The arc of Philipp Lahm’s career had the rhythm of someone meticulously ticking items off a bucket list. He won eight German championships with Bayern Munich, the team he supported as a child. A year later, he captained Germany to World Cup glory. Yet for everything else he has achieved, Lahm will always be remembered in his homeland as the man who ushered in the Sommermärchen, the fairy-tale summer, of 2006. All that year’s World Cup became, all it meant to Germany then and all it means to Germany now, started with his goal in the opening game, here in Munich, against Costa Rica.

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Persons: Philipp Lahm’s, Lahm Organizations: Bayern Munich Locations: Germany, Munich, Costa Rica