Germany's World Cup team symbolizes country's new, multicultural identity

[mentalfloss]

Angry white mob incoming.


Germany's World Cup team symbolizes country's new, multicultural identity

(CNN) — The warm weather in Berlin is the perfect backdrop for a repeat "Summer Fairytale" this World Cup season. That 2006 documentary captured a confident nation enthralled with the diversity and potential of its football team. Now, Germany's World Cup champions symbolize the country's doubts over identity -- a consequence of letting in nearly a million asylum seekers in 2015 and frustration over the EU's lack of cooperation on refugees.

Constant harping from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing opposition party, and its ilk all over Europe threaten Chancellor Angela Merkel's commitment to uphold the vision of a borderless bloc. But now even within her conservative caucus, a rebellion over migration is unfolding -- one which could threaten the longevity of her leadership.

As World Cup hosts in 2006, Germans celebrated their promising team of players with different heritages, and waved flags while sporting face paint in black, red and gold. This was a historical marker, because Germans were seldom comfortable with outward expressions of national pride (thanks to their dark past).

But the German Football Association (DFB) gave proof that a different Germany was emerging. Seven players in the 2008 national team had migrant backgrounds, and the DFB ran a pro-integration campaign with a clip featuring the players' parents, who were of color or wearing a headscarf. It seemed as if Germany had turned a chapter and fully embraced its multicultural society.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/06/18/...-cup-political-division-david-wilp/index.html

 

[Bar Sinister]

Sounds like Canada's track and field team.

 

[petros]

Gee that's odd. Who knew sports teams recruited globally?

 

[Bar Sinister]

Gee that's odd. Who knew sports teams recruited globally?

So far as I know World Cup teams have to have players that are citizens.

 

[petros]

Is naturalising a tough nut to crack for athletes with high paying jobs?

 

[mentalfloss]

Only if you're a fascist.

 

[justlooking]

So far as I know World Cup teams have to have players that are citizens.

Even the leftist Guardian can't hide it.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/mesut-ozil-ilkay-gundogan-recep-tayyip-erdogan-picture

Two German footballers of Turkish heritage posing for photographs with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have reignited a debate over dual citizenship and national identity in Germany, as the country embarks on a bid to defend its World Cup title.
Midfielders Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gündoğan, who currently play for Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League and are both set to represent their birth country at the tournament in Russia this summer, were criticised by politicians including the chancellor, Angela Merkel, for meeting with Erdoğan during his visit to the UK.
In a meeting at London’s Four Seasons hotel on Sunday evening, which was also attended by German-born Everton striker Cenk Tosun, the players handed signed club shirts to the leader of Turkey’s Justice and Development (AKP) party. The shirt given by Gündoğan, who holds German and Turkish passports, bore the message: “To my president, with my respects.”

What the Guardian won't tell you is those players have been booed relentlessly on the field, and the whole German team has had
a lot of infighting during the World Cup prep.
The ain't the 7 - 1 team you are looking for.


But it is as usual, dual citizen = no real citizen. Just better paperwork for them, not for the countries.

 

[Bar Sinister]

Even the leftist Guardian can't hide it.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/mesut-ozil-ilkay-gundogan-recep-tayyip-erdogan-picture



What the Guardian won't tell you is those players have been booed relentlessly on the field, and the whole German team has had
a lot of infighting during the World Cup prep.
The ain't the 7 - 1 team you are looking for.


But it is as usual, dual citizen = no real citizen. Just better paperwork for them, not for the countries.

So are you saying they are not citizens of Germany or re you saying that they aren't playing for Germany?

 

[Blackleaf]

Of course, many Germans don't like this new multicultural Germany that Merkel has created after throwing the doors open to millions of Syrian terrorists and sex abusers. That's why she's in dire straits politically at the moment and why the AfD have been doing so well.

Mapping England's World Cup squad: Northern players dominate the 23

23 June 2018
BBC News

It's been widely reported that England's World Cup squad, with an average age of 26, is one of the youngest in Russia.

What's less well known, though, is that there's a distinctly northern flavour - 13 of the 23 players grew up within 50 miles of the centre of Manchester, while two others, Jordan Henderson and Jordan Pickford, hail from Sunderland.

Analysis of England's previous two World Cup squads shows that if you apply the 50-miles-from-Manchester test, in 2014 there were 10 members of the squad from this corner of England, while in 2010 there were just six.

Another striking fact about the composition of England's 23-man squad is that not one player grew up in the Midlands.

(While some might argue that Gary Cahill, who grew up in north-west Derbyshire, is from the East Midlands, his hometown of Dronfield is only about five miles from Sheffield - the city where the boyhood Sheffield Wednesday fan played much of his football as a youngster.)

Going all the way back to that World Cup in 1966, there's not been a single England squad without at least one Midlands-raised player in it - many have had several.

Even if we exclude Cahill, in 2018 Sheffield alone can boast three of England's 23 players - Kyle Walker, Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire are all from the Steel City.

Spreading the net a little further, fellow Yorkshiremen include Danny Rose, from Doncaster, John Stones, from Barnsley, and Fabian Delph, from Bradford.

If we head westwards into Red Rose territory, we can visit Manchester, the childhood stamping ground of Marcus Rashford and Danny Welbeck.

The trio who make up what England fans will be hoping is a lucky 13 are Jesse Lingard, from Warrington, Phil Jones, from Clayton-le-Woods in Lancashire, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, from Liverpool.

Wales Street in Oldham, Greater Manchester - which has been renamed England Street for the World Cup - is in the heart of England's northern stronghold

The number of squad members from London and the surrounding area is similar to four years ago - although the figure is way down from 2010, when 11 of England's players came from this part of the country.

Representing London this time around are Harry Kane, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Raheem Sterling, who moved to the capital from Jamaica as a young boy.

There are also two players from the city's commuter belt: Dele Alli, who hails from Milton Keynes, and Ashley Young, who grew up in Stevenage in Hertfordshire.

Although it's only about 25 miles due north of west London, Stevenage is officially considered to be in the East, which is the part of England where Nick Pope grew up - he's from Soham in Cambridgeshire.

Completing the squad are Jack Butland, who grew up in Clevedon, near Bristol, and Eric Dier, who, while born up the M5 in Cheltenham, moved to Portugal at the age of seven.

And so if England do continue to make an impression on this World Cup, we might well be crediting a core of northern defensive grit - as well as some London firepower.

Striker Marcus Rashford hails from Manchester

England take on Panama in their second match of the 2018 World Cup, at 13:00 BST on Sunday. Full coverage is on BBC1.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44495550