# What's Wrong with German Soccer? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 1, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874 "2012-07-01T03:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874/21 "2012-07-03T05:17:33Z")
Here is the real reason they lost: > [@](#): > > Germans are debating whether their national team’s apparent lack of passion about singing the national anthem had anything to do with their loss to Italy at the European Championship. > The Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, writing in the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, said: “Those who saw how fervently the Italians sang, even screamed, their anthem could sense the will with which they would approach the following 95 minutes. I missed this audible commitment, this readiness to want to give all, in the German team.” > **[Euro 2012: Germany team attacked for not singing before they were losing](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/jul/02/germany-euro-2012-singing?newsfeed=true)** > > German media has debated a lack of passion as the national team sang their anthem before the defeat by Italy I can only imagine how many goals Spain would have won by if their national anthem had any words. At least Jogi Loew now knows how to train for WC 2014. “Everybody after me! DANACH LASST UNS ALLE STREBEN! Louder, Mesut!” ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874/22 "2012-07-03T08:44:48Z")
Incidental to the main question about the German national team - the Bundesliga is looked at with envy here in the UK from the point of view of the fan. Affordable tickets, standing on the terraces - and still enough quality on the pitch to be a major world football league. I’m sure they have their problems, but compared to the international cunt circus that is the UK premiership it looks pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874/23 "2012-07-03T09:54:16Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Well, it may be a matter of taste but the 1st half of that game was the best attack ever put together by Brazil. Thanks to German defence and goalie at the time if it was anyone but Germany the result would be 3 or 5 goals for Brazil. Once Brazil got tired a bit, Germans were able to mount a solid set of chances and it was sometime luck they didn’t score (YouTube shows a goal post was hit once by German player). > > Again, what makes a soccer boring is this dragging effect that takes place once one team is 1 or 2 goals ahead. Add to that dirty fouls & taking sweet time with ball possession and you have what I call “boring game” and I call Ita, Esp and Por teams to be primary examples. Neuville has a close chance early in the second half and Ziege had a shot saved by Marcos when it was already 2 -0. That’s about it. The Germans won matches by 1-0 from the Quaters onwards against Paraguay, the US and S Kirea and they really should have lost to the US. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874/24 "2012-07-03T19:41:28Z")
I know very little about soccer/football worldwide but I was under the impression that the German leagues (Bundelsiga) is run different from other leagues. You don’t have owners like you have with Chelski, ManUre or Real Madrid that look to make every possible dollar/euro they can. To do so, they have to get even better players to bring in more money with higher prices, better coaches, etc. “Busy Scissors” mentions the Germans have more affordable ticket prices and other things. That is great from a fan’s perspective. But if you are not all out committed to winning, with the nasty greedy side effects that come with it, will you win a whole lot? Here in the states with the almost 80 year Baseball All Star game between the leagues, you have had three distinct phases. The American league dominated the first 15 years, the National League dominant for about 35 years for various reasons (more NL clubs signed Black and Latin players than AL clubs, the NL ended up with more astro turf fields which were hard to adapt to, many AL stars stopped caring after Ted Williams retired in 1960). But for the last 20 years, the AL has dominated (did the DH rule create a situation where more veteran sluggers ended up in the junior circuit and pitchers learned to survive or else?). It could just be a random walk and Germany could dominate for the next decade. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874/25 "2012-07-03T20:05:41Z")
Brazil, France and Spain are the primary reasons. World Cup '94 Brazil '98 France '02 Brazil '06 Italy '10 Spain Euro Cup '00 France '04 Greece '08 Spain '12 Spain [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-german-soccer/626874.md?page=1)