Without a Lionel Messi or a Neymar, without a Arjen Robben or Cristiano Ronaldo the Germans had a team that played the simple game simply !! Their vision was their team, not an individuals glory, not based on the hype but as a team they played positional football knowing that the goals would come.
It all came down to preparation, a preparation that has been maturing and allowed to mature for years. Its based on their attitude to football at the club level where home grown talent is nurtured and given its head to play in the first team week in and week out. Its reflected in their pricing at the turnstiles where the game is within the reach of every German. Its based in refusing to import the so called super stars and playing their own crop of players first. Its based on the principle that the game is a game of the Volk and not a game concocted in the boardroom of Sky and the billionaires for whom it is a plaything. We sadly treat the game first and foremost as a business, a place to make money and with this in mind the national character of the game is irrelevant.
Import the football icons with Abu Dhabi money, what does an Arab Sheik know about Manchester City other than an investment opportunity, what does he care about the pricing policy or the need to cultivate local lads into the team. There's no kudos in that, reflect how he values his own people.
Its nearly impossible to imagine how we escape the American business model when profit is all that counts, a mentality that excludes long term patience and planning.
The German concept of club ownership being, in part, in the hands of the fans as shareholders which is an anathema over here .
We have sold the 'national silver' for a quick buck, becoming sated on the belief that success is wholly based on money. We have no sense of community, ownership or endeavour, no wonder an old fashioned concept like national prestige is alien to us as we substitute our own identity for one crafted in the minds of the global view.
No comments:
Post a Comment