Archive for the ‘Germany’ Category

Tonight sees Germany meet Spain to get into the world cup final for 2010.

Its a hard one to call, I think if Spain come out with the grit and determination to get to their first world cup final then they could beat the Germans, On the flip side, they are playing Germany, Germany seem like they can turn anyone over with no hesitation.

The game is 20 mins in now, and i still cant call it! lets watch this space and wait!!

I’ve been slow to blog about this because im not to sure what to say. England lost to Germany yesterday in a 4 – 1 drumming which has left lots of people confused, angry and hung over!

The media this morning have blamed anything and everything for Englands defeat from Sepp Blatter, to the referee, down to the players and the manager.

Ill start of with some of the headlines.

I think that people will choose themselves who to blame, im going to run through what i think about the various parties to blame, i think you will notice my blame is very clear!

Sepp Blatter

Sapp Blatter is getting a lot of stick, The ball going over the line and not being given is a big talking point. The argument being, if the goal had stood then we would have been level and the mentality of the team would have been different. Sepp Blatter is the guy refusing to introduce goal line technology into the game. Yes the ball crossed the line and the technology would have seen this within seconds, but no, i don’t blame this for England not winning and playing so poor for all of their games.

The Referee

The referee has been blamed for the game, again, its because of the goal that wasn’t. Yes he should have seen it, people on the half way line saw it, the linesman should have seen it, however, a referee cant rule a game of reaction, it has to be down to what they see.

Capello

I think Capello has to take part of the responsibility. Their were big talks of the players being unhappy, they didn’t like his system, they didn’t like being played out of position. They are professionals and they should deal with it, but just because they can play football really well, doesn’t mean they have the mental capacity to respond to a situation responsibly. This is when the manager comes into play. It is then the managers role to deal with a situation and the players, the manager needs to be able to address concerns and sit the players down and explain why things are happening that way. Yes the players should always respect the manager but the manager needs to have the people skills to ensure that situation doesn’t arise.

The Players

Were do i start? i could sit and call them names and say they don’t deserve to wear the shirt, blah blah, blah but its already been said. I would put 80% of the blame on the players with the other 20% going on capello.

The players are the people who will win and loose the game. I don’t agree in lynching Rooney, no he didn’t play well but who did? I can tell you who did, David James, i take my hat off to him, Capello should also have played him from the start, he played with pride, he got animated, and he was the only player who did. I don’t think one player did worse than the next, it was just that they didn’t play with any urgency or desire. It was really painful to watch

The captaincy didn’t help things. I don’t believe Gerrard is a captain. he didn’t lead the team, I didn’t see him rallying the players, i don’t remember anything he had to say in a press conference. It was just a poor captaincy in my eyes.

Add all this together and you end up with a team that were looky to qualify for the last 16 and then pissed the opportunity up the wall.

There is only one thing that we can take a positive from. Were still not as bad as France!

So far in this world cup we have had two good games, up until last night it was one. The one game we have seen goals in is the Germany game in which they smashed 4 past Australia.

Most of the players are blaming the football. As with every world cup, we have a world cup football, this year it’s called the Jabulani.

Its almost tradition for all the teams in the world cup to complain about the football they are using, it happens at every tournament. This year however, there is one team that isn’t complaining. The Germans. The Germans have been using the Jabulani in the Bundesliga since February! That means they have been playing with the football for 4 months. England claim that they only had access to the football 15 days before the tournament.

Adidas have said in a statement that they sent the FA 30 of the new footballs to Wembley back in February as it sent all nations 30 footballs. Some of the teams in the Bundesliga used it in games since February and these teams have sponsorship deals with Adidas. In Germany the league doesn’t have an official ball so all teams play with a different ball.

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Ballack will miss the world cup this summer after getting injured in the FA cup final on Saturday.

Ballack will miss the world cup and its reported he will not be able to train for 8 weeks. Ballack picked up a knock during the FA cup final, the challenge was from Kevin-Prince Boateng who coincidently will be playing for Ghana who Germany will face in their first game of the World Cup. Ballack had a scan in Munich this morning which has revealed he has torn a ligament in his right ankle.

Loosing Ballack is a major blow for Germany, he has had a good season with Chelsea and any country would benefit from a player that is playing of the back of winning the double with their domestic team.

I have well and truly gone into smug mode over this. England have been really unlucky with key players getting injured before major tournaments in recent years and this time it has happened to the Germans. Im sure there was no sympathy for the English when it has happened in the past, so i have no sympathy for them!

Source: Sky Sports