Feature: Are center forwards back?

Is it one of the most important conclusions of the group stage of 2016 Euro: Center forwards are back?

Strikers like Alvaro Morata and Nolito (Spain), Jamie Vardy (England), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Olivier Giroud (France), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) and Graziano Pelle (Italy) have left their foot prints on Euro 2016.

Mario Gomez (Germany), who, after his 1-0 against Northern Ireland, stands for what you could call a renaissance of a type that were out of style when the "false nine" took over football. Like dinosaurs, the man waiting for the ball to arrive at his feet or head in the box seemed to have been vanished from the football earth.

The 2014 World Champion sealed its place at the top of Group C, marking the moment when German head coach Joachim Loew again appears to be an admirer of the old fashioned spearhead.

Germany' s last top out-and-out striker Miroslav Klose retired after the 2014 World Cup. Many teams, like the Spanish, seem to be happy without a spearhead, as the tactical system at first glance provides more flexibility up front.

From Euro 2016 on, leading football nations might not inevitably have a center forward in their first eleven, but for sure they all will have at least one in their squad for future tournaments.

Loew had to endure two tight games against Ukraine (2-0) and Poland (0-0) when the strikers failed to score. They prompted him to change his mind and pick the 30 year old Gomez.

"I want players up front that are constantly a danger and ones that are highly flexible," Loew said.

It seems the idea has risen among European coaches, a center forward can be part of a flexible attacking side and is far from being someone who always stands around getting in his teammates way.

All of a sudden, Germany created all kinds of chances - from the right, the left, through the middle, ones from passes and crosses. Loew's team was as flexible as a team can be.

Gomez, the striker from the 2016 Turkish champion Besiktas Istanbul, was only a part of Germany' s new attacking system in which 21-year-old right-back Joshua Kimmich replaced World Cup winner Benedikt Hoewedes to earn his second cap. The Bayern Munich player has played as a right back and central defender for his club in important Champions League and league games under coach Pep Guardiola.

It was not only left-back Jonas Hector who supported the flanks but Kimmich as well. The German game, previously lacking speed and variety, was well balanced. Especially Kimmich delivered crosses and passes up front ran non-stop up and down the flanks.

He was one of the reasons the Germans put the Northern Irish under constant pressure.

"It was a well-deserved win despite the fact that we only managed to score once. But looking at the variety of chances it was a comfortable victory, I had hoped we would win by a bigger margin. But in the end one thing counts, we' ve topped the group," said Mario Gomez after his first appearance in for his country at a major tournament since 2012.

Gomez did not block the team' s vitality. He was part of a German rotation machine leaving the Northern Ireland reeling.

In addition to Gomez, Thomas Mueller, Mario Goetze, Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos all played their part.

Kroos and even more so Oezil were given more openings that in the previous two games when Gomez and Kimmich were not on the pitch.

Loew is convinced his new concept and his team' s shape is something he can rely on in the future.

"We' re happy to have made it into the next round and I' m happy about the team' s performance. We created many chances," Loew said.

"What we needed in this game and what we did not have in the first two games, was players that could get behind defenders deep in their half. We had many one-to-one situations which is something positive."

Germany are waiting for their next-round opponents on Sunday in Lille, and Loew might again think about the return of the center forwards. Endit