With all due respect to the revelation about what our leaders think of each other, it is quite clear that to anyone with the right priority in life the most important thing today is the “El Classico”, the literally billion dollar game between Barca and Real Madrid.

I know that most Germans will align with the team that include two Germans in its roster, but I would like to use this stage to remind everyone about the obvious connection of a certain club to the Fascist regime in Spain, and also to the fact that Real irresponsible monetary ventures should be a prime reason why Germany and the rest of Europe shouldn’t shoulder Spain in its upcoming economic crisis.

Anyway, I will see the game at Magnet Bar , where for the first time I will be also serving my homemade Hummus. I Expect at least quarter of my… weiter lesen

I went with my wife to the public viewing of the Germany-Turkey game in Kreuzberg. Naturally, we were following every move and the reaction to every move of Mesot Ozil, the German middle fielder of Turkish descent.

Some how and without ever wanting it, Ozil became the face (if not the hero) of something much bigger. Maybe it was just a football game, but it was played with the air still not clear from Thilo Zarrazin poisonous remarks, and with the newspapers reporting that his book is still high on the best sellers list. I will write about Sarrazin later this week, but I will say this: his crazy ideas and his many followers occupied a vacuum. If the German society had the courage to make an in-depth, national debate about immigration and integration, it might avoid this vacuum.

(The taxi driver on the way back… weiter lesen

Is there any one game of the winning Spanish football national team that you will keep in your memory forever? Would you buy the DVD commemorating their championship campaign? Eight goals in seven games, four 1:0 in a row, not even one game with three goals. Yes, they have Xavi who plays simplistic, Binary football, almost like Zidanne, but is this  team the lasting memory from World Cup 2010?

Of course not. We had the exciting and sexy Germany, and the bravery of Uruguay, and the discipline and toughness of the American team (can you imagine any European country building a basketball contender from scratch, just like the Americans did with football in 20 years?). We had Argentine and Brazil that nominated coaches, one is the polar opposite of the other, who led them to the same tragic crash, and Holland who proved that nowadays you can even make a… weiter lesen

1. After Germany defeated Argentine in the quarterfinals, Bastian Schweinsteiger was asked which team he prefers to face in the Semifinals. The star midfielder didn’t hesitate: “Spain, we want to face the best team”. Some could have view his answer as arrogant, or as him presenting a wish to take revenge for Germany’s loss to Spain in the European final in 2008. Some might say that Schweinsteiger’s answer is the essence of being a German: look the situation as it is and go on about it.

A couple of days later, Schweinsteiger’s response got much clearer. Urs Siegenthaler, dubbed 007 by the German media, said in an interview that Spain can’t surprise Germany. Siegenthaler, one of Lowe’s assistant, said that the keys for the game are in Germany’s hands and that Spain can’t surprise his team. Siegenthaler is a man worth listening to: his video preparation destroyed England and Argentine.… weiter lesen

I think that it is time to declare it: this World Cup is for Germany to lose. I mean, two games like that? in a row? What all these youngsters are going to do in four years? The chances that they will play like that against Spain in the semi-finals are as slim as the effect of a butterfly clapping his wings at the Indian Ocean and causing a tornado in Southern America.

Now, if Germany is that good, if it has no fear, if it proves again and again that the system will always win over the individual, then maybe it is time to look for the reasons. Mueller is great, the defense allowed just two goals and Friedrich even scored today, Schweinsteiger is patrolling the field like he owns it, Klose is one goal away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history. But it can’t… weiter lesen

1. Germany is always prepared. Some teams complained before the tournament that Adidas let the German players practice and play with the new ball. The real question is not why Germany did it, but why the other nations didn’t. I can’t believe Adidas would say no to such request from the English or French federations.

Germany is always prepared. If there is a decision about a Sudden Death Goal rule, you can be assure that Germany will score the first sudden death goal in a final of an important tournament . If there is a new rule about an automatic red card for a certain kind of foul, you can be assure that Germany won’t commit such foul. I am sure they have special training for that. This is why Germany is willing to give up some quality in the local league: so the national team will be prepared come World Cup… weiter lesen

Yesterday morning, the morning of the England-Germany match, I told Maya: “today we are going to have a lesson in being an opposition, hardcore”. I dressed her in the holy red shirt (number 11, of course) that I bought on my last visit to Old Trafford, and dressed myself in the lucky jacket I am wearing for every important match since the 99′ final. “Don’t you think you are a little bit over the top?” asked die Frau. “Two against 80 millions? you have more chance in Iran”. But Sundays are mine to decide.

We walked up Kastanienallee amongst the headlines that cried “we are all Ozil”, and “make England look old”, and other headline from the top of the German schmaltz. Three youngsters came out from the language school. they had the German flag wrapped around their hips and were wearing these Hawaiian paper necklaces with the colors of… weiter lesen

From the first moment I entered Emanuel’s apartment I couldn’t fucking stop thinking about myself.

Emanuel was the taxi driver who picked us up from the Argentinean restaurant where we saw Argentina kicking Greece out of the World Cup . The air was already filled with optimistic tense about Germany game against Ghana and the TV announcers reminded the viewers that there are only 21 hours and 13 minutes before the kick-off for the decisive, to be or not to be, game. There was no discussion other then Germany’s lineup. Should they go 4-3-3? 4-4-2? 6-4-3 minus 2? If someone had decided to build up the wall, i don’t think it would have get the fifth item on the local news.

Emanuel told me that he arrived to Germany in 1978, when he was 22. I asked if I can invite myself for tomorrow’s game, and he said that of… weiter lesen

All I wanted was just to see the game against Brazil with some North Korean dudes. Instead I was let inside their embassy. This is how it happened:

MONDAY, NINE A.M, PHONE CALL

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag. I am calling from the Israeli newspaper Haaertz…”

click.

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I am calling from Haaretz which is a paper totally in favor of a Palestinian state…”

Ten second of whispering. Click.

MONDAY, 10 A.M, PHONE CALL

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I am calling from a daily paper published in Palestine…and I would like to speak with someone about the North Korea game tomorrow night.

“It is the Democratic People’s Republic of Kore. Everybody is too busy now, call at 12″

MONDAY 12 P.M

“Democratic People’s etc etc, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I… weiter lesen

It was a perfect day. At eight P.M one could have ride his bicycle freely without worrying about speeding cars. The tram operators took their time, and instead of shutting the doors rudely, just waited a couple of extra seconds at the station to watch the game on one of the plasma screens on the street. Fathers volunteered without argument to take their babies for a night stroll, running away from observations about players and their sexual orientation, and not minding the clogged sidewalks.

I rode “Alles Uber rechts” and enjoyed the emptiness of the cafes that opted not to broadcast the games, I marveled at the “blitzartige angriffe” and from the ability to know the score only by listening to the game. The weather was wonderful, the air free of allergy devils, the streets were a celebration of colors. Germany had won, proving that it… weiter lesen