When Germany crashed out of the 1998 World Cup – a miserable 3-0 quarter-final defeat to Croatia – the DFB hit the factory reset button.
Youth coaching was overhauled, as was the scouting system designed to spot the talent, and it was made compulsory for the 18 top teams in the country to build performance centres.
Euro 2000 came too soon for any meaningful impact on the German national team – the defending champions finished bottom of their group – but the wheels were in motion.
Das Reboot was born, and a generation of footballers later, Germany would again be world champions in 2014.
“At least 10 players who are involved in the national team today we would have never found otherwise,” swooned Dietrich Weise in 2015, a key figure in the earlier revamp.
“Think of Toni Kroos.
He hails from a small place in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
No one would have looked at him.”
It looks bleak for upcoming games,
For who is replacing Reece James?
It should have been Quansah,
Instead might be Konsa …
Will England be shot down in flames?” – Nick Smith.
The Memory Lane image of Claudio Gentile taking down Maradona (yesterday’s full email), made me realise what this tournament has been missing: pantomime villains.
Uruguay teams of yesteryear would proudly collect their red cards in the first 10 minutes of vital World Cup games, not the last.
Even Portugal have become hard to hate, given how mean-spirited you have to be to scorn a group of young men helping an elderly gent across the pitch” – Justin Kavanagh.
Re: soccer (Daily letters passim): The great Sir Matt Busby, whose Proper Football credentials need no AI verification, titled his autobiography ‘Soccer at the Top’.
Let’s move on: there are far more important reasons to berate Americans, like the disgusting stuff that passes for chocolate over there” – Antony Crossley.
Fair play to Germany for consistently boycotting the round of 16 during World Cups in countries with questionable human rights situations.
– James Vortkamp-Tong.
If the James Bond franchise is looking for a name for their new villain, may I recommend Mullin Markwayne?” – Krishna Moorthy.
Continue reading...Sources: The Guardian
