Sides rarely want for motivation at a World Cup finals, but for Germany, there is an extra incentive to succeed in South Africa. Back in mid-November last year, the national squad had watched from the sidelines at Hannover's Niedersachsen Stadium as a wooden coffin covered in white roses was rested some 50 paces from the goalmouth. This team is still united in grief for its teammate, Robert Enke.
The Germans have lost influential players to injury for this tournament — Michael Ballack, Ren Adler, Heiko Westermann and Simon Rolfes — all absent in rehabilitation, but it is Enke who is profoundly missed.
It might have been the 32-year-old lining up against Australia in Durban on Sunday with Adler crocked. Instead, this side is still coming to terms with the news that filtered through on November 10 last year that Enke had committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train.
Enke played eight times for Germany, including five of its World Cup qualifiers, and had spells with Benfica, Barcelona and Fenerbahce as well as in the Bundesliga. He was a goalkeeper apparently coming into his pomp. Yet teammates and family members were unaware that he was a man struggling to cope with depression.
He had never recovered from the loss of his young daughter, Lara, in 2006. So afraid was he that Leila, the daughter whom he and his wife Teresa adopted 13 months ago, might be taken from him should his demons be made public that he never reached out for help.
The note Enke left apologised not only for his suicide but also, according to his doctor, for having concealed his desperate state of mind.
His father, a qualified psychotherapist, had recognised the facade of normality flung up by his son. A week before he died, he had tried to persuade the goalkeeper to admit himself into hospital. “But if I'm treated in a psychiatric clinic, that's it for my football,” Enke had replied.
“And that's the one thing I can do, and I want to do and love doing.”
The recognition that they had been oblivious to a teammate suffering so deeply struck home with Germany's players, who were told the news of his death by the national coach Joachim Loew and the manager Oliver Bierhoff as they prepared for a friendly against Chile. “To have not realised... well that makes you feel helpless,” said Ballack, who had known Enke since he was 13. “There was shock, emotion, lots of tears. The service and memorial were good, a chance to say goodbye to him. We have to learn from this. There is the illness but also the combination with football and being famous.
“He was scared to speak about his problem because he was scared to lose his child, or his job. Or to confess to having a weakness to other players. People have weaknesses. We should accept it. This should never be forgotten. It was a hard time, for everyone close to him and for us, as players. He will always have a place in our team. The players, the staff, the management all knew him, and it's still in our minds, and in the fans' minds. The further Germany goes in the tournament, the more emotional it will get.”
About 45,000 people had attended the memorial at Hannover's Stadium, another two million watching on German television, in what was the country's biggest display of public mourning since the death of Konrad Adenauer, the founding chancellor of the former West Germany, some 43 years ago. Theo Zwanziger, the chairman of the German Football Association, used his speech at the service to remind the world that “football isn't everything”. Enke was laid to rest in the same grave as Lara.
Loew's squad travelled to South Africa with Enke's memory spurring it on, albeit with its pursuit of a fourth World Cup placed in proper context. A large proportion of any squad win bonus accrued for claiming the trophy in Johannesburg next month will be donated to the Robert Enke Foundation, set up largely to deal with the mental health of footballers.
This team's motivation cannot be questioned.
— © Guardian News and Media 2010
