Germany Is Weltmeister
Roger Cohen, NYT
JULY 17, 2014
LONDON — A new nation won the World Cup. It was the first victory for a unified Germany, or a reunified Germany if you prefer. That country was more than a generation in the making. Germans do not believe in quick fixes.
Formal reunification occurred on Oct. 3, 1990, a few months after the previous 1-0 German victory over Argentina in a World Cup final, an ugly affair in Rome. But it has taken a quarter-century, and untold billions, to knit the post-Cold War nation together. When I lived in Berlin between 1998 and 2001, it was not just the countless cranes hovering over the city that told of a work in progress. It was the different mind-sets of Ossi and Wessi, Easterners and Westerners eyeing each other with resentment.
No matter, Germany had decided. It would pay the price to achieve reunification. It would work on the problem. It would move in the appointed direction, come what may.
This fine World Cup winning team was also the fruit of long-term planning. Over the past dozen years, the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DFB), or German Football Association, has invested a fortune in new facilities, identifying youthful talent, nurturing that talent and ushering it to the national level. Two young players who emerged from that system, André Schürrle of Chelsea and Mario Götze of Bayern Munich, combined to conjure the beautiful goal that clinched victory.
(More here.)
JULY 17, 2014
LONDON — A new nation won the World Cup. It was the first victory for a unified Germany, or a reunified Germany if you prefer. That country was more than a generation in the making. Germans do not believe in quick fixes.
Formal reunification occurred on Oct. 3, 1990, a few months after the previous 1-0 German victory over Argentina in a World Cup final, an ugly affair in Rome. But it has taken a quarter-century, and untold billions, to knit the post-Cold War nation together. When I lived in Berlin between 1998 and 2001, it was not just the countless cranes hovering over the city that told of a work in progress. It was the different mind-sets of Ossi and Wessi, Easterners and Westerners eyeing each other with resentment.
No matter, Germany had decided. It would pay the price to achieve reunification. It would work on the problem. It would move in the appointed direction, come what may.
This fine World Cup winning team was also the fruit of long-term planning. Over the past dozen years, the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DFB), or German Football Association, has invested a fortune in new facilities, identifying youthful talent, nurturing that talent and ushering it to the national level. Two young players who emerged from that system, André Schürrle of Chelsea and Mario Götze of Bayern Munich, combined to conjure the beautiful goal that clinched victory.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home