World Cup Soccer - German Style
The World Cup is all about tradition, athleticism, national
pride and heart. Some of this can be seen in the colorful and sometimes unusual
nicknames that get hung on teams: Brazil: "Canarinho" ("Little
Canary"), England: “Three Lions”, Mexico: "El Tri", Spain:
"La Furia Roja" ("The Red Fury"), Netherlands:
"Clockwork Orange", and Greece: "Piratiko" ("The Pirate Ship").
When you look at the teams you can see why they have these nicknames.
And then there’s Germany’s nickname; Nationalmannschaft
(“National Team”) No frills here. No colors, no animals, no movie titles, no
bullshit. Just 100% badass. The Germans show up at these World Cup events every
four years with the expectation of winning every game, every time. Why do you need
a funny name when you’re job is to make your opponents cry? Its German culture
delivered to the world on a platter, and that platter is the green grass of the
most famous sporting event on the planet.
For every team that makes it to Cup play, simply beating the
German team is almost as good as winning the whole thing. In 2014 Cup play the Nationalmannschaft
has been methodically grinding its way toward the inevitable (at least in their
minds) and it will take the perfect storm to beat them. The Americans lost to
Germany in Group play by 0-1 and you would have thought they beat Brazil in the
final by the amount of press they received. Yeah, they moved to the next round
but the big story was really about how they didn’t get run out the stadium.
The largest worldwide TV viewership happens when the Germans
are on the pitch. Everybody loves watching them play. Their passing is crisp,
their headers almost impossibly accurate, and they never seem to tire. They are
simply a technical joy to watch. That said, there is also a bit of NASCAR fan
in all of us – we want to see the favorite in a fiery crash. We want a close
game. We root for some Cinderella team from a small South American country to
keep it close, take them into overtime and maybe even a shootout. But in the
end we want the A Team moving forward. We might not want the Germans to win the
final but we sure do want to see them get there. The final won’t be at its best
unless one of the teams is the machine that is Nationalmannschaft.
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