Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Any ambassador for Germany is useful.
With the kind of news the English are fed usually by the media and politicians about Germany, the pleasant surprise of what they see, when they finally go and visit or even stay there, is often overwhelming.

Sorry to jump in maibe without any direct relation, but beeing italian I was curious ta check hou the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ world news was covering a match, valid for the semifinal of the world futbol cup, that held milions of people in front of ths screens andfrom the coment of many parts was quite exiting, well played and intense....but with a big surprise I realise that in the headlights it'sNOT EVEN MENTIONED!!!
Where is the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ objectivity on sports...or now that england is out is just a stupid game?
What un-british of you!
What unprofesional of you!

@Luca

Don't worry. I think they've noticed :- ))

P.S.: Good luck in the final !

Of course having won the cup with this team would have been a big bonus. But as a German I believe that hosting the world cup and having so many people visiting is much more important. I enjoy to see that people suddenly realize, that we are quite ordinary people and that our country has a lot to offer. An not to forget - Germans have surprised themselves. Suddenly we love our country again just like that. If I could decide, we would have a WC here every year, no matter who wins it.

The winner of today's semi final are the real World Champions!
If the allegations are true and there has actually been player involvement in the match fixing incidents in Serie A last season then the players responsible need to be held accountable. As with every other sport, that may mean the results of games where these players have cheated being expunged and subsequent games up to a given period of time. That includes the World Cup. In athletics and other Olympic sports it is two years for cheating to such an extent. Italy may well win the World Cup only to have it taken away later. This would be a just act as cheating and cheaters have no place in sport. The sanctions against the Italian clubs should still stand, but if players are involved they should be punished to the extent of the laws of the game and not hide behind the club. The victims in this are the smaller soccer countries such as Australia, USA, Ghana, Tunisia, Japan etc. who play with the grit, sweat and determination of a bygone era of what European and South American teams play. If the world is to embrace soccer and the underdog given the chance to perform to their best ability the cheats of this world need to be disciplined and the divide narrowed. Let's look forward to South Africa 2010!

Italy may have Borris Becker's party but Italy has given many
Argentine supporters something to cheer about. I am happy that Italy won the
semifinal match when no body expected them to win it. I feel it is one of the
most amazing events of this world cup. I have made
of the world cup and I feel that Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ
world Cup blog is one of them.

@Martin:

If Italy beats France/Portugal, they will be the winner of the World Cup 2006. That's for sure. And they earned it. Because what happened in the Serie A has nothing to do with the last three weeks here in Germany.

But I gotta admit, there should be a discussion about the refereeing here at the tournament. I think there have been too many games with.....well, let's say akward decisions. Right ?

Let's get down to brass tacks here. We all like Boris and his crazy hair and his marvellous array of suits. But the real question is: did he attempt to sex you in a broom cupboard? There's no need for shame or self-recrimination.

As for the match, Italy were the better team and always looked like winning. And having beaten Argentina (who were better than them) on penalties, I think that it's a good thing that Germany didn't take penalties again. They would probably have won, but where is the glory in marching to the final on a series of penalty wins?

I have double citizenship:Italian and American.
I believe the Germans should be proud of the way they organized one of the best World Cup in memory.They have certainly done a much better job than we Italians did in 1990.I also believe the Azzurri deserved to win eventhough I did not expect for them to do so.They were the better team and had players with more "classe" .
So noone so far has lost.
As for the critical remarks of Spiegel on the Italians as "mama's sons" I agree with them.But guys it is time for you to admit something:the degos can bend with the wind but they just do not break.On the contrary whenever one thinks they are finally done and roasted they bounce back.Best wishes from the US to the old lady
what's her name:Lillibeth?gv

I have double citizenship:Italian and American.
I believe the Germans should be proud of the way they organized one of the best World Cup in memory.They have certainly done a much better job than we Italians did in 1990.I also believe the Azzurri deserved to win eventhough I did not expect for them to do so.They were the better team and had players with more "classe" .
So noone so far has lost.
As for the critical remarks of Spiegel on the Italians as "mama's sons" I agree with them.But guys it is time for you to admit something:the degos can bend with the wind but they just do not break.On the contrary whenever one thinks they are finally done and roasted they bounce back.Best wishes from the US to the old lady
what's her name:Lillibeth?gv

I have double citizenship:Italian and American.
I believe the Germans should be proud of the way they organized one of the best World Cup in memory.They have certainly done a much better job than we Italians did in 1990.I also believe the Azzurri deserved to win eventhough I did not expect for them to do so.They were the better team and had players with more "classe" .
So noone so far has lost.
As for the critical remarks of Spiegel on the Italians as "mama's sons" I agree with them.But guys it is time for you to admit something:the degos can bend with the wind but they just do not break.On the contrary whenever one thinks they are finally done and roasted they bounce back.Best wishes from the US to the old lady
what's her name:Lillibeth?gv

martin,

Sorry to rain on your parade, but not a single player is involved in the Serie A scandal. Officials and refs are involved and they are being prosecuted, as it is supposed to happen in civilized countries. If anything the players are the victims here. Not to mention that for all I know there are worse scandals elsewhere which are being kept covered - let's see how indignant do you get when the blood-transfusion scandal in Spain hits the headlines.

Ah, and what if foreign players in Italy had been found guilty (which is not the case, and not for lack of trying - a couple of them did have had their homes searched but they came up clean). Would you still being clamoring for their home country to be punished by FIFA ? For some reason I think not ;)

By the way there was a huge fixing and betting scandal in Germany last year - you can google "Hoyzer" or "Croatian mafia" for more information. However for some reason you won't find it mentioned in every single article about the German team and rightly so, because Germany did clean up the mess - as Italy is doing - and deserves credit for it - as does Italy. So please stop this pathetic attempts to discredit another team just because you don't want them to win. Or else keep doing that, there is nothing like free self-advertising on the internet :)

I have been living in London 20 years, I love this country deeply but this morning I was forced to sympathise with other "foreigners" living here anti-english (football-related only) sentiment when, like every day, I listen to the Today programme on Radio 4 and the only mention at 8.30 in the sport report was that tonight there will be the game to decide who will meet Italy - no other comment. In fact, they were talking about women's cycling, as a woman and a keen cyclist and an Italian, after such marvellous game, I found, possibly for the first time, the need to switch the radio off...

Just hear Alan Shearer say Portugal could have played for another 5 hours against France without scoring. Really? Unbelievable comment.

Poor France... I wish them well but suspect that they will be crushed by the Italians if they deliver the sort of performance they did today against Portugal. The best team didn't win today. France cannot afford to play like this again if they really want to take the cup home.

British media are expeling all the bile they can against the Portuguese. Mind the "english fair play" gentlemen. An article by Jonathan Northcroft from the Times is a good example of how how difficult it is to be gracious in defeat in this country. He attacks Portuguese player Ronaldo personaly (not as a player) even commenting on his "thick Madeira accent"... Let's not go there gentlemen. You don't really want to have everyone commenting on the "thick regional accents" of most english players, do you? "English fair play"? yeah, right, must bear that in mind.

I actually agree with Shearer. Portugal, Ronaldo aside, were abysmal. And even then he kept diving and falling all over the place. As for Pauleta, well... Pooh-leta would be more appropriate. How that guy has got 40-odd goals in 80-odd internationals is a mystery.

I do think that if the French play like they did today and the Italians do like they did yesterday, the Azzurri win win at a canter. However French nerves weren't really tested today - unless of course you wish to include the usual bundle of self-inflicted Barthez blunders - and I get the feeling they might be gearing up for one last push on Sunday.

At least that is what I hope. Apart from that I'd love Klinsi to throw caution to the wind against the Portuguese in what is hopefully going to be the last show for the home fans on Saturday. I'd love to give Portugal a hiding and finally banish the memories of Euro 2000 and our being knocked out by that donkey Sergio Conceciao. Although we had more than a few donkeys ourselves... Paolo Rink anyone?

Zidane IS the beautiful game, he deserves the cup.

Ah Celina, with these blogs you are really spoiling us!!

I think Jurgen Klinsmann should remain as coach of Germany, he has done a great job.

Celina, I would be willing to accompany you on any future visits to Germany!
I love football, so we would at least have that in common. I also like to travel, go to the theatre, watch movies, read, listen to music and I'm not too shabby on the golf course either, so if you share any of these other interests, you may well be my soul mate!

Agreed with Gouldie. Meet me in Germany, Celina! ;-)

But I'm serious and I asked first georgm!

Okay, accepted!

i live here in london for 8 years already, and am loving it to bits! but when it comes to football, why do so many english people become so xenophobic?!?! i'm used to ITVs xenophobic football coverage by now, but i also have a grunt on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ now, and on Alan Shearer in particual. i have lost any respect for him for his commend after the Eng-Por game. "we in this country are just too honest and never ever do such things". he really just stoped short of saying something like "bloody foreigners". when are you going to get of your high horse? the english really often have an unbearable superiority complex! by far not all of course, and as i said i really love living in london and have many good englsih friends who share my view with these things, but that just gets me every time. also the complete lack of football coverage of other countries during normal season. as if only in england there's football worth watching...

:)

Hi Celina.

I noticed on your 'dortmund guide' the other night you said that your 'meat intake on this trip has been truly frightening'.

Could you explain what this means and why it was so frightening?

Thanks,

Celinafan.