The story with England vs Germany is the following: it doesn´t matter if England wins the World Cup. It doesn´t even matter if Germany wins the World Cup. Even if England doesn´t win the World Cup it´s okay - as long as they beat ze Germans.
Why? Coz it´s them Germans, innit! It´s 1966 again, it´s World War II, Blitzkrieg, Dunkirk, Heil the Führer, bring it on! Let us have a look at some of the tabloids, purely for entertainment purpose:
The Sun: "Bring On The Germains"
The Sun also asks its readers: "Can England beat Germany?" - Surprisingly 72% (!) don´t think so, 16% do indeed, 6% say it depends if they practice penalties (good point actually!) and merely 4% simply don´t know. Or don´t care. If you ask me, yes, I think England can indeed beat Germany. The German team is unbeatable when it comes to penalties (that´s a fact - let´s face it!) but they are not in good shape and the absence of Ballack does show.
The Daily Telegraph: "England burnt out and stupid to be facing Germany now, says Franz Beckenbauer"
Beckenbauer claims that a game like this should be a semi-final and not a last 16. Well Mr. Beckenbauer, with all do respect, it doesn´t work that way I´m afraid. What should be and/or should not be is not up to the people who run football but to the lottery. Who´s the stupid here? You are. Please leave the maths to mathematicians, football to footballers and the World will be a much safer place.
The Guardian: "England buzzing ahead of Germany match"
"The lads are buzzing – it was a great performance, not just winning the game but a great performance from front to back," Defoe said. "The spirit's great and we're looking forward to it.
A great performance? When? Where? In this Universe? Or in a parallel Universe? The match I watched against Slovenia was anything but a good performance. Rooney wasn´t great, the first half had a hint of excitement but the second half was so boring that people paid so little attention and didn´t even know why the second goal was not a goal (it was offside, fyi). Seriously, take a look at Argentina, THAT is how football shold be played. I wish Slovenia had scored, that would have brought some more tension. Playing safe is boring!
I don´t know why England thinks they cannot beat Germany. Of the 27 games played against Germany, England have won 12 (7 of them up to 1966), while Germany have won 10, and also won both penalty shootouts that followed two of the five draws. That should not give Team England a reason to worry or to be afraid.
Anyway, let´s see how it goes on Sunday. I will probably be watching it in my house, maybe with my flatmate, maybe on my own, waving my small German flag (my landlord suggested I´d rather not hang the oversized one outside). I hope my team will win, but I hope the fight will be a good one. A fair one. With lots of beer, lots of popcorn, lots of free kicks, lots of corners, lots of excitement, lots of tension and lots of goals. Because it is, after all, a football game. And sometimes it´s more about watching a really good match than winning itself.
May the best team win.
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