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GER vs. ESP: Subtle Signs

After all the anticipation, controversy, and analysis, it all comes down to a simple formula: Germany versus Spain. Before the mouth-watering semi-final in Durban, the German media is having a blast. I guess it's one of the beauties of the World Cup that it can convert deeply rooted stereotypes into more subtle narratives...well, sort of. :)

This one might be more subtle though than intended. Did the German press really not notice that the fruit it picked is Orange - Orange like the "Oranjes," the Dutch? Might that be a subtle sign of what is in the cards?

One thing is clear: If it comes to a Netherlands-Germany final, one of the biggest arch rivalries in the history of football, it will be an indirect contest between our two European studios in Amsterdam and Munich (after our Milan studio had really nothing at all to cheer about in this tournament). One of them will suffer, and previously fruitful relationships across offices might run dry.

One last subtle hint: The infamous octopus Paul has predicted Spain will win. Note though that he has already erred before - when he predicted a German victory over Spain in the EURO final two years ago...

Losing In Style

In the very last minute of extra time, Dominic Adiyiah headed what should have been the winner for Ghana. The ball, without doubt, was going in. But Uruguay striker Luis Suarez got in the way – with both hands: “The best save of the World Cup," he said later, not the hand of God, “the hand of Suarez.”

It was a decision that would keep Uruguay in the World Cup and would change many lives forever. Suarez was sent off and Ghana was given a penalty. The penalty before the penalties, as we know now. When Ghana’s forward Asamoah Gyan was about to take the shot, a whole continent held its breath. Seconds later, the silence in and outside of the stadium was eerie - after he had only hit the crossbar.

It will go into the annals of the World Cup as the crossbar that broke Africa’s heart. The historic weight of the moment was disproportional to the margin of error that tilted the psychological balance in Uruguay’s favor. Ghana had literally been inches away from becoming the first African nation ever to advance to the World Cup semi-finals. But it was not meant to be.

The ensuing penalty-shoot out was nerve-wrecking and heart-wrenching. Gyan himself showed tremendous character when he stepped up again and coolly converted the first of Ghana’s penalty kicks. But two of his team mates failed to score, Ghana eventually lost, and the scenes of inconsolable players as they broke down overwhelmed by a sudden and all-consuming fatigue were hard to stomach. It was – as the ESPN commentator put it – the cruelest tournament exit ever witnessed at a World Cup. Even some neutral spectators shed tears. And how could you not?

In sports as in life, losing is part of the game. Yet football might be the sport with the biggest emotional roller coaster-rides. Because there is so much room for human error (of both referees and players), victory and defeat, drama and tragedy co-exist in close vicinity. No other sport is so unjust and stirs so much controversy. No other sport can shatter dreams and throw a whole nation into mourning within just seconds. There is no other sport with such a fine line between heroism and embarrassment, euphoria and depression.

But there is also no other sport in which losers can win so much respect and compassion. As much as winning in style is admired by football fans, losing in style is an art in and of itself and will guarantee a permanent spot in football’s hall of fame. The most legendary teams all excelled at losing, often in dramatic defeats: FC Barcelona’s bitter loss to arch rivals Real Madrid in the European Cup final 1960, Germany receiving the infamous “Wembley Goal” 1966 against England, the Netherlands losing the World Cup final in 1972 against Germany, Bayern Munich losing by two last-minute goals against Manchester United in the Champions League final 1999, a deflated Brazil losing to France in 1998, and so forth. And at this World Cup: the spirited US against Ghana and now Ghana against Uruguay. The history of soccer would be poorer without these epic battles and the infinite sadness of those who lost them.

Of course this won’t console the Ghanaian players and fans. As Africa’s World Cup dream has come to a harsh end, here’s a reminder of how the passion of this proud team, which produced such entertaining football at this tournament, evoked the hopes and dreams of a whole continent: a poem called "The Soccer Fanatic" by the Ghanaian poet Prince Mensah, from the collection One Ghana One Voice (presented, yes, by the Ghanaian Football Association):

Goal! That is the word we want to hear for here In this sea of deafening cries Our emotions reach their highest altitudes Through good music, good people, good attitudes – Our team must win, no way around that – We need goals, goals, more goals: We must prove that we did not come here to play, We came to conquer, to seize the day, To make victory our mainstay

Goal! I love the sound of that four-letter word, the sod On which our rollercoaster moods play - Our affinity to spectacular goals, The infinity of a good match, The divinity of our soccer-love drive us Into states of consciousness where each kick, Each dribble, each foul, each whistle eat away Away our patience but still our flags sway Whether chances go green or gray

Goal! The euphoria never abates, always lightening The pensive mood, never failing the ears As we expect a pass, a shot, a goal Sudden like bright-afternoon thunder and lightning – As flashes from a thousand cameras capture When the ball crossed the line and kissed the net – The players know that they carry our hopes in each kick, They know their misses make us sick, They know only winning will do the trick

Goal! Love for this game propels the vane of our energies We will not cease now, we will not sing in vain As we scream on top of our lungs, veins drawn on our necks Losing is not an option because too much Has been invested in this, too much life and love - If eleven men can send us to soccer-heaven, We will give them our all, we will stand tall As they kick the ball, as they rise and fall, As they win in the long haul

Brazil Needs You!

After crashing out of the World Cup today, Brazil - as yet another big football nation after Italy, France, and England - will have to reinvent its brand of football and build a new "golden generation" of players.

It might need your help, which is why MinimalsWorld ask: "If you played for Brazil, what would your name be?"

"Frildo" is what we got for frog design. You can guess who "Hartminhosa" is. Or "Ideeta." :)

A Goal is Not A Goal

After today's dramatic 1-4 defeat against Germany, English fans will complain about their disallowed goal, while German fans will argue that it was the long overdue compensation for the controversial English "Wembley Goal" in the World Cup 1966 (see video below). As you can see below, at least for today, there is clear evidence that it was not a goal.

The Three Most Beautiful Books about the Beautiful Game

“Writing about football is like dancing to architecture,” one might be inclined to say, slightly paraphrasing Elvis Costello. In other words: it’s tough. The “beautiful game” comes to life in the moment it is experienced, either in the stadium or in front of a screen, alone or with others. And while the seminal games live on in the collective memory of fan communities, cities, regions, and nations, ruthlessly dissected by an army of self-proclaimed pundits who squeeze the last ounces of magic out of football in their data-obsessed post-match analysis, football has always been more about the here and now – because, as we’ve seen so far in this World Cup, anything can happen. So it is not surprising that amidst the flood of football literature there are only a few books, in my eyes, that really capture the beauty of the game. Here are three of them.

Franklin Foer: How Soccer Explains the World. An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that,” legendary British football manager William "Bill" Shankly once said. Franklin Foer (the editor of The New Republic and brother of author Jonathan Safran Foer) sets out to prove just that. He takes you on a surprising tour through the world of football, shattering the myths of our new global age along the way. From Brazil to Bosnia and from Italy to Iran, How Soccer Explains the World is a moving and eye-opening chronicle of how a beautiful sport and its fanatical followers can illuminate the fault lines of a society, whether poverty, anti-Semitism, or radical Islam. Perhaps the best book about football because it is about much more than just football. Read Mother Jones Magazine’s interview with the author.

David Winner: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

In their two first games in South Africa, they were more orange than brilliant, but the “Oranjes,” as the Dutch are called, still embody what is arguably the most modern and sophisticated brand of football: Total Football. Brilliant Orange, written by English journalist David Winner, looks at Dutch football in the wider context of Dutch society and culture. Particularly well-observed: how the Dutch appreciation for football as the “beautiful game” tends to overcome the desire to win.

Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski: Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey - and Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport

Did you know that the country that loves soccer the most is Norway? Or that the one national team that has actually punched a bit above its weight the past 20 years is England? Soccernomics is for the popular-scientific football fan what Freakonomics was for economics geeks. The authors put the game under an analytical microscrope using statistics, economics, and psychology, and debunk some persistent football myths. On one topic though, they remain conservative. Defying the assertion of a power shift in world football, the authors have some clear advice for any national team: “If you want to win, send all your best players to play in Europe and hire all your coaches from Europe.”

Maradona and Messi: A Complicated Tango

The New York Times calls the relationship between Argentina’s national coach and legendary player Diego Maradona and his star player Lionel Messi a “complicated tango,” but, hey, a tango it is! Just take a look at the breathtaking resemblance of these two famous goals and the synchronicity of the players’ movements (Maradona’s goal against England at the World Cup 1986 – still considered the best goal of all times – and Messi’s goal in a Primera Division game against Getafe in 2007).

Nielsen: Brands Score at the World Cup with "Ambush" Marketing

MarketingVox reports some interesting findings of a recent Nielsen study examining the effectiveness of big consumer brands’ World Cup campaigns. According to Nielsen, Nike so far has trumped arch rival Adidas in terms of exposure – although Adidas is an official FIFA World Cup sponsor and Nike isn't. Adidas’ ball, jersey, and in-stadium advertising simply couldn’t compete with the viral power of Nike’s “Write the Future” spot – arguably one of the best sports ads ever made – which has gotten Nike twice as many mentions on English-speaking blogs, forums, and social networks than Adidas has had (also read this great interview with Trevor Edwards, Nike's VP of global brand and category management). The full-length Nike video has enjoyed almost 14 million views on YouTube since the middle of May. Adidas produced its own Star Wars-themed World Cup video featuring David Beckham and attracted more than 2 million viewers since the release last week.

Nike isn't the only brand to successfully “ambush” a World Cup sponsor, as the Nielsen study shows. Carlsberg, a sponsor of the England national team, had almost four times the level of mentions in English-language messages around the tournament than Budweiser, the official World Cup beer sponsor.

The Nielsen study also found that:

- "FIFA partner Coca-Cola had five times the level of association with the World Cup than Pepsi – despite the latter's 'Oh Africa' ad featuring World Cup stars such as Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, and Kaká which has generated over a million views online.

- Triggered by Twitter retweets in early June to its FIFA YouTube page and its campaign to create the longest 'goal' shout, Visa had 15 times the World Cup association than MasterCard.

- Timing the launch of its 3D TV sets with the opening day of the tournament, FIFA partner Sony’s association levels were seven times higher than those of Panasonic and ten times higher than those of Philips.”

The most effective branding of course is when your consumers do it for you. Lego has been a master at tapping into its community of users for a while, and all they had to do with the World Cup is to activate the football fan in the Lego fan. Want an example? Just watch the hilarious animated Lego recreation of Robert Green’s goalkeeping goof. Or check out this German Legofussball site.

The Germans and the Beautiful Game

What does it say about the World Cup when the most beautiful football is played by the Germans? Is the quality of the competition so low or are the Germans so good? After the 4-0 thumping of the Australians, pundits are heaping praise on the "Mannschaft" and declaring it (somewhat prematurely) to be the favorite for the title. No one really knew what to expect from Joachim Loew’s young side (average age is 24.5), but the Germans are, as former national coach Juergen Klinsmann put it on ABC, “always ready when it matters.” Well, we’ve known all along that the football god is at least half-German, and no one has described the deeply rooted respect for German teams better than Gary Lineker’s famous quip: “Football is when 11 men play against 11 men and Germany wins.”

What was different though about the win on Sunday was the way it was achieved: Granted, the “Socceroos” are by no means a football powerhouse, but still, the German team impressed with its fluidity, sharp combinations, and well-choreographed movements that one may associate more with Barcelona’s elegant style of “total football” than with the “tanks” as British tabloids often ridicule German football players. Or, as Goal.com commented: “Before Germany’s World Cup opener in Durban, coach Joachim Loew must have told his team to paint the town orange. There was something distinctly Dutch about the Germans.”

On the way to work this morning, however, this bus station ad reminded me unequivocally that it will take more than just one beautiful game to overcome the stereotypes...

Being Robert Green

So what do you do when you are Robert Green, the English goalkeeper who fumbled the ball in the most disastrous fashion to allow the US equalizer today? One of my friends called it “the worst goalie mistake in 20 years of professional football,” and it’s hard to argue with that. The twitterverse suspects that Green was paid by BP to make up for the “spill” (in case you didn’t know, there’s nothing more political than soccer), and a US blogger even posted a YouTube video showing her son and his uncle reenacting the goal shortly after the incident.

And an incident it was. It fit perfectly into the series of serious blunders by English goalkeepers – from David Seaman at the 2002 World Cup and Scott Carson in a Euro 2008 qualifier to several recent gaffes by David (“Calamity”) James, England’s current number 2. It also evoked the good old cliché of the goalkeeper as the lonely warrior who can only lose. Goalies are used to brutal scrutiny, for in every game the full extent of their professional reputation is, quite literally, on the line. It comes as no surprise that Oliver Kahn, the “Teutonian” goalie legend, once admitted that “one has to be crazy to become a goalie.” Moritz Volz wrote in the Times, “You basically have to be prepared to stick your head where everyone puts their feet and for that you have either to be pretty brave or completely mental.” Many of the best goalies indeed exhibit a distinct tick. Gabor Kiraly, the Hungarian national goalkeeper, has been wearing the same grey, dirty (and unwashed) sweat pants every game for almost a decade out of superstition. Paraguayan goalie Jose Luis Felix Chilavert, now retired, expressed his ability as a frustrated outfield player by insisting on taking all the free kicks and penalties for the clubs that he played for. And Kahn, known as the “angry German,” was notorious for lashing out, often like a karate kicker, at his opponents.

Robert Green didn’t exhibit any of these eccentric traits tonight. He seemed rather mellow, and then, after the pivotal moment, he became the saddest person on earth. He instantly knew that there will be absolutely nothing he can do to keep this one split-second failure from eclipsing the remainder of his professional career. Worse even, he will live the rest of his life in replay mode - a long and inescapable remorse in slow motion. In the innovation arena, we know that failure is part of the process, in fact, a critical ingredient that often propels game-changing ideas. But in soccer? Not so much. A recovery from a torment like Green’s is hard if not impossible, and you have to respect him for keeping his cool, after all, and performing somewhat solidly for the rest of the game (the UK’s Italian coach, Fabio Capello, did the right thing and kept him on the pitch after half-time to avoid completely breaking him after his confidence had been so publicly cracked).

In the end, though, the tragic figures – and they tend to be goalies – are the real protagonists of football. In a game so individualistic and so poetic, winning gets you trophies but not necessarily sympathies. A black-out, a failure in front of millions of spectators reminds us all of our own imperfection, of our being human. We may not all be Lionel Messis, but we’re all Robert Greens.

Oh La La....Louis Vuitton Unveils the FIFA World Cup Trophy Travel Case

“We are very proud to have been chosen by FIFA to create the case in which the world’s ultimate sporting prize will in future travel the globe. This exceptional commission truly honors Louis Vuitton’s 150- year tradition of craftsmanship and savoir-faire. We are also delighted to be part of the great festival of football that the 2010 FIFA World Cup promises to be, and to renew our ties with the host country South Africa, with which we have had for many years a very special relationship,” a spokesperson for Louis Vuitton said.

(via Fashion Magazine)