can Germany keep it up ?

3:1 against the Swiss

one good half; the other so-so

the Swiss manager believes he has seen " a great Germany"

Sehr geehrter Herr Kuhn, the shift was stuck in second gear, beware them days when the MONSTER and the PRINZ are back, when Schweini and Lahm return with a smile on their faces

the good news; in the past Germany often had problems against minor opposition in friendlies; those days seem to be over

-Ballack: good whilst it lasted; FAR BETTER than Flumps against Spain; no surprise here

- Kuranyi: brilliant that the boy is back; the Germans and Duchies on here don't seem to like him; "I" always have; it was a JOKE that Klinsi preferred Hanke over him at the World Cup; great header-goal

- Gomez: the new SUPERSTAR amongst international strikers; most of YOU could give me the names of all upcoming Brazilian/Argie/French, Spanish... strikers but have never heard of Gomez; well, he is only the joint top scorer of the Bundesliga, at the age of 21. Yesterday, he got his first 57 minutes for the Nationalmannschaft and immediately scored a sensational header

with Klose, Poldi, Kuranyi and Gomez we now have the best strike force in Europe; HANDS-DOWN

now please, Loew, get rid of Neuville and Hanke and we are set

- Schweini, Lahm: shadow of their former selves; Magath has cast his spell; Hitzfeld will have his work cut out to rejuvenate them

so why was the game yesterday so important ?

1. there is an excellent chance that Germany are going to play Switzerland in the European Cup final, draw permitting; we have now taught them a lesson they will remember when the day comes

2. with Kuranyi back and Gomez new to the fold, we have endless striker options

3. FINALLY, we are scoring HEADERS again, using our natural height advantage; Gomez is an excellent header, ditto Kuranyi, Klose, Ballack, who hit the cross-bar, as well as Merte; at the World Cup we had no width and DELIBERATELY tried to go through the middle ; it cost us the World Cup; we were also crap at set-pieces, which Klinsi DELIBERATELY did not practice until the very end ; in fact, we did not score from set-pieces for over 20 games ; Frings now put an end to this madness, but frankly, it's the renewed aerial strength that will could our opponents nightmares at the EUropean Cup

France lost yesterday; Italy are in meltdown; Spain were merely so-so; England might not even qualify for the European Cup

Germany are now the undisputed, overwhelming favourites to lift their 4th Cup

with Brazil just losing to Portugal, it's fair to say that Germany and Portugal are the two best countries in the world

Switzerland, we are coming; we'll bring the Fussball and the Bier, you'll prepare the Raclette and the Salat

I like how you refer to Kuranyi and Gomes as 'endless striker options'

Put it this way, your chances are about five times that of England.

Tweedle wrote:I like how you refer to Kuranyi and Gomes as 'endless striker options'

I have always liked Kuranyi, in contrast to everybody else on here

his stats for Germany are BRILLIANT

he is doing well for SChalke too; his slump last year seems to be behind him and will only have made him stronger; the club are also employing a technique choach who works on his finishing...

if Poldi does not make the European Cup I won't worry one second, there are so many options

as for Gomez: he has it all; he really does; there will be ups and downs but in 5 years at the latest he will be on Barca's shopping list even if Cruyff and the Lama threaten to resign

true story

No offence but Kuranyi is pretty shit

Sure his stats for Germany may be good but so are quite a few average Germans like Ballack, Klose and Poldi.

Francis Jeffers has brilliant stats for England but you don't hear us raving for him to be called up

It was just a friendly otto. Not for Switzerland though, since they are already qualified and need these friendlies just like we needed them prior to the WC. The real test for us will be the qualification match against the Czechs.

Still, it was really good to see that we have some quality alternatives in the attack now, both Kuranyi and especially Gomez are in great form these days. I was positively suprised how well Arne Friedrich and Fritz played on the right side, another 'experiment' of Löw that worked. Fritz had a great match, replaced Schneider exceptionally well in the midfield. Maybe Schaaf can try him there in Bremen also, if necessary.

A good start for us this year, but the real challenges are yet to come. I believe that we can and will keep it up though.

@ tweedle

you look like a nice Putney boy

you think like a Charlton man though

I want a rematch for that 3rd place humiliation last year.

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:@ tweedle

you look like a nice Putney boy

you think like a Charlton man though

Otto, you may think you're German but you have the mind of a Scotsman

Were I to write such triumphalist nonsense about England beating, say, Wales, you'd (rightly) be the first to rubbish it Otto.

Germany = flat track bullies.

But console yourself that you're still the kings of the penalty shootout Otto - that'll probably be enough to get you to the semifinals at least - providing you avoid Italy on the way

Roger Hunt wrote:
Germany = flat track bullies.

It's not like Switzerland are cannon fodder though. Qualified for second round in the WC, winning their group against the French. And since the WC, they have only lost to Brazil, Germany and......Austria.

blutgraetsche wrote:

Roger Hunt wrote:
Germany = flat track bullies.

It's not like Switzerland are cannon fodder though. Qualified for second round in the WC, winning their group against the French. And since the WC, they have only lost to Brazil, Germany and......Austria.

Switzerland are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to STRIKE.

You'll see at the Euro Champs

@ blut

long time, no see

you have been missed, as well as your particular brand of optimism

let's hope Bremen still win the league

@ tuga

Germany vs Portugal would indeed be a mouthwatering tie now

Portugal are certainly in my top 4 to lift the European Cup (alongside Germany, Switzerland and Italy)

@ tweedle

"thinking like a Scotsman": I take that as a compliment; England is RUN by Scotsmen (politics, the media, successful football...); the Empire was run by Scotsmen as well

bizarre but true; they seem to have the certain "I don't know what"

@ roger

"Germany = flat track bullies"

more like: MOUNTAIN EAGLES

gliding in the air and pouncing when we are hungry

we might leave your three lambs alone; it would just be too easy

Tweedle wrote:
Switzerland are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to STRIKE.

You'll see at the Euro Champs

You can bet your life that the Swiss hate to lose against their neighbours to the north, friendly or not. And they need these friendlies, since they have no qualification games, like I wrote earlier.

Otto!

You as a true HSV-fan must be pleased that Oranje had three HSV players on the pitch last night and two of them scored: VdV and Mathijsen...

We had the most players from the last place in the Bundesliga on the pitch

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:@ blut

long time, no see

you have been missed, as well as your particular brand of optimism

let's hope Bremen still win the league

Thank you otto, I've been (and still am) very busy in the last few months. And I agree, Bremen simply has to win die Meisterschaft, but Schalke a real challenge this year.

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:

with Klose, Poldi, Kuranyi and Gomez we now have the best strike force in Europe; HANDS-DOWN

Yep, they're all so good that *none* of Poldi, Kuranyi and Gomez would make the Oranje team (if a sane manager was in charge that is, Marco van Basten is a bit unpredictable unfortunately)

@ ricardo

hard to believe that Holland need to rely on players like de Jong and Matthijsen these days

I would prefer them to score against Bayern rather than in international friendlies

Haha Holland to rely on deJong. Thats a good one.

Tweedle wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:

Roger Hunt wrote:
Germany = flat track bullies.

It's not like Switzerland are cannon fodder though. Qualified for second round in the WC, winning their group against the French. And since the WC, they have only lost to Brazil, Germany and......Austria.

Switzerland are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to STRIKE.

You'll see at the Euro Champs

What was the swiss line-up, just out of curiosity?

@Otto

De Jong is a wrong choice of the coach. But it is already better than Sneijder on that position. Players like Mendes da Silva, Schaars are better than him. Even Maduro (in form) is also a better option there.

Mathijsen is an excellent defender in an attacking team. The more defensive your team plays the lesser his value....

BTW we missed 10 players plus the rebels Bommel and Ruud. What is true with Bommel had an infight with Magath after the Schalke game...? THe two rebels never learn it seems...

Otto

It's not because Germany beat Switzerland and that Brazil, England and France lost that according to the goal difference of these games: Germany> England, France> Brazil Switzerland. And now Germany are clear favorites to win the euro. Stop jerking prematury

I heard Ballack is now injured.

Typical Germans, trying to ruin our players

I have it on good authority that Germans, sadly, can not keep it up.

... hence the falling German birth-rate, presumably.

added to the coop and bog book of jokes.

Wow Germany won a game (in Dusseldorf) against the mighty Swiss. And kit wasn't even competitive. Will the Germans get past the first round of the Euro thiss time? (unlike the last two editions)

borocooper wrote:added to the coop and bog book of jokes.

Book? I only know about 3.

Roger Hunt wrote:

borocooper wrote:added to the coop and bog book of jokes.

Book? I only know about 3.

Books have to start somewhere Roger.

Ricardo Jol wrote:
BTW we missed 10 players plus the rebels Bommel and Ruud.

If you call being made a scapegoat and being kicked out of the team by an ungrateful idiot of a manager, "being a rebel" than you are right.

As usual you're wrong though...both Ruud and Mark have not left Oranje on their own free will and neither has said they don't want to play for Oranje again. The fact that both are eager to join the Olympic Oranje squad should make even you think....