Exactly a week ago, British football pundits, brimming with confidence ahead of the England v Germany clash, were asking us how many members of the ’very average’ German side would make it into England’s ‘talented’ team.
Well I think even the most blindly patriotic England fan knows the answer now: all of them.
Yesterday’s 4-0 demolition of Argentina was one of the most impressive team performances I have ever seen in a World Cup. And for those who maintain that the Premiership is ‘the greatest league in the world’, it's worth noting that not one member of the brilliant German team plays his club football in England.
Olching highlighted the talents of Thomas Muller in the comments section on a recent post- and once again the Bayern Munich man showed what a great footballer he was with another terrific display. And what can we say about the performances yesterday of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Phillip Lahm?
Germany, available at an incredibly generous 14-1 to win the World Cup before their match against England, now looked nailed on to win the tournament.
And their progress surely cushions the blow for Serbia fans, disappointed at their team‘s early exit. If Germany do win the World Cup, then at least Serbia have the satisfaction of knowing that they were the only team to beat them. And it’s now clear what a tough group the Serbs were in- not only did they have Ghana to contend with, but also a very lively Australia team.
On the subject of the German football team- and the contrast between Germany and England, here’s an excellent post by Peter Wilby in the NS, flagged up by Karl Naylor.
3 comments:
Indeed Neil. In fact, not only did none of the players play in The Barclays Moneyship but they all play in their own country - the Bundesliga where a ticket for a match can cost as little as 10 pounds.
Let me amend the title for you:
'Very average' Germany 4 'we all love to watch this free flowing football by the favourites' Argentina 0
But you also need to mention the Netherlands who put the 'samba footballers' to the sword. As usual, the pundits get all worked up about the alleged favourites (bear in mind that Argentina have only ever made it to the quarters twice since 1990, but listening to the punditry one could imagine that they've won every tournament since!), and when they do go out (to superior opposition), it's because something didn't work for them on the day (rather than admitting that Mueller, Sneijder, Robben, Schweinsteiger etc.. are products of real intelligent football cultures - and I think Spain, too, even though they haven't really performed (yet)).
Maradona must go down as one of the biggest idiots in coaching history. It's difficult to think of a bigger mismatch in tactical awareness and execution (and the margin of defeat) at this stage of a tournament. I've been racking my brains, but I cannot remember a clearer result in the quarters.
It's a sign of the idiocy of punditry in this country that all they did was show shots of Maradona's passion, chuckle a little the funny little man, without really understanding or indeed interrogating why Argentina were annihilated (while parroting cliches about German 'efficiency' - 4-0! Efficient??) in such a devastating manner.
So, with the exception of Uruguay, this is a perfect semi-final line-up.
Licking South American arses while dismissing and sneering at our fellow Europeans.
Remove/change only one word and you'd have the deeper problem with Britain as a whole. It's the same thing, ultimately.
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