Germans OK? A load of Ballacks - Les Murray
You will no doubt excuse the upward curl that suddenly appeared on many Australian faces when Michael Ballack limped off the Wembley pitch following a vicious assault on his ankle by Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince Boateng in the FA Cup final.
Suddenly the hope sprang that Australia’s World Cup challenge had been just a little eased.
Maybe this meant that the resources of Germany, awesome and frightening as a country that makes the World Cup semi-finals as often as we take baths – well, some of us - have now been a little diluted.
More than a little, I would suggest. Take no notice of the niceties and the polite platitudes, that Germany will be the same without him, that some young genius will probably step up to take his place, etc etc.
The fact is that Ballack is far and away Germany’s best player, the finest midfielder it has had since Lothar Matthaus and, like Matthaus was, he’s a genuine leader, one of those rare leaders who often proxy as the on-field coach.
I regarded with amusement his influence at Berlin’s Olimpiastadion during Germany’s World Cup game four years ago against Ecuador, when Jürgen Klinsmann and his offsider, Joachim Löw, sent on a substitute.
As the sub tried to make his way to the position to which he was instructed, Ballack stopped him, pointed his finger in another direction and commanded him to go to an alternative place.
The player turned on his heels and obliged. The boss had spoken.
I rather suspect that Löw, now Germany’s head coach, is now a touch restive at having lost his on-field commander.
Sorry Mark, but football is show biz
According to an interview recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Schwarzer doesn’t think football is about entertainment.
"At the end of the day, you get judged on results," uttered the celebrated and obviously deep thinking custodian.
Wow, this boy knows what he’s talking about. And then there were more pearls of wisdom.
"The minute you take away that success-driven policy, it no longer becomes a game where you want to accomplish things... You might as well go out and hire a bunch of circus entertainers rather than footballers."
Who does he mean? Pelé? Maradona? Ronaldo? Messi?
Someone should remind Schwarzy that, as a footballer, he’s in the entertainment business and has been ever since he began to play in front of spectators, two decades or more ago.
According to Business Review Weekly, Schwarzer has amassed a fortune of well over $20 million by entertaining fans and onlookers as a footballer for 20 years.
Does he think he would have earned a zack in his career if he didn’t draw spectators to the stadiums and the television screens?
Schwarzer is a hero, a demi-God to spectators and wide-eyed kids wherever he goes. And all because many moons ago he took to the stage, in his case the football field, and showed a rare talent to perform on it.
All power to him. But perhaps he should stick to goalkeeping, not talking, and leave the philosophy to others.
Footballers who don’t get it, that football is ultimately about entertainment, maybe should immediately depart the game and take up something less showbizy, less circus like and less flashy, like mail sorting or roofing.
Stars to light up the World Cup
As the World Cup approaches, and we start panting at the looming entertainment, the wonder arises at who will be the players that will dominate it and beguile us all.
That’s one of the questions I get asked by every second taxi driver and idle bystander. That’s just behind, "Hey Les, who’s gonna win the World Cup?" (If I only knew.)
A large global bank, working up a treatment on World Cup Economics, recently polled its chinless clients for their World Cup dream team and this is what they came up with (in 4-3-3): Buffon; Alves, Lucio, Terry, Cole; Kaka, Xavi, Ribery; Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo.
Actually it’s a pretty good eleven. Hats off to the chinless ones.
But I differ, on three counts.
My World Cup dream team: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Terry, Cole; Kaka, Xavi, Robben; Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo.
That means, for me, it’s Julio Cesar in goal instead of Buffon, Maicon at right back in place of Alves, and the dazzlingly in-form Robben on the left flank instead of Ribery.
Do you not agree? Well, maybe I’ve missed something.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1002472/Germans-OK-A-load-of-Ballacks