I took some time off of work today to watch the soccer match between the national teams of Germany v. Poland in the world cup. Germany won the match 1:0. Though I enjoyed watching, and both teams gave a good effort, I was not particularly impressed by either team. I've watched highlights and periods from several games in this world cup, and particularly the teams from Brazil, Croatia and Czech Republic impressed me as "world class". Germany, on the other hand, have a decent team, are young and play entertaining soccer. However, no objective fan would confuse them with real contenders.
Just to give you an idea of the hype surrounding the German team's current success (they won their first two matches so far against mediocre teams, in my opinion), I translated the first part of an article from the well-known paper "Frankfurter Allgemeine", which is sort of like the German version of NY Times.
The original article in German can be read here.
"Great Performance, Great Ecstasy"
"The easy win against Costa Rica had a light aftertaste, the hard-won success against Poland, on the other hand, gives (Germany) a lot of hope for this World Cup. The 1:0 in the 2nd match of the national squad was a first-class soccer game with enormous intensity, a lot of tempo, tactical discipline and countless chances. Since the Confederations Cup in the past summer, the team of trainer Jürgen Klinsmann has not delivered such a convincing performance. And just like a year ago, the team is being greeted by great enthusiasm in the stands and in the whole country.
Because the Polish eleven, who needed a victory at all costs, were a good opponent, this victory is worth even more. Even without the goal by Oliver Neuville in the after-time (91st minute), the national eleven deserves great praise. The opponents from all over the world will have been watching with surprise at their TV screens. Such a presentation by the German side was not expected by anyone...."
You may think, that's great, the Germans are proud of their team. You might even think they're being nationalistic as usual (my experience is Germans are patriotic but tend to hide it usually). And it's true, Germany usually has little reason to cheer for anything ("cheering" kind of goes against the cultural character, you could say). So the soccer team playing well in the world cup in their own country is then a good reason to get excited.
What surprises me, though, is the belief that the people, including friends of mine, over there appear to have, that their team might be a "contender". C'mon - get real! The German soccer team, as much as they are fun to watch, is ranked 19th in the world. Even if you gave them a few spots for playing at home, they certainly aren't in the top 10. This tournament will be over early in the 2nd round for the host country. I just hope they can deal with the dissapointment!
