While we're on the subject of sports, here's an old favorite commercial from the 2004 European Cup days. The "secret video" of an Italian national team training session (not real, of course).
Though Italy dives with more style, this could be almost any team these days!
Herr J and I have definitely caught the football fever that sweeps Germany 3 out of every 4 years (World Cup, Women's World Cup, European Cup, then a sad, sad summer with no football).
So we thought we'd put together some of the more important German terms that you need to know to follow football (men's or women's), along with some of our photos from Sweden-North Korea, Sweden-Australia, and Sweden-Japan games in Augsburg and Frankfurt. (No, it isn't that we are huge Sweden fans...the Quarterfinal (Viertelfinale) and Semi-final (Halbfinale) matches just ended up that way).
Also known collectively as the Ampelkarte (StoplightCards):
Formally known as the Schiedsrichter(in), the Referee is commonly referred to as the Schiri. As unfortunately seems to happen more and more, when the refs make a questionable call you'll hear whistling by the crowd to show their displeasure or you'll hear the announcers on TV refer to the echt Wahnsinn (true madness).
Elfmeter = Penalty Kick. Though the obvious example would be some of Hope Solo's great work in the victory over Brazil, we'll go instead with Clint Dempsey's attempt earlier this year in a Fulham vs Chelsea game. Though his shot is blocked by goalie Petr Cech, we're pretty proud to have an American playing in the Premier League.
Why Elfmeter? Literally translated at 11 Meters, it's the distance (12 yards) from goal.
After the Verlängerung(Overtime), we have the Elfmeterschießen (PenaltyShootout) which brings the Goalie center stage:
However, you definitely do NOT want to score an Eigentor, or Own Goal!
Traumtor = Dream Goal. There are a variety of examples to illustrate this one, but I'll go with something recent and something patriotic: Heather O'Reilly's goal against Colombia in the Group Stage. Also a great example of a Distanzschuss(Distance Shot):
And what is this whole thing called?? In Germany, you'll usually just hear "WM" (pronounced "vey-em", of course!). This also applies to any world championships....alpine skiing, rugby, etc.
Also known informally as "die Elf," ("the Eleven"), we have the teams themselves:
And Germany's beloved Jogi...one of the best in the world, but he often forgets about the cameras
Though we can play football anywhere with a flat surface and a ball, the big games are played in a Stadion (Stadium), like Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena here. (In German, Stadium is a completely different word). A stadium full of Zuschauer (Fans/Spectators).
Schauspieler(in) des Jahres - Actor(actress)of the Year - This one we'll dedicate to Erika of Brazil, who puts even Cristiano Ronaldo and the Italian national team to shame:
In a game with so many Verletzungen (Injuries) - be they fake or real - we'll end up with a few minutes of Nachspielzeit (ExtraTime / Injury Time). It's in this extra time that both the US 2010 and 2011 National Teams made their fabled die pefekte Come-Back Gesichte (the perfect Comeback Story).
A Foul (Foul) often can lead to a free kick, against which the most common defensive strategy is mauern (to build a wall):
On the more technical side we have one that sounds almost the same but is spelled quite differently...
Not to be confused with Abschlag, where the goalie uses his/her hands to throw, punt, or drop-kick the ball (and must do so within 6 seconds), North Korea's goalie shows us her skills:
Despite rooting for Japan against Sweden last week, we'll be cheering for Team USA tonight. Will American tenacity take us through to victory, or will Japan complete its fairy tale march to a first world championship?
Back in February we attended an Alpine skiing World Cup event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Women's Downhill). So yesterday, we went to Augsburg to watch Sweden take on North Korea in one of the Women's World Cup soccer matches.
Augsburg is just a 40-50 minute train ride from Munich - basically the same as going to the airport! Quick & easy. It's smaller than Munich (about 260,000 inhabitants vs 1.3 million) with a likewise smaller stadium. The Impuls Arena seats 31,000 (vs. 65,000 in Munich's Allianz Arena) and this game drew over 23,000 - a good size crowd for the first round. First round games of Germany or the U.S. are the most popular and sold out...
There is a typical pre-game activity for all FIFA World Cup matches: the teams march out in parallel; each player walks with a child, holding his/her hand. The players line up, country flags are displayed, and the respective national anthems played.
We were sitting in the third row of the southeast corner of the stadium -- so anything in our end was really close, but action on the far side of the field was not so easy to photograph (even with the big zoom lenses we brought along). In the first half, Sweden defended the goal in front of us. We did get one shot of the Swedish keeper with a Sony 3D ad making her look cool, but North Korea for the most part was not too dangerous and the ball didn't spend much time in our zone.
The first half ended 0-0, and we hoped that Sweden would continue to create action... and that in the 2nd half it would be in front of us. We were not disappointed! In the sequence below, the Swede made a dangerous push right in front of the goalie box, but the keeper made the stop.
A number of corner kicks were right in front of us -- in the photo below the set was handled right, but the header ended up off target (and probably not strong enough anyway). But Sweden was creating the most chances and you got the feeling they would break through eventually.
North Korea did keep it interesting with a few scares of their own. The picture below was one of their best opportunities, but the Swedish goalie made the stop (with the help of some physical play by the defender).
Still early in the second half, Sweden again went knocking on the door, but the North Korean goalie again closed the door...
The North Korean style is ball-control, and most corner kicks and free kicks were NOT put into the air -- rather, passed to a neaby player. (The height differential probably also dictates that style of play.) In this case, however, we have a clear view to the other end where North Korea did try a set piece. Not well executed though.
Around the 60th minute came the game changer. Sweden came quickly down the right side, right in front of us! A smart, fast cross came to the striker who trapped it and placed a hard shot past the goalie who could not get back left-to-right in time. 1-0, Sweden.
Yes, the ladies celebrate the same way as the men...
And that's how it finished too. In the end, the better team won but it was a fun game to watch. In general, we've found that watching fussball in person give a much better feeling for the speed and precision of the game -- we prefer it to television. We're going to see of some of the elimination round games are available!
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 9:00 
