I don't know how the topic really started. *after few seconds* Okay, I remember now. It's Sunday now and before midnight struck (the match ended before midnight), the Chelsea-Portsmouth game was still going on. My father and I were talking about Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack and their performances for domestic and international duties.
I call myself the neutral football fan...but then many knows (and even my father pointed out) that Lampard just flopped at international level (he was expected to repeat his status at the World Cup but it never really happened) but plays so well, domestic-wise. It's kind of like the reverse for his teamate. Hehe, being also a Germany fan (other than England) had helped me made my judgement.
Okay, that is before Chelsea's second goal comes in...from the Germany captain himself. I was stunned, given it was minutes before a goal came in from the 30-million pound (or dollar, as Dad would want to joke at times, playing on the name of the TV show 'Six Million Dollar Man') Andriy Shevchenko. The Ukraine star had impressive performances when back then he was at AC Milan before the move to Chelsea and so the hefty price for him to come over. Yes, the football world is silly, silly sometimes. I had just came out from my parents' bedroom (Mother was there watching one of her DVDs again) and Dad declared that someone had broken his duck. I was thinking - 'Shevchenko?'. It's true. At least my father need not say that he is still 'firing blanks'.
At least the two big summber-signing stars of Chelsea proved that they are no fluke. Finally. I almost wanted to sing 'At Last'. LOL.
Seeing that also it was Ballack's first goal for his new club (he was previously at Bayern Munich) made me brought back what I was thinking. That Reuters editorial which I saw at Yahoo Sports. Three months had gone by and yet, the German national football team are still the same as when former national coach Juergen Klinsmann was still in charge. The amazing legacy is still there, removing some fears that it might not live up to what happened when Germany hosted the World Cup. Three months after the World Cup ended, Germany seemed to be only one by far which had been performing to standard like in Euro qualifiers. Sigh, don't make me talk about (beloved) England. The eternal optimist is trying to be fair here, but!
You know, I am very afraid that one day (and I hope the day will never come), I will be 'defected' and no longer supporting England. Now I cannot believed I said that out in the open. But then...once an eternal optimist, always an eternal optimist. I always believed the best is yet to come.
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and like Klinsmann a resident of California, is jokingly said to possess a "reality distortion field" that means he can convince people of anything.
Klinsmann displayed the same sort of charisma as he inspired a modest group of players to the brink of the World Cup final.
When Klinsmann made way for Joachim Loew, many people assumed there would be a swift return to mediocrity.
Instead the team have gone from strength to strength, winning all three of their Euro 2008 qualifiers and avoiding the sort of problems being faced now by Italy, England and other big teams.
Those were part of the Reuters editorial I was talking about earlier. World Cup winners Italy slowly come back to winning ways in the Euro qualifiers, England...well, let's just say it's far from perfect. Makes me secretly wondering, is McClaren doing his job well at the moment or not, given more and more are saying that Beckham (even Arsenal's Thierry Henry, after his Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger recently commented on that) should return to the England national squad. But just leave me out on the Beckham issue.
I am not an idiot in knowing that the media had been hyping too much over the England squad in the leading up to the World Cup. I noticed that being just average players can really shine on international level. See what happens to Germany. How many of us (who are really so caught up with England given, yes...the EPL is shown here too) can name the entire Germany national squad before the World Cup? Okay, maybe except that first-choice goalie Jens Lehmann plays for Arsenal and at that time, Ballack is Chelsea-bound. And let's not forget Oliver Kahn's status (larger than life, that is). Along the way during the World Cup, I am starting to recognise who is who.
It is true that Germany lacks the star quality of England, Spain and Italy but there has been great compensation in the form of a series of young homegrown players, including Gonzalo Castro of Bayer Leverkusen, Aaron Hunt of Werder Bremen and the Bayern Munich pair Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm.
The main disappointment, and it is a big one, is that it remains hard to see a team from the Bundesliga making a serious challenge for the Champions League.
Hamburg, ravaged by injures, already have a foot out of the door after losing all three games so far, while Werder Bremen will likely have to win away to Barcelona to stand a chance of making it to the last 16.
I indirectly brought that up when it was the half-time break of the Chelsea-Portsmouth match to my father. He said it in front of me indirectly that England, Spain and Italy's domestic leagues are better. I know, it's an open secret but...makes me muttering in my head 'No wonder Germany's being thrust to the last in terms of calibre, thanks to the England spotlight'. In a way, I felt guilty especially after reading those Deustche Welle's articles. It's England all the time.
If even Bayern Munich regard themselves as rank outsiders in Europe there will be even more focus on the national team. As of now, the signs for Euro 2008 look excellent and Klinsmann's powers of persuasion have a lot to do with that.
That was the conclusion of the editorial. And this was added in between of the article - Public interest in the national team grows and grows. A new documentary charting Germany's World Cup run has been number one at the box office for two weeks and has sold two million tickets.
Remember back then I was talking about 'Germany: A Summer Fairytale'? That was what it was referring to. It's amazing how the documentary had been doing. And I really hope one day when I am still alive, I will be seeing that kind of thing over in our sporting scene. Especially talking about hitting it big at the Olympics. Until then, I can continue to think back of the good ol' days of the World Cup 2006.
Did anyone even mentioned about listing down all the major events of 2006? LOL. Psst, I had already started to create a list in my head on what is big this year.
