Italy Ends Germany's Hopes, Again
The German National Football Team (Die Mannschaft), for inexplicable reasons, forgot to show up for a Euro 2012 Championship semi-final match against a spirited Italian side Thursday night in Warsaw, Poland. Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski continued a very unsettling trend of being MIA in big matches for both club and country. Joachim Löw, who basically signed Germany's 'death certificate' by reinstating the ineffective Gomez and Podolski and also Bayern's Toni Kroos into the starting line-up ahead of the more energetic and efficient Andre Schürrle, Marco Reus and Miroslav Klose, who had recently run circles around a very game Greek side. Jogi (Löw) had exposed himself to some extremely acute and accurate second-guessing. By replacing Gomez and Podolski at half-time, Löw in essence admitted his mistakes; he had over-coached the German side by replacing the hot-hands with what is on paper (and in the German media), the better players. But let's give full credit to the Italians who deserved their victory on the back of 'Super Mario' Balotelli's brace. They have already held fellow finalists and holders Spain to a 1-1 draw in their opening game of Euro 2012 and are on the cusp of a truly unexpected second European Championship, which they last won all the way back in 1968. Germany must console themselves with the hope that perhaps they are still on the upside and still amongst the contenders to win the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
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Dortmund 4 Kazakhstan 1 in freezing Franconia
Germany extended their lead at the top of World Cup Qualifying Group C with a routine 4-1 win against Kazakhstan in Nuremberg on Tuesday evening.
Joachim Loew made three enforced changes to the side that coasted to a 3-0 away win on Friday in Astana. Borussia Dortmund's Ilkay Guendogan replaced the suspended Bastian Schweinsteiger in midfield. Jerome Boateng filled in for injured Schalke defender Benedikt Hoewedes, forming a 'Bayern block' at the back with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and captain Philipp Lahm, alongside Arsenal's Per Mertesacker. Marco Reus returned to the starting line-up after...
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Germany took a while to come to terms with Ireland's direct approach before their superior passing and movement slowly wrestled control of the game back in their favour. Despite this, they had to wait until the 31st minute to take the lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger chipped...
The victory kept the three-time world champions at the top of their group, while Ireland's manager Giovianni Trapartoni was left in the spotlight after Ireland?s worst competitive home defeat.
Germany took a while to come to terms with Ireland's direct approach before their superior passing and movement slowly wrestled control of the game back in their favour. Despite this, they had to wait until the 31st minute to take the lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger chipped...
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It is a...
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It is a...
Same procedure as every tournament
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The qualifier...
The trickiest part of the trip to the former Soviet Republic may have been actually getting to the world's ninth largest country. A personnel strike at Frankfurt Airport on Thursday plunged Germany's busiest hub into chaos. A special counter had to be set up for the prominent guests to allow them to continue unaffected on their gruelling 4,300 kilometre trip to the Central Asian outpost.
The qualifier...
Oktoberfest Premier League Round-Up
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