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July 07 My favourites are ItalyDear friends,
Training at Schalke has already started – we’re preparing for the new season, which will be upon us as soon as the 11th August. But for the time being, it goes without saying that our thoughts are dominated by one thing: the world cup, with on-fire Germany taking on Italy and the victory of the French over Portugal, which to me came as no surprise.
The match in Dortmund between Germany and Italy, that I saw live in the stadium, was one of the best football matches of the whole tournament. Both teams wanted to win. Both teams played attacking football. Both sides boasted compact defences that gave away nothing until the 118th minute. A truly outstanding match.
Sure, the Italians were afraid of a penalty shootout. They’re still yet to win a match on penalties. That’s why Lippi, their coach, risked everything by doing a complete forward for forward substitution, culminating with the substitution of del Piero. He gradually substituted all of his attacking forwards and his whole attacking force: slow but sure wins the race. But in the end, it was just a single mistake that decided things. The German defenders failed to respond quickly enough to either Pirlo or goal-scorer Grosso decisively enough.
But if anyone thinks I was sitting in the stadium feeling disheartened, jealous or angry, they’re completely wrong. I was enthralled, and enjoyed every feverous moment like I was out there with the lads, right to the end. Our lads put up one great fight. They gave their all and played brilliantly. And these were still my feelings even after the ref had blown the final whistle and I took the opportunity to mingle with our fans. Sure, they were sad and disappointed, but they weren’t angry. They knew that Italy played brilliantly and in the end it was only a bit of missing good fortune that meant the dream of playing in the final wasn’t to be.
I’m counting on our national party to continue – and for our lads to put in another great performance on Saturday and pull out all of the stops again to win third place and bid a fine farewell to our superb fans throughout Germany. And as far as Sunday goes, my money is on Italy. Although France have raised their level of play throughout the tournament amazingly well, Italy are may favourites. And that isn’t only because they beat Germany. It’s also because in their match against our national team, they played perfect football. TrackbacksWeblogs that reference this entry
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