Raymond Domenech, the coach of the French national team, has the right look to be a coach, the right clothes and hair-do. Domenech thinks like a coach, talks like one, being asked question like a coach (“do you feel like a frog in boiling water?” an Asian journalist asked him earlier, referring to the pressure he must feel from his critics). He motions like a coach, je encourages his players after a bad move, and he has six or seven ways to show his disappointment when his team misses a chance.

If only Raymond Domenech could coach.

In what might amount to the most colossal waste of talent in the past 40 football years, the French team went through what every organization, sports or otherwise, goes through. It sponges the personality of its leader.

France didn’t look like a football team on Friday. No wonder that Domenech used his first… weiter lesen

Somehow I find myself more excited about the game tonight then last year’s game. It is quiet odd-Barcelona and Manchester are two of my favorite teams and both embody everything beautiful about the game (this is what I have written before last year’s game: http://www.welt.de/wams_print/article3792355/Die-beste-und-schoenste-Spielzeit-der-Geschichte.html)

But even though Barcelona and Manchester are two of the most globalized sports teams, their game is almost provincial-they play their own version of football, they are well connected to the city where they play and as a result both teams are also grooming their own stars from within (through their youth teams).

The meeting tonight presents almost the opposite–two teams that are the mirror of globalization, of the destruction of borders in Europe and how in football there is no importance for the identity of the people who work for the firm.

Inter is coached by a Portugese mastermind and its lineup consists of… weiter lesen

I love Michael Ballack. I love him because just after he preferred Chelsea over Manchester United he declared: “I zigned vit Chelzea to vin championzships”, opening the door to the greatest run in Manchester United history.

And I love him because I doubt there was ever a player like Ballack: someone who can influence the game so much without having the announcer saying his name even once.

Germany was shocked and concerned yesterday after the news that Ballack’s injury would keep him away from the World Cup matches next month became public. But maybe it’s time to reevaluate Ballack’s legacy.

His league play and achievements are tremendous. He didn’t do as good in international team matches and during his tenure of 10 years in big national tournaments Germany reached the finals twice, and once got to the semi-final. Decent results.

But I think that the Ballack legacy is much wider… weiter lesen

If there is something that can really depress me about sports, is the other side of the beautiful phrase “everything can happen”. Yes, everything can happen, including an inferior team going to the next stage.

going back, there are many things that can be written about the outcome of Manchester-Bayern-the collapse in the first game that led to the second goal and to the Rooney injury, the idiotic second yellow card of Rafael-but I think that there is something much deeper to it.

In the past week, Manchester was defeated by Bayern and against Chelsea in the EPL. Both defeats, and I have a feeling that I am going to hell for writing this, were decided on the coaches face off.

Louis Van Gaal’s Bayern is not a great team, but it is a team that punishes the opponent for every mistake, tactical or mental, that it makes, and it… weiter lesen

After a six-hour train ride from Munich (with an incident that I will post about later), I am already in the O2 Arena for the game between Alba and Jerusalem. One thing that I noticed before the game is the difference in food served to journalists before the game.

In Munich there were four kinds of meat, five kinds of bread, potatoes, coffee, juice and beer.

In Berlin there were only sparkling water.

Conclusion: in Berlin they are much more sensitive to Jewish holidays.

It took a team led by Dutch Captain, Dutch Coach, French and Croatian scorers and an injured Dutch superstar to bring back what was seemed lost: you play football for 90 minutes and then the Germany wins.

I was not disappointed by the final score but mainly by the lack of effort by the United players. For both teams it was also a preparation for a crucial league game on the weekend and for the first 60 minutes it seemed like Bayern is preparing United for a game against Bolton, not Chelsea. There was nothing that I saw yesterday that can make me believe that Bayern can win next week.

Of course everything changes if Rooney is really hurt. It would be sad to lose but that’s why it is important to look at football through historical perspective: Munich was never a good city for United destinies. We have lost… weiter lesen

I really wanted to write about something else. I think it was about falafel and integration or something about shopping at Obi, but then I read about the Champions League draw and it took me back 11 years ago,  to one early and glorious summer  day in Barcelona, one of the happiest days of my life.

I think that last night’s game between Germany and Argentine should leave many Germans worried. Not only their team played an awful game and their goalkeeper made an idiotic mistake, but their best striker is black!! What would happen in the NPD nation (mean the supporter of this party, not all of Germany) if this striker will score the winning goal in South Afrika? how are they supposed to celebrate? didn’t they have enough of Klose?

The game reminded me of the World Cup four years ago, when the Germans really made an effort and pretend to be nice to foreigners. What a wonderful month and concept that was. I remember that midway through the Welt Meister I completely was rooting for the German national team and even wrote about it for a local newspaper. It was the new Germany, Klinsman Germany, Berlin Germany of opneness and multi cultures as opposed… weiter lesen