I know I have to wait till tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday, where the timing is more reasonable) before I myself personally 'analyse' the match on the Football Channel, but until then...if there is one thing I can secretly grin about - Liechtenstein managed to hold Germany 1-0 till the end of the first-half before the floodgates started to open in the second.
Eurosportnews told me that this morning. Or rather, it told me that it was 1-0 (to Germany) at the end of the first-half. And for once, I am not the last person in the family to wake up today (my mother was surprised, given I am always the last to wake up in the family on Sundays, unless I have to accompany her to the market). I actually slept early, in hoping that when I wake up, I can still catch up on those scores on the Teletext of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Most of it though, including this match I am attempting to review...without even watching it yet. Just basing it on reports.
After managing to sink in just about everything, which include not falling off from the sofa (because the final score is 6-0 to Germany), my next 'stage' of finding out what really happened came next. Eurosportnews channel. And as much as I don't really like the idea (but I have no choice until I view the video highlights on the Internet...like this one), Deustche Welle's Journal. I know it's an international German news channel but, I was almost rolling my eyes when at the end of the highlights of the match, it said something like (maybe I am wrong) 'Germany heads into the 2010 World Cup' in an excited tone. Hello? This is only the first qualifier and taking out the champagne to celebrate already?
Anyhow, Lukas Podolski is the hero this time in the 6-0 win. Football can be real strange sometimes. Some can perform well for country, but not really at club level and it's the same in reverse. There are also those who can replicate the performance at club level for country. Podolski belongs to the first category (those who perform well for country, but not really at club level). Based on what I read over here, he was the one who scored in the 21st minute (the eventual only goal in the first-half) and did scored the second three minutes after the second-half began (Piotr Trochowski created the chance for Podolski though). The Bayern Munich striker almost had a hat-trick himself. Miroslav Klose was the captain of the match (Michael Ballack missed out through injury) before Mario Gomez came on for Klose. And the captain's armband went to Bastien Schweinsteiger when Klose was substituted.
Thomas Hitzlsperger managed to show what he can still do, scoring with his left foot. It was the fifth goal in the match itself. And I almost chuckled when the Eurosport's German website used the nickname the VfB Stuttgart midfielder had when he was at Aston Villa - 'The Hammer' (I once read that German TV commentators still refer to the nickname he earned in England at Bundesliga matchdays). I once saw a report on Stuttgart training in the winter break in the previous season and the former Aston Villa man himself when being questioned, had no idea how his nickname came about. Hitting hard with his left foot, it had always came naturally for him. Heiko Westerman even got on the scoresheet, and it was the first international goal as well for the Schalke defender.
Three points in the bag. Definitely what was expected of a side which was recently third on the FIFA rankings (though it's a drop down from second). Those in the German corner, the players were pleased with themselves (how Westermann reacted to scoring his first international goal). As for Germany coach Joachim Loew, it's proof they can break down sides who set out just to frustrate them. Opponents who 'line up very defensively'. Finland is next on Wednesday at Helsinki, and the Finns are no pushovers. That is when the real hard work begins.
Though Torsten Frings was among the notable absentees apart from Michael Ballack (the Werder Bremen midfielder injured his nose and according to his coach Thomas Schaaf, Frings is doing fine after seeing the doctor), he insists he is not worried about losing his place on the national side. Rivals to his role on the national team Simon Rolfes and Thomas Hitzlsperger scored to enhance their international credentials, but Frings is not fazed.
Now as much as I tried to make it solely on anything that has to do with the qualifying match, there were two Bundesliga news which actually surfaced after I updated my previous post. Bayern Munich's on-loan signing Massimo Oddo when speaking in an interview, believes he has joined one of Europe's best five or six clubs. He also revealed how he went to Bayern when he was actually close to joining French champions Lyon (where compatriot Fabio Grosso is at). A phone-call from Luca Toni at Munich made all the difference to join his compatriot in the Bavarian capital (given Oddo revealed that Toni told him that coach Juergen Klinsmann and club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge asked if he wanted to come to Munich). He had already made his first appearance in Oliver Kahn's testimonial match and aim over the next nine months will be to convince Bayern to make his move a permanent one.
Looks like Cologne captain Umit Ozat is not making a quick return to regular Bundesliga action following his heart failure when the club was playing away at Karlsruhe. Initial tests did not highlight any irregularities with the Turk's heart and it was even rumoured that he would be back in training by the end of the week, but he has instead been sent to one of Germany's leading heart specialists in Hannover as a further precautionary measure. Ozat is taking cautious approach to his health. At the end of the day, health is still very important and it's no joke.
German football thought of the day: If based on what I read on what happened during the qualifying match in Vaduz, Lukas Podolski will have shown that he can still deliver...when he don't always guarantee a first-choice start at his club. And what led to the fifth goal...will have made the people at UK's ITV oh-so-proud. Back then at Euro 2008, I supposed in order to raise interest for its viewers back in the UK (given none of the home nations was in the tournament), the ITV commentators tried to throw in any British references wherever possible and whenever Thomas Hitzlsperger is in action, chances are 'Aston Villa' will be mentioned along somewhere as well. Back then when I 'review' the video highlights, most of the videos came from ITV.
