DIE WELTMEISTER!!

Dunno, but if your whole international career consists of getting almost there for FIVE consecutive times... I can understand that if you end up putting your hands on the most prized trophy, you'd be tempted to kiss your ass, wave your hand and say goodbye, instead of trying that crazy russian roulette once more.

Kimbo wrote:Ridiculous, defenders retiring at 30 or younger, it just tells me international football is a hobby to them.

It really isn't to those three players, quite on the contrary. They never even missed a friendly when fit (in contrast to Schweinsteiger btw., for example), always gave their best for the country. In Germany, the NT is of utmost importance, to all of our players and to the fans.

I think abundance has a point. Lahm basically said something similar a while ago. He said that the lost CL final vs. Chelsea in 2012 was the turning point in his career. He had played one of the best matches of his career, had basically done everything right (as had his team, with the exception of converting their chances...) and yet still lost. This made him realise that winning titles is as much about luck as it is about skill and that you don't have everything in your own hands. Lahm had decided to retire from the NT last year already, way before he had even won the WC. He would have retired even if Germany had failed again.

Kimbo wrote:Why did Mertesacker retire???

because he was benched at the WC

and because his future for die mannschaft would look rather bleak

höwedes
badstuber
ginter
boateng
hummels

I hactually pretty much agree with Kimbo. I thought it was pretty lame when Scholes and Shearer retired from internationals before they were 30, so I'd be a hypocrite to say otherwise.

Of course as Blut says it's Lahm who's the biggest loss, the irreplaceable one in sporting terms. Plus it's not as if he's been plagued with injury worries so would struggle to fit in the Euro at least.

With Miro it was inevitable, at 36, after 137 games and 71 goals; even for him the next Euro is presumably unrealistic. Merte realizes he isn't really first choice any more, there are real options and successors in Hummels, Boateng, Höwedes, Badstuber and Ginter (edit: whoops, made that "list" without looking at your post Kroos ) apart from any new ones, and doesn't want to schlep around for qualification games to spend most of the time on the bench (or go to France as a squad player), so as with Lahm it's his right to bow out at the very top, and from some points of view it makes a lot of sense.

But the Spaniards never had a spate of retirements, if anything even kept one or two on too long (Xavi at this last tournament), and 31/32 at the next tournament is hardly ancient, and I always thought the national team had an incomparable standing in Germany. So it's disappointing and I don't like it, even if they have every right. Made me worry about Basti when seeing a photo of him in my news feed...

I also thinks its kinda lame from both. Lahm could easily play in France and still be important. And like Allez said, he'S not even injured much.
And there should be nothing wrong being a squad player for Merte. You need a good bench too.

So I also feel a bit dissapointed at those choices. Only good thing is, we get a new captain. I never liked a quiet person like Lahm on that position.

Kroos (the poster) will like to hear that: Mario Gomez returns! Both Gomez and Reus who missed the WC are called up for the friendly vs. Argentina on September the 3rd and Euro qualification match vs. Scotland a few days later. Antonio Rüdiger (Stuttgart) has also been called up. Schweinsteiger and Mustafi are injured.

Tor: Manuel Neuer (Bayern München), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Abwehr: Jerome Boateng (Bayern München), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Antonio Rüdiger (VfB Stuttgart)

Mittelfeld/Angriff: Julian Draxler (Schalke 04), Mario Gomez (Fiorentina), Mario Götze (Bayern München), Christoph Kramer (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (Bayern München), Mesut Özil (FC Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (FC Arsenal), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), André Schürrle (FC Chelsea)

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/nationalelf/610810/artikel_mit-gomez-reus-und-ruediger-gegen-argentinien.html

U21 team for the Euro 2015 qualification matches vs. Ireland and Romania:

Tor: Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Loris Karius (FSV Mainz 05), Timo Horn (1. FC Köln)

Abwehr: Dominique Heintz (1.FC Kaiserslautern), Julian Korb (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Niklas Stark (1. FC Nürnberg), Robin Knoche (VfL Wolfsburg), Danny Da Costa (FC Ingolstadt), Christian Günter (SC Freiburg)

Mittelfeld: Leonardo Bittencourt (Hannover 96), Emre Can (FC Liverpool), Johannes Geis (FSV Mainz 05), Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Dortmund), Moritz Leitner (VfB Stuttgart), Nico Schulz (Hertha BSC), Yunus Malli (Mainz 05), Max Meyer (Schalke 04), Amin Younes (1. FC Kaiserlautern)

Angriff: Philipp Hofmann (1. FC Kaiserlautern), Felix Klaus (SC Freiburg), Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg), Kevin Volland (1899 Hoffenheim)

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/nationalelf/610823/artikel_vier-a-nationalspieler-fuer-hrubesch.html

Pretty strong team on paper. They only need one point from both matches to win their group and qualify for the play-offs.

No friendly match vs. Israel in March 2015 (as planned) for security reasons - UEFA hadn't allowed the Euro qualification match between Israel and Belgium to take place in September 2014, so Israel plan to play it in March 2015 instead, at the expense of the friendly against us.

http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/fussball-nationalmannschaft-spiel-gegen-israel-faellt-aus-a-988832.html

Schweinsteiger new Captain.

Schneider new assistant

fuck

did anybody see THAT ?

Germany vs Argentina

the anthems were just played

EVERY SINGLE GERMAN player sang the

ANTHEM



(idiots like Özil, Khedira, Boateng... are NOT playing)

you have to feel SORRY for Argentina

kick-off is about us

and it's now clear

Germany will HUMILIATE the Gauchos (who were not singing AT ALL)

Maybe they used up all their energy singing...

Argentine anthem that gets played at these matches is only the intro, which has no words.

Deluded F*ck wrote:Argentine anthem that gets played at these matches is only the intro, which has no words.

NO EXCUSE! SINGING = WINNING!

We play with a fucking gospel choir instead of fighters

Maybe there's hope for us yet against Germany on Sunday.

Murray wrote:Maybe there's hope for us yet against Germany on Sunday.

I wouldn't count on it, mate.

Ä wrote:

fuck

did anybody see THAT ?

Germany vs Argentina

the anthems were just played

EVERY SINGLE GERMAN player sang the

ANTHEM



(idiots like Özil, Khedira, Boateng... are NOT playing)

you have to feel SORRY for Argentina

kick-off is about us

and it's now clear

Germany will HUMILIATE the Gauchos (who were not singing AT ALL)

Oh dear

Otto should have nipped in and quietly deleted that one before the game ended

That is brilliant

I confessed to being rather delighted with everyone singing too (though Gomez was only pretending), but was never going to last long.

(Was that no one with Migrationshintergrund in the starting XI (unless you count Gomez's dad)? Is that a record? You won't win anything with whites?)

Same old story in these friendlies, was 3-1 to Argentina after Euro 2012. Lahm is a bitch for retiring, Ginter, Großkreutz and Durm all in the backline is not going to work. God knows what the solution will be at full-back. Rüdiger looked bright when he came on.

Di Maria was on fire, looks like he could be an amazing signing for the c**ts

With Hummels and Boateng back on Sunday that game should be a different story Murray, though it is indeed a good time to play Deutschland...

God we are going to miss those three.

Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

Brasil 5 WCs
Italia 4
Argentina and Germany 3
Uruguay 2

TFS!

Puro wrote:Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

Brasil 5 WCs
Italia 4
Argentina and Germany 3
Uruguay 2

TFS!

and if ballack would have played the 2002 final

brazil 4 germany 5

and if müller would have played the semi final in 2010

germany 6 spain 0

Jogi pointed out that that's far from the case...

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/debatte-um-ngel-di-mara-nudel-ruettelt-an-deutschlands-viertem-stern-1.2116518

Germany could never win in South America against the likes of Brazil and Argentina, now it's happened let's just rearrange the goalposts after a friendly with a makeshift backline

I realize Di Maria is superb and better than Reus on Wednesday but there are a hell of a lot more variables than that – one first-choice in the whole back six or seven. The question is more which was the second best team at the World Cup – Argentina or France.

It's over, deal with it, you were wrong, as always, and you'd get more respect for admitting it.

Argentina have won the last three friendlies pretty comfortably, you realize? What happened in the last FOUR World Cup encounters, do you think? Can you guess?

Great goalkeeping by Neuer as ever in that scene – never a pen. What was he supposed to do, not challenge for the ball...

Best to get a shot on target if you think you deserve to win a game, I'd say. (The Arseblogger reckoned Higuain knew he was well offside when he had the ball in the net and that was why he didn't hold back in his celebrations... )

Yeah we lose friendlies on regular basis. Against Argentina, Denmark or even England ffs.
I am also not interested in these "Spiele fürs Volk" to milk some money. Haven't watched that game either. Its rather pointless.

Puro wrote:Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

They just needed Higuain to score a sitter, no conspiracies attached.

Kroos wrote:

Puro wrote:Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

Brasil 5 WCs
Italia 4
Argentina and Germany 3
Uruguay 2

TFS!

and if ballack would have played the 2002 final

brazil 4 germany 5

and if müller would have played the semi final in 2010

germany 6 spain 0

Ballack or no Ballack that was Brasil's WC in the bag. TFS!

Spain from 2010 still would've beat Germany with Ballack from 2002 included. TFS!

That's why 2014 WC win by Germany was least celebrated in history and nobody was butt hurt in America either - the fix was in.

abundance wrote:

Puro wrote:Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

They just needed Higuain to score a sitter, no conspiracies attached.

No doubt! Higuaín sitter or Palacio sitter. GAME OVER!

Argentina had Germany in their pockets all game and they only lost to exhaustion (from previous ET match) NOT the Germans. They KNEW it too. I talked to several Argie media guys and they told me the same shite "the team was tired, we had the game won even without Di María"

Oh well, I told them. Así es la vida.

But they didn't have it won.. Or they'd have won.

abundance wrote:

Puro wrote:Di Maria plays that Final in Brasil and it's Argentina with three World Cups won and tied with the Germans. Or if the ref correctly made the calls in the game and gave Neuer his well deserved red. But we know adidas had already produced 10 million shirts with the fourth star BEFORE the Final, and adidas being a great FIFA partner, the ref was told to make sure "the right customer wins".

They just needed Higuain to score a sitter, no conspiracies attached.

The world has been, is, and will be full of conspiracies and deals behind closed doors. It's time to open your eyes.

The Di María case of not playing the Final is a lot more strange. Look that one up.

Puro. What planet these days are you posting from.......

The Argies have only themselves to blame true story. Germany out mastered every south american team and played the final using superior game intelligence, the goal to win the game showed the quality gap in the two sides.

De Maria is quality we must never forget he is one player Germany plays football with 11 tuned to get the best out of a system the Argies were not on that level.

Did the Argentinian's not appreciate that playing 120 minutes before a WC final isn't the best preparation?

Maybe this is what Puro is on about, Real Madrid pressurised Argentina not to play Di Maria in the final

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11079110/Angel-di-Maria-claims-Real-Madrid-pressured-Argentina-not-to-play-him-in-World-Cup-final-against-Germany.html