 2010 members came from the Bundesliga youth training project and the other four from the German second division youth project.