One thing you can be almost certain of in a World Cup is for there to be a renewal of the intense English-German rivalry.
In this tournament it's started despite the fact that England and Germany haven't even played each other (though they will play each other in the Last 16 if England top their group and Germany finish second in their group, or vice versa).
German legend Franz Beckenbauer has attacked England's style of play in their 1-1 draw against the USA on Saturday, calling it "kick and rush" football.
Beckenbauer, who played in the West Germany team which lost 4-2 against England in the 1966 World Cup Final, also said that England have gone backwards under their Italian manager Fabio Capello.
This is despite the fact that England breezed through the World Cup qualifiers, qualifying with no fuss, with a better record than the Germans, who would have had to be content with having to qualify for the World Cup through the play-offs if they hadn't beaten Russia in Moscow (when England had already qualified a month earlier) following a 3-3 draw with Finland. England also scored more goals than any other team in the European section of the qualifiers.
Germany did get off to a fairly impressive start to their World Cup campaign, beating Australia 4-0, although the Aussies are a very poor team who were thrashed 3-1 by fellow minnows the USA in a friendly a few weeks ago.
Beckenbauer also attacked English football for having so many foreigners playing in it. However, he failed to mention that the Germany national team is having to rely on foreigners (unlike England). In their 4-0 win against Australia, two of their goalscorers were Poles (Podolski and Klose) and one was a Brazilian (Cacau).
He also seems to have forgotten than in November 2008 an understrength England team dominated a full-strength Germany team, winning 2-1. In fact, England have won the last two matches thay have played against Germany, as the Germans were also destroyed 5-1 by the English on that glorious night in Munich in September 2001.
You're a kick and rush team! Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer blasts England
By Matt Lawton in Rustenburg
15th June 2010
Daily Mail
Beckenbauer has attacked English football for having loads of foreigners - yet two Poles and a Brazilian scored for Germany in their 4-0 World Cup win against Australia (above)
Franz Beckenbauer, nicknamed The Kaiser, has launched an astonishing, unprovoked attack on the England team, accusing them of going ‘backwards’ under Fabio Capello and branding them a ‘kick and rush’ team.
The German double World Cup winner tore into England for their performance against the United States on Saturday.
‘What I saw from the English in their 1-1 draw against the USA had very little to do with football,’ said Beckenbauer.
Kick and rush: Capello schools his squad at Royal Bafokeng today
Sticking in das boot: Beckenbauer
‘It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards to the bad old times of kick and rush. I am not sure if the England coach Fabio Capello can change much there.
'The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as clubs use better foreign players from all over the world.’
Beckenbauer, under the byline of ‘Der Kaiser’, was talking in a column written for a World Cup pull-out published by South African newspaper, The Times.
Capello has also complained that he is forced to select from too small a pool, but the Italian will not appreciate criticism when he received praise for the way he revived his squad and secured qualification.
Beckenbauer guided West Germany to victory against England in the 1990 World Cup semi-final, going on to complete the double of winning the trophy as a player and coach.
Remember this, Franz? Beckenbauer was in the West Germany team which lost against England in the 1966 World Cup Final - but he was to get revenge in 1970 and 1990
He clearly thinks the Germany team that hammered Australia 4-0 has the measure of Capello’s men.
The teams could meet in the last 16 and yesterday Jamie Carragher complained of the ‘advantage’ Germany have because of the controversial tournament ball, having used it since FIFA made it available in January.
‘I am sure it has helped them,’ he said.
Beckenbauer VS England - 44 years of rivalry
Beckenbauer was in the West Germany team that lost 4-2 against England in the 1966 World Cup Final. That match saw Geoff Hurst score the only hat-trick ever to have been scored in a World Cup Final. But West Germany were to get revenge in the 1970 World Cup. The two teams met in the Quarter Final. England, the defending World Champions, looked to have won it when they went 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Mullery and Peters. But a spectacular goal from Beckenbauer in the second half and another from Seeler just 8 minutes later made the score 2-2. The match went to extra times in which a goal from Muller sealed an extraordinary 3-2 win for the Germans. The two teams met again in the Semi Final of the 1990 World Cup, but this time Beckenbauer was the manager of West Germany. Gary Lineker scored for England to make the score 1-1 ten minutes from the end, after Brehme put the Germans ahead 15 minutes into the second half. The Germans went on to win 4-3 on penalties. West Germany went on to beat Argentina 1-0 in the Final. But England have won the last two matches they have played against Germany. In 2008, an understrength England team got a deserved 2-1 victory against an almost full-strength Germany team in Berlin and, in Munich on 1st September 2001, the English destroyed the Germans 5-1 thanks to a Michael Owen hat-trick.
Beckenbauer's 'kick and rush' England attack is a load of sauerkraut
By Martin Lipton
16/06/10
The Mirror
Franz Beckenbauer (left) with Germany manager Joachim Loew. Germany have lost the last two matches they have played against England.
It was Noel Coward, not noted as a football fan, by the way, who ironically articulated the national mood in 1945.
"Don't let's be beastly to the Germans," opined the great satirist, before being exactly that.
Mind you, ever since Leon in 1970, the Germans have been getting their own back and Franz Beckenbauer's attack on Fabio Capello's alleged throw-back football was the latest in a long line of howitzers thrown at the English game.
It was somehow predictable, especially after the way Germany opened their World Cup campaign by destroying woeful Australia 4-0 in Cape Town.
But it was also utter balderdash.
Admittedly, the Germans looked a class act. The movement in midfield, from Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira, was excellent, with both of them showing England's central axis how to time your runs beyond the front man.
Delivery from the flanks was sure and swift, decent balls in causing real problems, as Joachim Loew's side demonstrated the benefit of having played with the now-notorious Jabulani ball in the Bundesliga since February, while Miroslav Klose - rarely seen at Bayern Munich in recent months - once again demonstrated he is a man for the big stage in front of goal.
Yet just because the Germans played well and England's display was under-par, does not mean the Three Lions have gone backwards.
While Germany ended up qualifying by winning in Moscow in their crunch match, they would have been consigned to the play-offs if they had lost that game, following an early - and decidedly fortuitous - 3-3 draw in Finland.
England, by contrast, had already clinched their place in South Africa a month earlier and it seems to have bypassed Der Kaiser that when Capello's shadow side met what was a three-quarters strength Germany outfit in Berlin in November 2008 it was John Terry who headed the deserved winner, not Per Mertesacker.
Perhaps Beckenbauer could only remember Scott Carson's howler - not
quite in his Croatia class, but enough to ensure he has not featured again under Capello - in the Olympic Stadium rather than what happened in the game.
In any event, it is hard to believe that Capello will be in any way fussed by the criticism - you learn that pretty quickly when you grow up and live under the intense scrutiny of the Italian media.
But it may well be the case that Beckenbauer's words do cause an angry backlash in the England camp, one which could be exactly what Capello needs to bring the real ferocious beast out of his cornered Lions.
If there is one thing that gets English footballers going, it tends to be when they feel they have been unfairly judged and Beckenbauer's assault could prove to be exactly the sort of spur the players tucked away inside the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus really needed.
Capello has told his players to keep calm, to avoid falling prey to negativity, to remember that they should have beaten the USA hands-down but that even though they tossed two points away they remain very much masters of their own destiny.
The Italian knows the World Cup is a long haul, not a short sprint, that teams which fly out of the blocks so often stumble and lose their way when it really matters.
Of course, England have to start performing better than they did in Rustenburg, not only for the morale of the thousands of fans in South Africa and the watching millions back home, but also, and more importantly, for the confidence of the players themselves.
But there is ample opportunity for that to happen, starting in the Green Point Stadium on Friday, when the altitude effects on the Jabulani that have been apparent will not exist.
Betting against Capello is not exactly a strategic call and before the Germans start crowing too loudly, we all have to wait and see how this tournament develops when the other big beasts in the jungle start finding their feet.
Remember, too, that if Germany do win Group D - and England avoid them by topping their section - that their scheduled quarter-final opponents are Argentina, thirsting for revenge for their controversy-strewn penalty shoot-out exit at the same stage in 2006, a game which ended in a series of physical assaults which forced FIFA to act.
If England are still in the tournament, that would be the ultimate can't-lose match-up from our point of view but more than a few Three Lions supporters might, against their natural instincts, start rooting for Diego Maradona's side (!!!) and hoping to see Germany eliminated.
That, to coin the greatest word in the German language, really be worth savouring.
I think you call it "Schadenfreude", Franz, revelling in the misfortune of others.
Let's hope we can be savouring it in a few weeks. I wouldn't bet against Fabio yet.
dailymail.co.uk
mirror.co.uk
In this tournament it's started despite the fact that England and Germany haven't even played each other (though they will play each other in the Last 16 if England top their group and Germany finish second in their group, or vice versa).
German legend Franz Beckenbauer has attacked England's style of play in their 1-1 draw against the USA on Saturday, calling it "kick and rush" football.
Beckenbauer, who played in the West Germany team which lost 4-2 against England in the 1966 World Cup Final, also said that England have gone backwards under their Italian manager Fabio Capello.
This is despite the fact that England breezed through the World Cup qualifiers, qualifying with no fuss, with a better record than the Germans, who would have had to be content with having to qualify for the World Cup through the play-offs if they hadn't beaten Russia in Moscow (when England had already qualified a month earlier) following a 3-3 draw with Finland. England also scored more goals than any other team in the European section of the qualifiers.
Germany did get off to a fairly impressive start to their World Cup campaign, beating Australia 4-0, although the Aussies are a very poor team who were thrashed 3-1 by fellow minnows the USA in a friendly a few weeks ago.
Beckenbauer also attacked English football for having so many foreigners playing in it. However, he failed to mention that the Germany national team is having to rely on foreigners (unlike England). In their 4-0 win against Australia, two of their goalscorers were Poles (Podolski and Klose) and one was a Brazilian (Cacau).
He also seems to have forgotten than in November 2008 an understrength England team dominated a full-strength Germany team, winning 2-1. In fact, England have won the last two matches thay have played against Germany, as the Germans were also destroyed 5-1 by the English on that glorious night in Munich in September 2001.
You're a kick and rush team! Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer blasts England
By Matt Lawton in Rustenburg
15th June 2010
Daily Mail
Beckenbauer has attacked English football for having loads of foreigners - yet two Poles and a Brazilian scored for Germany in their 4-0 World Cup win against Australia (above)
Franz Beckenbauer, nicknamed The Kaiser, has launched an astonishing, unprovoked attack on the England team, accusing them of going ‘backwards’ under Fabio Capello and branding them a ‘kick and rush’ team.
The German double World Cup winner tore into England for their performance against the United States on Saturday.
‘What I saw from the English in their 1-1 draw against the USA had very little to do with football,’ said Beckenbauer.
Kick and rush: Capello schools his squad at Royal Bafokeng today
Sticking in das boot: Beckenbauer
‘It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards to the bad old times of kick and rush. I am not sure if the England coach Fabio Capello can change much there.
'The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as clubs use better foreign players from all over the world.’
Beckenbauer, under the byline of ‘Der Kaiser’, was talking in a column written for a World Cup pull-out published by South African newspaper, The Times.
Capello has also complained that he is forced to select from too small a pool, but the Italian will not appreciate criticism when he received praise for the way he revived his squad and secured qualification.
Beckenbauer guided West Germany to victory against England in the 1990 World Cup semi-final, going on to complete the double of winning the trophy as a player and coach.
Remember this, Franz? Beckenbauer was in the West Germany team which lost against England in the 1966 World Cup Final - but he was to get revenge in 1970 and 1990
He clearly thinks the Germany team that hammered Australia 4-0 has the measure of Capello’s men.
The teams could meet in the last 16 and yesterday Jamie Carragher complained of the ‘advantage’ Germany have because of the controversial tournament ball, having used it since FIFA made it available in January.
‘I am sure it has helped them,’ he said.
Beckenbauer VS England - 44 years of rivalry
Beckenbauer was in the West Germany team that lost 4-2 against England in the 1966 World Cup Final. That match saw Geoff Hurst score the only hat-trick ever to have been scored in a World Cup Final. But West Germany were to get revenge in the 1970 World Cup. The two teams met in the Quarter Final. England, the defending World Champions, looked to have won it when they went 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Mullery and Peters. But a spectacular goal from Beckenbauer in the second half and another from Seeler just 8 minutes later made the score 2-2. The match went to extra times in which a goal from Muller sealed an extraordinary 3-2 win for the Germans. The two teams met again in the Semi Final of the 1990 World Cup, but this time Beckenbauer was the manager of West Germany. Gary Lineker scored for England to make the score 1-1 ten minutes from the end, after Brehme put the Germans ahead 15 minutes into the second half. The Germans went on to win 4-3 on penalties. West Germany went on to beat Argentina 1-0 in the Final. But England have won the last two matches they have played against Germany. In 2008, an understrength England team got a deserved 2-1 victory against an almost full-strength Germany team in Berlin and, in Munich on 1st September 2001, the English destroyed the Germans 5-1 thanks to a Michael Owen hat-trick.
Beckenbauer's 'kick and rush' England attack is a load of sauerkraut
By Martin Lipton
16/06/10
The Mirror
Franz Beckenbauer (left) with Germany manager Joachim Loew. Germany have lost the last two matches they have played against England.
It was Noel Coward, not noted as a football fan, by the way, who ironically articulated the national mood in 1945.
"Don't let's be beastly to the Germans," opined the great satirist, before being exactly that.
Mind you, ever since Leon in 1970, the Germans have been getting their own back and Franz Beckenbauer's attack on Fabio Capello's alleged throw-back football was the latest in a long line of howitzers thrown at the English game.
It was somehow predictable, especially after the way Germany opened their World Cup campaign by destroying woeful Australia 4-0 in Cape Town.
But it was also utter balderdash.
Admittedly, the Germans looked a class act. The movement in midfield, from Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira, was excellent, with both of them showing England's central axis how to time your runs beyond the front man.
Delivery from the flanks was sure and swift, decent balls in causing real problems, as Joachim Loew's side demonstrated the benefit of having played with the now-notorious Jabulani ball in the Bundesliga since February, while Miroslav Klose - rarely seen at Bayern Munich in recent months - once again demonstrated he is a man for the big stage in front of goal.
Yet just because the Germans played well and England's display was under-par, does not mean the Three Lions have gone backwards.
While Germany ended up qualifying by winning in Moscow in their crunch match, they would have been consigned to the play-offs if they had lost that game, following an early - and decidedly fortuitous - 3-3 draw in Finland.
England, by contrast, had already clinched their place in South Africa a month earlier and it seems to have bypassed Der Kaiser that when Capello's shadow side met what was a three-quarters strength Germany outfit in Berlin in November 2008 it was John Terry who headed the deserved winner, not Per Mertesacker.
Perhaps Beckenbauer could only remember Scott Carson's howler - not
quite in his Croatia class, but enough to ensure he has not featured again under Capello - in the Olympic Stadium rather than what happened in the game.
In any event, it is hard to believe that Capello will be in any way fussed by the criticism - you learn that pretty quickly when you grow up and live under the intense scrutiny of the Italian media.
But it may well be the case that Beckenbauer's words do cause an angry backlash in the England camp, one which could be exactly what Capello needs to bring the real ferocious beast out of his cornered Lions.
If there is one thing that gets English footballers going, it tends to be when they feel they have been unfairly judged and Beckenbauer's assault could prove to be exactly the sort of spur the players tucked away inside the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus really needed.
Capello has told his players to keep calm, to avoid falling prey to negativity, to remember that they should have beaten the USA hands-down but that even though they tossed two points away they remain very much masters of their own destiny.
The Italian knows the World Cup is a long haul, not a short sprint, that teams which fly out of the blocks so often stumble and lose their way when it really matters.
Of course, England have to start performing better than they did in Rustenburg, not only for the morale of the thousands of fans in South Africa and the watching millions back home, but also, and more importantly, for the confidence of the players themselves.
But there is ample opportunity for that to happen, starting in the Green Point Stadium on Friday, when the altitude effects on the Jabulani that have been apparent will not exist.
Betting against Capello is not exactly a strategic call and before the Germans start crowing too loudly, we all have to wait and see how this tournament develops when the other big beasts in the jungle start finding their feet.
Remember, too, that if Germany do win Group D - and England avoid them by topping their section - that their scheduled quarter-final opponents are Argentina, thirsting for revenge for their controversy-strewn penalty shoot-out exit at the same stage in 2006, a game which ended in a series of physical assaults which forced FIFA to act.
If England are still in the tournament, that would be the ultimate can't-lose match-up from our point of view but more than a few Three Lions supporters might, against their natural instincts, start rooting for Diego Maradona's side (!!!) and hoping to see Germany eliminated.
That, to coin the greatest word in the German language, really be worth savouring.
I think you call it "Schadenfreude", Franz, revelling in the misfortune of others.
Let's hope we can be savouring it in a few weeks. I wouldn't bet against Fabio yet.
dailymail.co.uk
mirror.co.uk
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