Joachim Loew did not need long to find the man he believes will fill the void left by the injured Michael Ballack.
And the Germany coach is not alone in feeling the time may have come for Bastian Schweinsteiger to emerge as the commander in the centre of midfield as Germany aim for a fourth World Cup title.
At 25, Schweinsteiger is now the oldest midfielder in Loew’s young squad for South Africa, and with 73 caps the most experienced international after striker Miroslav Klose.
After a season in which he has matured in a central role with Bayern Munich, Schweinsteiger will now be expected to take on Ballack’s leadership role even if the captain’s armband goes elsewhere.
“Bastian Schweinsteiger has taken on more responsibility both with us and at Bayern Munich this season,” said Loew. Schweinsteiger has always found himself in a wide midfield role, either on the left or the right, but Louis van Gaal has demonstrated at Bayern that his most effective position may be in the middle.
As late as the end of last year, Loew said he was planning to use Schweinsteiger on the right of midfield, but the Bayern player’s convincing form this season has convinced him otherwise.
With Ballack and Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes both out with injury, Torsten Frings discarded and Thomas Hitzslperger also overlooked following loss of form, Loew has in any case few alternatives.
It is now six years since Schweinsteiger made his Germany debut under Rudi Voeller shortly before Euro 2004, and by the end of that year and barely out of his teens he had already won 10 caps.
His appearances had swelled to almost 30 by the time the 2006 World Cup came around, a tournament he ended with two goals in a 3-1 defeat of Portugal in the match for third place.
He has been an ever-present under Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann and Loew, but there was always the lingering suspicion that for all his caps as well as 19 goals for Germany he had not quite fulfilled the hopes placed in him since he emerged through the Bayern youth teams.
That has changed with Bayern’s surge this year where he has relished the responsibility placed in him by van Gaal and he looks a far more complete player.
No longer the eager young ”Schweini” among the cheeky other ranks in the squad, he is now seen as officer material, the natural successor to Ballack, whether or not the Chelsea midfielder continues his international career after the World Cup.