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Germany soccer

Why You Can’t Truly See Bastian Schweinsteiger

The milky refractions of history: Brian Phillips at Slate argues all soccer romantics (i.e., lovers of Dutch soccer history) should be rooting for Holland’s true heirs Spain Sunday, saying that “great teams in other sports beat their opponents. Great teams in soccer beat both their opponents and the game.” Stefan Fatsis at The Goal Post wonders for whom Papa Cruyff will be rooting. And Charles Holland (!) at Minus the Shooting says such “myths of the near past” obscure our clarity of vision for national teams — so we can’t see how boring Spain really is, or Bastian Schweinsteiger as subtle and sophisticated.

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Italy, Germany and the Myth of Multiculti

A new meme argues Germany’s recent success stems from its young, multicultural squad full of ethnic Turks, Poles, Spaniards, etc., while Italy is in decline because it resists immigrants. But is any soccer nation really homogeneous anymore? “Which Italian player or coach has not worked with or for myriad foreigners during his career, and has not learned from their talents?” The argument for a diverse team’s superiority is a kind of identity politics that ignores the insistent globalization of the game. (Michael Young/The Goal Post)