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Subscribe: Main Report
Each week on languagecaster’s podcast we feature a main report and on this week’s show we continue with our World Cup series of reports spotlighting countries that will be taking part in the biggest soccer competition in the world in South Africa in June – Germany.
To most football fans around the world, Germany is one of the less popular nations to support. Indeed, when neutrals watch games it is often a common goal to see Germany get beaten. At club football level this has proven to be quite easy in recent years. But at the World Cup Germany has continually performed at an surprisingly high level. With three world cup victories in 1954, 1974 & 1990 and another four final appearances; only Brazil can boast a superior record. And what makes these statistics more interesting is that Germany often seem to enter the World Cup without a host of stars and with losses rather than victories in the group stages
It was in 1954 when German footballing legend was first written. Known as the a€œMiracle in Berna€ Germany defeated the mighty Hungarian side against all odds, and so set in motion decades of success on the field. For Germany, such victories went a long way to helping the wider population regain confidence and once again feel proud of German achievement.
Through the early 70a€™s, around household names such as Beckenbauer, Mueller and Maier, into the 80a€™s with Breitner and then the nineties with Klinsmann and Matthaeus, Germany enjoyed more than their fair share of glory. And unsurprisingly one of the steadying influences of these eras is that between 1950 and 1990 Germany only had four different coaches.
But this year might be different. Here is a challenge: How many German players can you name? Apart from Ballack, and perhaps Podolski and Klose, many people struggle to recognize the names on the team sheet. Currently most of the team play in the Bundesliga. Moreover, many of the team are young talents rather than established stars. The job of moulding these players belongs to the coach Jogi Loew, who also has no known managerial experience.
There is experience in the team, but more than this what Germany rely on is mental strength, Teamgeist and a never say die attitude. And Germany will again be hard to beat in South Africa.
Germany will open their world cup campaign against Australia.
Vocabulary
a common goal: a shared wish or hope; something that a group of people all want to do
a host: many; a lot
against all the odds: surprisingly; achieving something despite lots of problems
household names: famous people: well-known people
steadying: calming; bringing confidence
struggle to (do): find it difficult to (do); find it hard to (do)
moulding: shaping; developing
never say die attitude: never giving up; fighting until the end
