Deutschland Uber Etwas
Germany pulls an Italy on America
What a heartbreaker! My only chance to completely demoralise German friends and acquaintances has been dashed on the rocks of reality. That is: Germany totally killed us in the football friendly last night.
I'm mildly comforted by the fact that some of our best players are out of order and the newly-formed Conrad/Berhalter axis seemed, on its own, unfamiliar and uneffective. And, hey, we're no different than Germany, in terms of our phrasing: we lost a lot of important friendlies in 2002, when, as you should remember, we made it to the quarterfinals. That's right, quarterfinals. You can't say quarterfinals without finals. So people in the US are taking the same "just wait until the championships" attitude that you guys are.
It's still sad for us. We kind of hoped the US team could pull off some world-class moves in this game. Ah, well. But what can I say that -- good God -- the coaches didn't say themselves?
"Tonight was a reality check for us," said a seething Keller after the game in an interview littered with curse words. "I don't think I can express how I feel in words you guys can print."
Arena was no less cutting: The MLS players? "I think you saw that they were very unfit to play at this level," said Arena.
Bobby Convey, the lone attacking midfielder? "He didn't do well defensively — his man (Arne Freidrich) outplayed him in that aspect of the game."
Was he happy with anyone? "I don't think too many players played themselves onto the World Cup roster tonight."
The bottom line, according to Keller: "These guys have to know that a team like this isn't just going to let you run around. I think some of us thought we could walk out on the field and kick the s--- out of anyone. Maybe some of these guys took our ranking too seriously."
Uh, maybe...? I'm crying, and I'm not even on the team.