WC2010 Group D - Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

It totally lacks balance, that's a given. Too young, unexperienced, unbalanced - a recipe for disaster.

Whatever though, hopefully those youngsters will gain some invaluable experience at least and grow as players and 'characters'.

blutgraetsche wrote:It totally lacks balance, that's a given. Too young, unexperienced, unbalanced - a recipe for disaster.

Whatever though, hopefully those youngsters will gain some invaluable experience at least and grow as players and 'characters'.

the more you talk dirt on die manschafft the beter they become...

That's not 'talking dirt', there is some great potential in the squad and I actually like most players and hope that they will do well. It's just facts - thanks to Löw, the squad lacks balance, is way too young and inexperienced. You can't expect a U21 side to be competitive on the senior level, it's not the fault of the players.

If your English is like that, what's your German like Blut?

Black Magic wrote:If your English is like that, what's your German like Blut?

Has to be Hochdeutsch all the time

Hmm? My English is a bit rusty actually. My German is alright, at least Otto hasn't threatened to throw me out of the country yet...

Poland - Serbia 0-0 FT

DD wrote:Poland - Serbia 0-0 FT

Decent game, but heavy rain and following it - disastrous pitch, stopped both teams from constructing better attacking plays a few times. Poland are playing very aggressive style under new manager Franciszek Smuda, Serbia didn't like it, not Spain will like it. We should lead 1:0 or 2:0 after 1st half, had some good chances, mostly because our right flank combo (Blaszczykowski and Piszczek - they will be also B.Dortmund combo next season) made Kolarov life as miserable as possible.
2nd half was a 180 degrees change - Serbia should score, mostly because of Krasic creating, as well of input from another winger, Dragan Mrda from Vojvodina. Best chance was missed by Pantelic (sitter from 5 meters out).
Fabianski was surprisengly decent for us

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/teams/england/7800175/World-Cup-2010-how-do-Englands-strikers-compare-to-the-best-in-South-Africa.html

funny stuff


Cacau (Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Cologne).

This is not a vintage German side. Miroslav Klose, though, thrives in World Cups and top scored in Korea/Japan, Lukas Podolski lit up the last tournament and was named young player of the World Cup ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, the pair have had difficult seasons, scoring just five league goals between them. They remain the first choice with Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez, too, failing to live up to their reputations in the second half of Bayern’s successful season. Cacau and Stefan Kiessling are in on form. The former a Brazilian born playmaker and the latter scoring 21 goals in the Bundesliga last season.

Threat level: 4/10
Better than England? No (though probably better at penalties still).





Robinho (Santos), Luís Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villarreal), Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg).

No Pato. No Ronaldinho. As endorsements for the groups talents they don’t come much more emphatic. Robinho is a different animal in a Brazil shirt to a Manchester City and poldi and klose not!!!!one and Luis Fabiano many people’s tip for the golden boot. Grafite can do this, while Nilmar is not a bad player to have on the bench, as England discovered in their friendly defeat to the World Cup favourites last autumn.

Threat level: 9/10
Better than England? Just a touch.


i love the engerlanders, always underestimating us

then the france strikers comparison, thats laugthable

How does the German public feel about Cacau's nationalisation?

Calidad wrote:How does the German public feel about Cacau's nationalisation?

nobody cares about this

Özil wrote:
Miroslav Klose, though, thrives in World Cups and top scored in Korea/Japan,

This kind of sloppy journalism isn't even funny. Ronaldo was top scorer in 2002, Klose in 2006. Klose scored five in both tournaments, 10 WC goals in total so far.

Ok, I actually did read the rest and bet that Wiebke loved the "Brazilian born PLAYMAKER" part about Cacau. Jesus Christ...

english journalism at its best

only based on facts, not hate

Özil wrote:english journalism at its best

only based on facts, not hate

Oh yes, you could clearly feel the hate eminating off the page, particularly the bit about Argentina's forward line being given a 10/10

It's not hate, it's just a sloppy writer who hasn't been impressed with Germany's forward line this season.

Is it any different than you calling Messi a flop, or Rooney a big shit? Admittedly, you don't get paid for your ridiculous opinions, but all the same

Oh, by the way, not that proof is required to savage your "hate" hypothesis -

BBC have the top young talent to watch this summer as a certain Turkish sounding fella playing for the green and white of Bremen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8702258.stm

Anti German Hate!

If I'd gotten a penny for every 'this is not a vintage German side' in the English press in the last decade or two, I'd be Roman Abramovich. I'd be Bill Gates for every 'efficient'.

A detailed article on Serbia by Jonathan Wilson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jun/02/serbia-world-cup-raddy-antic

blutgraetsche wrote:If I'd gotten a penny for every 'this is not a vintage German side' in the English press in the last decade or two, I'd be Roman Abramovich. I'd be Bill Gates for every 'efficient'.

ok but think about this, our benchmark is really high when you look at our history

an not vintage team is still better than an english golden generation

blutgraetsche wrote:A detailed article on Serbia by Jonathan Wilson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jun/02/serbia-world-cup-raddy-antic

Nice read. I still think it is a shame (from a footballing perspective) that Serbia and Montenegro split. Jovetic and Vucinic would have been great to see and seems like they could really do with some top quality forwards.

Now just imagine a Yugoslavia side these days...

Traditionally, the Balkans are one of the highest 'football talent density' regions in the world.

looks like the line up is with trochowski and badstuber

Calidad wrote:How does the German public feel about Cacau's nationalisation?

Since it wasn't done for footballing reasons, no one's batting an eyelash.

And I completely missed the "playmaker" bit. Jesus...

Wiebke, Cacau was great yesterday, he has been the best, most consistent striker in our squad during the whole preparation now. Going by that, he HAS TO start. I always thought that he could be a useful support striker, but I have to admit that I never believed him to be this good. Yes, just friendlies so far, but I really loved the effort he put in, the nice passes and his mobility. It seems like he is very hungry and wants to prove his worth to everyone, exactly the attitude we need in South Africa.

And he has the potential of becoming a cult hero, the interviews are great. 'Helmut', 'Kaba', whatever - good to have him on board.

Good to hear that. And really, the labeling isn't too far off... He sometimes acts like a sort of playmaker for us.

You just have to love Helmut, I totally agree.

Let's hope Helmut can continue like this, so I don't have to watch the U anymore.

anglophileHedgehog wrote:

Calidad wrote:How does the German public feel about Cacau's nationalisation?

Since it wasn't done for footballing reasons, no one's batting an eyelash.

I have batted quite a few eyelashes over it

even blut was not happy about it initially

the argument being

Cacau is now a German citizen, but NOT a German footballer

he came to Germany as an 18-year-old , I think

as a BRAZILIAN footballer

but, anglo clearly seems to think that blut and I are "nobody"

I admit that this actually is / was a factor for me in Cacau's case. But what does speak for him is that he didn't want the German citizenship for footballing reasons, he didn't get any kind of special treatment either - just officlally applied for it after 8 years in the country, like miliions of other immigrants did before him. It's his right to do so, he is a German citizen now and therefore of course can represent his country on the football pitch also. Not allowing him to do so would be wrong, because it would make him a second class citizen.

But yes, that he learned to play football elsewhere is not ideal.

P.S.: His German is better than that of many immigrants I know who have been a lot longer here. He hardly ever makes a grammatical mistake, just has a cute accent.

Ä wrote:

anglophileHedgehog wrote:

Calidad wrote:How does the German public feel about Cacau's nationalisation?

Since it wasn't done for footballing reasons, no one's batting an eyelash.

I have batted quite a few eyelashes over it

even blut was not happy about it initially

the argument being

Cacau is now a German citizen, but NOT a German footballer

he came to Germany as an 18-year-old , I think

as a BRAZILIAN footballer

but, anglo clearly seems to think that blut and I are "nobody"

Is it worrying the pace that the ball was being moved in the first half Blut? The Bosnians were there to shutdown much of Germany's passing game. I guess it could be argued that it was just a friendly. Klose looking isolated for most of the half didn't help either.

Muller and Marin.

Is it me or does the WC ball look ridiculously easy to create pace on?

Black Magic wrote:Is it me or does the WC ball look ridiculously easy to create pace on?

Yep. See Bastos and Navas' goals.