I'm watching the Croatia/French soccer match and it's around the 53rd minute. Croatia just scored two goals - a really NICE second goal - within the last five minutes, making it 2:1. Which is really funny because during the half time commentary, the German commentator said that the Croatian team just didn't have the skills to competently compete against the French. "Sie haben nicht die Kraft (oder Bock)" ... or something VERY similar.
Hmmm....guess they just showed HIM, huh?
Update: It was a close game all the way to the end. France managed another goal, but it was a little controversial. The French player kicked the ball, the goalie kicked it out, it jumped up, hit the hand of the French player, and then he kicked it into the goal. They decided that his hand didn't drop down to the ball, the ball came up to his hand, so it was okay. Very good game over all, I thought.
Also, I've changed the title to reflect the final score.
Posted by Jinglelady at June 17, 2004 09:59 PM | Fußball | TrackBackYou are probably referring to the German commentator, Günter Netzer. (50ish, 70’s hairstyle, looks like a Neanderthal?) He played with Beckenbauer back in the 70’s on that great German World Cup Champion team. Anyway…the guy is a very “critical” soccer annalist; often too critical for his own good. He’s commentated on US teams during passed World Cups; I just turned off the TV until the game started.
I don’t know if you were ever interested in soccer before you came to Europe, but the quality of the sport has vastly improved in 20 years, i.e. European teams—other then the Germans— are becoming very competitive thanks to so many players saturating the top European leagues and gaining experience. Look at Bayern Munich; practically the whole team is made up of foreigners.
My point being, that people like Netzer have not come to the realization that German and Dutch soccer are no longer the “masters” of Europe. We are in a different era. Do you remember (or maybe you don’t) when Ohio State and Michigan were the only “big” teams in the “Big Ten” Collage football conference? Well…not anymore; it’s truly is the Big Ten now. The same is true for soccer in Europe.
Netzer might come around to reality… in about 20 years.
Oh Duncan! Gunther Netzer dosn't look like a Neanderthal. At least give the Neanderthalers something....
But as to commentary, yesterday they were saying Sweden had justly deserved their Anschlusstreffer (and they weren't playing against Austria) because they'd been brave and fielded 5 attackers. Today, Netzer was saying that "just because you play 5 Stürmer, you can't guarantee a goal" HET IS OORLOG! As the Dutch would say....
Posted by: neil at June 19, 2004 10:33 PM