Coming from a basketball country, I'm not a big fan of football and unlike my football-crazy German friends I never religiously watched every game in the on-going Europa Master Cup hosted by Austria and Switzerland. But the game between Turkey and Germany is something I'll never fail to watch tonight. There is so much passion involved in this game. Turkey is the underdog but the Germans who are the heavy favourite are not taking their chances. Football is a very unpredictable sport. It is a combination of skills, team work, and psychology. The Dutch team players' combination of technique and teamwork were deemed insurmountable after they humbled the Italians- the reigning world masters. Yet the Dutch were in turn brought down to their knees by the Russians whom everybody considered a "door mat" at the start of the Cup. The Dutch were not able to withstand the pressure in the penalty kick after a nerve-wracking 120 minutes game amid 30°C summer heat. Now every remaining team in the Cup fears the Russian bears whose young and unknown players demonstrated unheard of skills, grit, and determination.
Another thing that fascinates me with football is the way it is played out beyond the stadiums where they were played. The victory or defeat of a national team brings out passionate jubilation or mourning to millions and millions of their fans-- some of them- albeit the minority- do at times become violent. I don't know that is in football that elicits so much Europeans' tribal instinct of loyalty, pride and heroism. (Yes, Europeans treat their winning teams like conquering heroes.)
For the thousands of Turkish migrants living in Germany. The game tonight presents a difficult dilemma: are they going to cheer for the team of their country of origin or the team of their adopted country. Tonight my question will be answered...
P.S.: here's an excellent article about the German national football team written by an archrival.
