ReiseReise

Fell asleep during Canada v Holland, which is a shame. Netherlands looked pretty decent in this tourney and it would be quite nice to see them advance. China´s pen was a terribly bad call from the slow motion replay, but I didn´t see how it looked in real time. Still, wrong call, which is a shame for New Zealand. Canada looked very good during the first 20 or so minutes, after that they seemed to be getting more and more nervous. Then I went to dream land. The highlights on FIFA TV looked like taken from a very lively game that could have gone either way. Canadians advancing is good for the competition and the atmosphere I´d say, but they really need some progress now and a convincing Round of the Last 16 win.

GerWomen win their final group game 4-0 (1-0) against Thailand who defended quite well for the first half, with all goals coming from players 21 or younger. Petermann scoring twice after being subbed on at the beginning of the second half. Norway´s 3-1 win over Ivory Coast settles die Frauschaft for first and the Norweginas for second place. The real tests will be up ahead for both teams, with Norway facing Group F´s second place, so it´s either England, Columbia or France. Or Mexico. Who knows?! Group F is crazy. Germany plays the best third out of Group A, C or D. This means it´s either third out of Canada´s group, one of Switzerland/Cameroon or whoever gets third in the USWNT´s group. There are some tough match ups looming. Ivory Coast is eliminated, Thailand still has a glimmer of hope should Brazil beat Costa Rica while South Korea and Spain draw while France takes a point of Mexico with England loosing to Columbia by a six goal margin. Not that much of a glimmer, I´ll admit.

Up until 2014´s World Cup, Greece had won more trophies in international football than Germany over a 17 year period, up until today they have won more than France over the last 15 years, more than the Netherlands over the last 27 years, more than Brazil, by that logic, only Brazil, Italy and Spain should be allowed to talk. Well, not even Spain and Italy, because until 2006 and 2008, both had been edged out by Greece for roundabout 34 (Italy) and 44 years (Spain) respectively. And I´d say, that the whole financial market in Europe is pretty f´ed in total. The bigger and financially stable countries get their stability at the expense of the shakier countries. Since we are the EU anyway, there shouldn´t even be "Greece", "Italy", "France", "Germany"-talk, but talk about a European economy as a whole. People from Germany are the worst in that regard, pointing fingers at everyone, claiming to be a financially healthy nation when all we actually do is an attempt at financial imperialism in which near-bancrupcy for other countries is a staple of our own economy. But enough of this from my part, if I talk economy, it shall be footie related... Apparently, the Faroer Islands´ win sparked a major spike in sales of the national squad´s kit. A friend of mine is a huge fan of the island, not that big into football himself, and tried to order when online only to find his size sold out. Beforehand the shop apparently crashed. Although I find the EURO tournament a little too big with 24 out of the odd 50+ teams qualifying for it, it´s going to be somewhat entertaining to see who seems to be making it to France so far.

Well, Brazil once again not looking like expected, but ultimately, they got the job done. If Spain´s eating habits equal their footballing style, I can see a lot of bad weather in Canada. They have some real trouble finishing. Listened to the commentary on England vs Mexico and switched over for the goals. Clutch win for the Three Lionesses, that first goal from Kirby was mighty fine. Oh, and there are so many jokes about that 1-2-goalie-howler, but I´m not even going to touch them. EDITed for the sake of putting over how much fun the Costa Rican team is for me. A lot of them are so short, so the protective instincts take over right away. They are rapid and they run until their legs give out, they succeeded twice in pushing through a chaotic playing style and their games were both anarchic, high paced and full of emotion against opposition that was no doubt superior in skill and tactical discipline. Yesterday´s match had a few close (and ultimately wrong) referee calls on both ends (a pk call missed on either side) aswell as lots of chances leading to a fairy tale ending for the Ticas, with the oldest player on the team scoring, a stocky striker named Karla Villalobos who looked past her prime re: physical condition. Her goal was a beauty, though, a fantastic first touch leading to a very cool finish, followed by an awesome goal celebration that saw her and a lot of teammates crying tears of joy. I think they are far to immature to advance from the group stages, but damn, they are fun to watch. Korean Republic played a great game aswell, they seemed superior in some departments, but didn´t shy away from the Costa Rican playing style and threw a lot into the match aswell. I honestly expected the gaps between those teams bigger than they seem. Spain and Korea Republic will battle for a Round of the Last 16 spot, Costa Rica has to hope to get a result against Brazil for a shot at advancing.

Germany won their away game against Gibraltar 7-0, but especially the first half was horrible to watch with almost everyone pretty much in holiday mode for Die Mannschaft , luckily goalkeeper Weidenfeller (in probably his farewell game) was awake and saved some attempts quite well. There should have probably been at least one goal in the match for Gibraltar, had they taken their chances better, A lot of German players really didn´t look motivated at all for about 30 minutes, especially well established internationals like Schweinsteiger and Goetze were horrendous. The latter had to be subbed off with an injury, Kruse was brought on and the Germans got better afterwards, with the Gibraltarian keeper Perez having a field day. After the break the underdogs seem to tire fast and Germany seemed to realize how bad the first half was, there was a little more urgency and the goals kept coming. Even then, the 3 at the back once more looked very shaky and at this rate, it´s hardly an alternative. Schuerrle might work as a striker, hard to tell from this match, he is the right type of player for that position though. Bellarabi I will probably never be sold on, sorry. I really just don´t like this player type.

Columbia with what I wouild have considered a huge upset hadn´t I seen this and the first France-game.The French were a little unlucky on a few calls, but they didn´t really look like somebody who would be favourites to win. Despite the odd shot and possession statistics, they didn´t create anything in open play. The Columbian goal keeper was great aswell. The FOX commentators (had to watch a FOX stream, for no German broadcasting station showed the match) were on the same level as the German PBS guys: all low.

So, Croatian crowd was excluded from their home game against Italy because of racist slurs and the like before. Somehow somebody was able to put a Swastika into the grass on the pitch, according to the Croatian federation between 24 or 48 hours before kickoff. THOSE are the instances were I think football fans kind of deserve a scumbag organization like FIFA to rule the game on the world stage, since we still haven´t gotten rid of those kind of idiots.

Well, they talked up Cameroon´s 6-0 win over Ecuador aswell and it had three easy penalties given away by Ecuador. It still is more of significance in regards to Ecuador´s lack of class than in showing the other teams quality. Despite being a goalless draw, I enjoyed Sweden vs USA. It was a physical and fast paced game which went back and forth. There weren´t many huge chances, but the game was really tense and both teams put in quite a shift with good defending on both sides. Unfortunately, the German announcing was so horrendous that I got really mad and shouted at my TV. Which isn´t bad per se, but it was in the middle of the night over here. Sports journalism is horrible and announcers really are the worst of the lot over here.

It's up to 70% right now on RT. That at least tells me it probably isn't awful. Sorry, almost reported you by accident. Jurassic World is a movie with lots of stupidty in it, but it´s also a lot of fun. The people involved definetly had the first movie in mind with a lot of hommages and throwbacks, threw some violence in there and did quite openly state that it works as creature feature, leaving out lots of the pseudophilosophical or -scientific malarky. I actively enjoyed it, and despite a heavy emphasis on "fan service", they use a lot of small clever things to differentiate it from the original. I´d rate it quite clearly above 2 and 3 and had great fun watching it. It kind of feels like they simply did what they had to do and made it work. Still, you will probably facepalm a lot if you watch it expecting a master piece.

Just got home to see Germany vs Norway finish with a 1-1 draw. Saw the Norwegian free kick equalizer, which was a sweet strike. German announcers and pundits did their best to put over how great our first half was, just to add that the team failed to do anything close to that in the second half. This, in combination with the awfulness of our announcers and pundits, leads me to the assumption that the draw is a just result and that Norway played as good as the German ladies .

Good victories for the US, but we have been horrendous in friendlies since 2014. Maybe this will keep enthusiasm for footie in the US alive.

Korea surely gave away two easy goals and had a few shocking passes. Otherwise, they looked really solid defensively and when they started attacking, they could actually create one or the other chance. Brazil looked firmly in control for the most part and it´s really hard to tell how good they really were. Other than their effiency, nothing really looked like tourney-winner material in the first half. As said before, considering Korea Rep didn´t do much attacking-wise, Brazil looked shaky at the back. I have a feeling Korea are a team tough to break down, but struggling with possession themselves: They created all their good chances with high pressure defending against the ball.

Spain vs Costa Rica was fun. The Spanish attack should have done better with that boatload of chances, though. Costa Rica ran like hell and looked like they could maybe getting one more in the first half, but the longer the game went, the more they seemed to be losing steam. I think they were quite happy taking the point. Shout out to the Costa-Rican goalkeeper Diaz, she was great tonight. Awesome positioning especially.

I know and I´m sad about it. Spain vs Costa Rica is already way more fun, with two really fine goals. Lasada for Spain with a lightning quick turn and a neat shot in the bottom left corner, Rodriguez with a booming run on the wing and a great pass back to another Rodriguez, who just had to tap it in. Costa Rica seems very shaky on every set piece, however.

That France vs England game was really exhausting to watch. England especially seemed to be just out there to defend, France didn´t do much more. Not a good match to start my World Cup watching tbh.

Missed out on all matches. A little sad about team Sweden dropping the points, might already mean elimination from the tournament with the opposition in that group. I´m always surprised about the Swedish athletes being considered more beautiful than the rest. Not saying they are ugly by any means, but they never struck me as particularly more beautiful than others. Some beautiful ladies, some not my type, like in almost every other team. I guess it´s a preference thing. France, Brazil and England starting their tournament today. It will be interesting to watch, i reckon. As said, I expect a good campaign from the French. Brazil, according to all the pundits and talk before the tournament, is still majorly Marta + 10 others and I have no idea how good the English are this year. Also interesting to see Spain in their first World Cup.

Vote has been discussed in the past a fair bit (although it got silenced a lot in German media), but didn´t expect THAT level sinistry behind it. Made worse by the fact that the Schroeder goverment was partly a green party who were totally against war and arms export. I remember a German satire magazine catching flag for claiming they brought the World Cup to Germany by promising FIFA officials gifts like beer and Weißwurst (a bavarian sausage, not my kind of deal). This was followed by an outrage because people feared for Germany´s reputation and felt that it hurt their chances with their bid. Well, those caught in the act are the ones trying to put the blame on others, I guess. It´s funny to read that Morocco´s bid was the one supposedly winning the African World CUp in 2010. It was said for years that Morocco was the best prepared and best suited candidate for an African World Cup. Blatter was heavily advocating a South African WC as early as the year 2000...fishy to say the least.

Really hard to call, in his current form, he wouldn´t play any role I´d think. Then again, just a few years ago when he was at Schalke, Rakitic was considered a player to never quite make it to his full potential. Now he is one of the main reasons why Barca were so strong 2014/2015. As said, the 2013 pre-injury Gündogan was a player on the way to greatness. As of now, he is nothing more than a good Bundesliga player, which is probably not enough for any top club in Europe, whether it would be Bayern, Barca, Real or any of the big English squads. If getting back in shape would get him back to pre-injury level; I can definetly see him making it at Barca. Iniesta is over 30 now and I can see Barca slowly but surely looking at a successor. A healthy and on-form Gündogan would be the best bet if they are looking for a German, Lahm is neither top class in that position nor is he leaving Bayern. Schweinsteiger has been injury prone over the last two or three years and his form is therefore too volatile to be an impact player for a club, although he can show up for the occasional big game. Kramer is a young guy who can develope, but not showing as much promise as Gündogan did before the injury. Kroos, who might have been an even better suited candidate, is with Real and probably not going anywhere. Gündogan can be a great dynamic player with good vision and good to great passing, which is fitting the Barca bill pretty well. However, I really have no idea if he can make it back to the level he had 2 years ago. This season was really hard to evaluate, because he joined in a rush comeback in the middle of the first half of the season and Borussia Dortmund´s team simply didn´t perform well for at the very least half of the campaign. It was impossible for individual players to pull the whole team out of the slump, you would have needed somebody on Messi´s level to keep them up with their ambitions. And as much potential as I see in Gündogan, he is no second Messi. He may be able to be the same kind and level of player as the three you mentioned, though. Might aswell be a complimentary player to Sergi Roberto, since he can play the deep role aswell as the CAM role. But as I said, only an option when he regains his form.

Maybe they´ll do some sort of workaround like transfering players to another club or something comparable? The European Red Bull squads did something comparable at one point. From what I´ve read regarding Vidal: Apparently the players can´t play for Barca until January 2016, but they can be transferred to the club. Having a long time of training with the squad might be a good thing in Gündogan´s case, since he just got thrown out there in the beginning of last season after being out for almost one year. Would be an opportunity for him to get into top shape like he was before the injury. I´m amazed that 2015´s Gündogan is even on Barca´s wishing list, but it would be cool to have German player at Barca who is not a GK.

Having missed 80 percent of the goals and only seen a total of 25 minutes of the match, I had to watch the highlights to see all the goals. The result - as big as it is - accounts for more of an easy start if anything. The ladies didn´t really seem to be pushed to their limits. Vs. Norway is going to be a lot different. They won´t give up goals anywhere nearly as easy as the Ivory Coast´s squad did. At least one thing remains consistant: German announcing is awful for both, ladies´ footie aswell as gentlemen´s footie.

Able to switch on the game for a few minutes, and it says 5-0 and 21 to 1 shots for the Frauenschaft. Really good game by the Germans, it seems, although the 7 minutes + 4 minutes of injury time didn´t look like a 5-0 game. Kind of understandable though, with a long tournament in front of you, you won´t go all out. EDIT: Happy to have called the physicality of the Ivorianitas´ playing style right at least...

Very likely to miss out on a lot of games, including the Ger(wo)man campaign opener tonight against Ivory Coast. Checking out highlights, however. Too bad, I was actually psyched to watch. Results look to be good for the tournament. China probably were not easy as first opponents. Too bad it was due to a PK that was somewhat debatable. Yeah, the arm was there, but I kind of doubt it would have been as clear of a pk if it was the same thing the other way around. China´s double post free kick was crazy aswell. The Dutch goal looked quite fine in the highlights, good strike. Netherlands were lucky the Kiwis didn´t get a penalty for a clumsy challenge from one of Oranjes defenders in the second half.

I just meant to point out the hypocrasy of it all, although I was probably being Captain Obvious. FIFA - like any other big sporting organization - claims they make changes or alternations for the better of the game. There is, however, no claim to authority, let alone competence when looking at guys like Blatter and Blazer (and probably quite a few others). This just amazes me, I admit, although it probably shouldn´t. I mean, I´m not always keen on the German federations and there´s probably a lot of corruption or at least mutual back scratching going on, but those guys often seem competent in respective fields combined with lots of networking within German football for decades before they turn up in higher positions.

Blatter stepping down only means something if the whole system gets revamped. I mean, all you have is people going out of their way to save their skin by scapegoating others. It amazes me how a guy like Chuck Blazer qualifies as a suit at FIFA in the first place. I mean, he seems about as qualified as anyone of us in regards of football knowledge and looks like...well, looks like he looks.

Totally getting your sentiments regarding both clubs to an extent aswell. HSV - even if it´s an Arsenal-Tottenham kind of deal for me - is a staple in German football and their downfall is cringeworthy to watch. It is good to an extent they are still part of the Bundesliga. However, the way the players handled their win on Monday was disgusting and beyond the usual emotions and the way they stayed in was thanks to a wrong call in the end. That´s what irks me a lot. The club is long overdue some sheiky treatment. 1860 actually did go into the season with a ton of ambitions. They got a Jordanian investor somewhere in 2011, tried to get Sven-Göran Eriksson as a coach and at the beginning of the season proclaimed they wanted to win the 2. Bundesliga championship and many experts think they were the team to beat this season. They needed 34 players, lots of favoring calls and luck in the final stretch of the season plus a game as described above to stay in. I hope they handled their "escape from relegation" better than HSV did, but I have to admit I switched off my TV right away after the final whistle, too much frustration.