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DEL.ICIO.USFrank-En-Furter’s Two Pfennig’s Worth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(I know, I know, currency freaks. Germany doesn’t have pfennigs any more. I’m going with it because it sounds oh-so-close to “pennies.” So lay off.)
Off the Ball’s Las Vegas Bureau Chief (and former Atlanta resident) Frank-En-Furter (a real, native-born German) has gladly offered to deputize this entry while she scurries about with her other website duties (thanks a lot, Belkin judge!).
Like most natives, F-E-F (who’s actually from Düsseldorf) was impressed, to a point, with Germany’s 4-2 win over Costa Rica that set a goal-scoring record for a World Cup opener.
So here is his spiel, verbatim, auf Englisch:
It was not only a good start for the German team, it was a perfect start. Scoring four goals in a World Cup opener is good for your self esteem. On the other hand Germany got a timely and painful reminder that they have to improve their defense if they want to play an important role on their hometurf. Costa Rica is not known to be one of the stronger teams of this tournament. So it has to bother Klinsmann that his team could not even hold a harmless opponent scoreless. As a German you don’t even want to think about what happens if they play one of the better teams. Especially since you probably won’t score four goals against them either.
Fortunately the next opponent (Poland) seems to be equally harmless. That means a win can bring the Germans into the 2nd round. But before the “Deutschland” fans run for the beer and brats, let’s not forget the essentials. Nothing has changed after one game. Germany was supposed to beat all three teams and cruise through the opening round. The true test will come afterwards. Still, with new self esteem and the home crowd behind you everything can happen. As England’s Gary Lineker once said: “Football is when everybody plays nicely and Germany wins it anyway.”
As hopeful the performance of Schweinsteiger, Podolski and especially Lahm was, Germany’s World Cup fortune will be linked to Michael Ballack. After his leg injury was treated by a mysterious “miracle healer” the night before the game, he declared himself fit to play, but Klinsmann decided to give him some more rest. A wise decision, since the Germans should be able to beat any team in their group without their star anyway. For Ballack, it should not be an easy World Cup. Having just left Bayern Munich for a heftier paycheck in Chelsea, Germany’s sole world class player will have to prove to the world, that he is worth the big bucks. In Munich he rarely met expectations, hardly stepping up in the big games. So there is a pretty big chance the only real German winner in these days works his magic offside the soccer field and far away in America. His name is Dirk.
Wunderbar, Frank. Danke, danke schön. A blogging star from the get-go.
On Saturday Off the Ball will be blogging off the England-Paraguay match, if she survives the trip to the pub. 9 a.m. kickoff. Yeeeesh!
Comments
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By Nicholas Irwin
June 10, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
God, that was awful. I always forget how much I hate England until I’m forced to actually watch them play. Can you say mind-numbingly boring? I think we all know what’s gonna happen with this. They’ll get through to probably the quaterfinals and get up 1-0 on somebody and then pack it in, give up a goal, not be able to attack because they have no forwards on the field and lose in penalty kicks. The only baffling thing here is why their fans keep wondering why this always happens. Not only is it terrible to watch, it’s simply terrible strategy to get up 1-0 in the fourth minute and then not play for another goal, and it will come back and bite them in the a*.
One thing’s for sure, though: By the time that actually does happen, I will be exceedingly happy England is out of the tournament so I’m not forced to watch that any longer. Yeesh! For the love of God, will somebody please score on them first? At least then the game might be entertaining for awhile.