'Footy on the Telly' Trouble Ahead

First and foremost I want to acknowledge and apologize to my half a dozen readers for violating Rule One in blogging: Keep the content coming. Yes, I hit a little wall after the World Cup and there was some vacation time in there too (inclduing a trip to Germany and Spain…home of the team that should have won the World Cup and home of the team that actually won it).

With the World Cup hangover gone, we’re already beginning the new club seasons. And with it, some changes at home: Namely, the newly acquired channel GolTV. Yes, I finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Comcast’s digital cable package that includes GolTV – a dual language, soccer only channel that happens to own the US TV rights to airing the German Bundesliga (as well as Spain’s La Liga, among other offerings). And with this addition, I also get the delightful bonus of ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish language sports channel that happens to lean heavily in favor of Futbol (including even more Bundesliga matches…and I can get used to the Spanish commentary, even the overdone “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL”).

So how does all this mean trouble?

US soccer television coverage has been so limited (especially compared to...let's see...EVERY other sport on the planet) that I could always justify the minimal TV time needed. A game's on? Case closed: I’m watching it (Euro and World Cups being the exception). There was never really any major viewing conflicts and, when needed, I could always use the rationale of “be glad I’m not a baseball fan, there’s, like, 8 games on every day…” just in case soccer viewing was encroaching on other domestic activities.

But now, with FoxSoccer Channel, ESPN2, ESPN3 and now GolTV, ESPN Deportes and don’t forget to layer in the DVR, I’ve got some serious options, some big choices to make. Last week alone there were 3 Bundesliga games on within a 24 hour spell. I’m not used to that!

Yes, despite the fact that I now receive a whole host of other Spanish language channels in my Primero Latino package that I’ll never watch in order to get GolTV, we’ve come a long way. A little acknowledged fact: ESPN’s coverage of the 2008 European Championships was the first time in US history that the Euro’s were available here on semi-mainstream TV. Before that it was the awful Setanta Sports' $170 per-per-view package (where there was no halftime commentary and games would get cut-off if they extended into PKs, and we’re talking 2004 here!). And before that there was nothing. Today, we’ve got World Cup games not featuring the US still getting on ABC. The EPL is on both FSC as well as ESPN2. We’ve got more and more Champions League games on each season. So I’m afraid the days of saying “I HAVE to watch this game, how often do I get to see Bayern Munich play Werder Bremen?!” are nearing an end. I’m entering the phase of having choices and having to prioritize my footy on the telly time.

But before I get too far ahead of myself and expect to see the German Cup Final aired on MTV any time soon or that Bastian Schweinsteiger will host the ESPYs, I need only to have a glance at any bookstore’s magazine rack:

Hunting/fishing/gun/knife/ammo magazines: 32. Soccer Magazines: Zero.

Why Holland Will Win the World Cup 2:0

The reason the Dutch will win? Some Mojo. That extra bit of luck. The soccer Gods smiling on them…whatever you want to call it, they have that extra “thing” going for them. You can see it and sense it.

While there’s little doubt Spain are the best team in this World Cup (they beat Germany after all!), they really only have one game. And yes, while it happens to be an absolutely superb game, it won’t be enough to win it all. You need just that extra bit of what I described above. Spain have had pretty much all their success based on nothing but their pure collective team talent – there’s been little luck involved at all, neither good nor bad. They wear the opponent down with their possession game and then get the one goal for the win. That’s all they need.

Holland on the other hand have been playing with just enough to win and they’ve been playing with that extra bit of something…they’ve gotten that extra deflection for the goal, the van Bronckhorst screamer goal (are you kidding me with that one!), no deal-breaker calls against them (thinking about how many cards van Bommel could have had), etc. Now clearly I’m not saying the Dutch don’t have the raw talent as well. Of course they do -- I think Sneijder may just take FIFA player of the year come December. And Robben has been hot all year. That’s all a given when you’re in the final.

As we’ve seen before, if you can get a goal against Spain, their game isn’t quite as effective (which is why I’m still not over Germany’s defeat…if they could have just gotten that one goal…if, if, if? A cruel game but that’s a different post). Holland will get that goal somehow: it may just be the best goal in the history of the World via Wesley or Robben or Van Persie or it may be deflected off of Puyol's shin for an own-goal. And then they’ll get one more very late in the game and they’ll win the World Cup 2:0.

Unless of course that f***ing octopus says otherwise, then forget everything I’ve said here.

Stats, Facts and Huge Global Shifts (not really)

Here they come…

We’ve got four South American countries in the quarter finals of the World Cup, at the expense of the traditional European teams, and here come the theories to explain this dramatic storyline: The decline of European domination! The rest of the world is catching up! Europe needs to reevaluate everything! Too many foreign players playing in the Premiership and the Serie A and so on.

So what conclusions can we draw? What does this mean? For the most part, nothing. True, the gap between the traditional soccer powers and the rest of the world is not as big as it once was. It’s no longer a stroll through the park for the big guns.

But as far as themes, in Germany 2006, the four semi-finalists were all from Europe. Has it all gone down the toilet for them in just four years? Of course not. You throw Italy, England or France back into the mix and we’re back to “normal”. And each of those countries had their own unique and, statistically speaking, random circumstances that caused their collective premature exits. Nothing more. There really isn't a big story here in 2010.

But in general, they like to run with any stats and facts in the World Cup…

“No South American team has ever been beaten by an Asian team on a Tuesday” or "Brazil wins 75% of their games when leading by a goal after half time when the scorer's name begins with the letter R" or “No team has ever won the World Cup when they’ve lost an opening round game.” OK, so those aren’t all actual quotes, but they’re close. Just wait should Brazil or Argentina win this year in Africa, we'll be hearing all about how no European team can win outside of Europe once again and hear all kinds of reasons (the secret with this: Brazil and Argentina were the best teams).

Perhaps I'll buy into the historical significance of the stats a little later in the century when we have more history to draw from and when the results are truly more predictable and the stats more meaningful (or until some statistician writes a book proving otherwise). For now, congrats to South America for doing well so far.

I’ll leave you with one last stat…

Do you know how many times Brazil and Germany had played each other in a World Cup before they met in the 2002 final? And keep in mind, these two teams had been in 13 of the previous 18 FINAL matches. The answer: Zero. That was their first meeting.

So should they meet again this time, Germany’s in big trouble: Brazil has beaten them 100% of the time in World Cup play (on Sundays).

The No-call Goal Spares England

The good news for England in light of the dreadful decision to not count Frank Lampard's goal is that they are actually being spared from receiving the full brunt of criticism on their performance. Instead, we're talking about goal-line technology and FIFA’s stubbornness as well. For sure, there’s still a ton of blame placed on the players, the FA, Capello, etc -- but they're getting a decent diversion nonetheless.

While there can be no doubt England were robbed of a goal and that a single goal certainly has a big impact on the game, I’m falling into the camp that believes Germany were on their game and that England would have still lost under any circumstances.

Based on what I saw (for all 4 games), I'm just not seeing any chance that England would have miraculously found some new, higher level of play had the game been tied. They came out in the second half as flat, disorganized and uninspired as they had in the three previous games. And I ‘m sorry, a 1 nil win over Slovenia with the only goal coming off DeFoe’s shin does not equate to the “The Lion’s have roared!” proclamation and the belief that all of their problems are solved as the England coach and press were going on about afterward.

Part of what’ driving this rant against England is when I saw David James’ post game comment of: “Germany would have crumbled had the goal counted…” I beg your pardon? This was a totally lame comment coming from a very average keeper who personally should have dealt with three of Germany’s goals had he been playing better. Talk about a state of denial. Or how about: “we would have come out full throttle after the half…” from the absent Rio Ferdinand? So Rio, are you saying that at one goal down in a World Cup knock out game, England wasn’t already motivated enough to come out at “full throttle”? Was half-throttle all that was needed?

In fact, I’m almost ready to say enough to this much hyped England-Germany rivalry. I’m getting a little tired of the English press, fans and players talking this thing up every time. Yes, it’s a big game. So is Germany-Argentina, Holland-Brazil, but enough with the ’66 Final references, the PK history, the WW2 stuff (“Two World Wars and One World Cup, doo-dah, doo-dah” …don’t Germany’s three World Cups and three European titles, and the fact that they qualify for every tournament sort of make that a moot point?)…

But notice I said “almost” – with German victories like this 4:1, I’m perfectly happy to keep up the hype a bit longer.

Forget Technology, Just Do Away with Audience Replays...

While I don't have the energy or interest to restart this discussion again (with Lamp's disallowed goal yesterday, the coverage is in full swing), I just can't resist this one...

By George, FIFA's got it!

Hey, forget all this senseless debate about how to prevent these devastatingly bad calls we're seeing in the World Cup -- FIFA's just decided to apply a touch of short-term censorship: they're going to ban replays of controversial calls in the stadiums. Brilliant! Perhaps it was a suggestion from the North Koreans as they were boarding their plane home.

I say we take it a step further and ban all replays everywhere: TV, stadiums, even YouTube. That should do the trick. Next...

The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game

The US’s disallowed goal? The only thing I’d add to that crazy story is another argument for introducing some degree of video reviews for critical calls in a game (goals, penalty kicks, red cards, yellow cards, diving/faking for starters). They wouldn’t need to do this 5-minute NFL style triple commercial break interruption – Just a quick video review by a 5th official to say yes/no to certain calls through the head ref’s headset – the call could be made in a few seconds. No biggie.

There are simply too many cases where a bad call (or bad calls) has a gigantic effect on a game’s outcome. And with modern technology, there’s simply no reason not to do something.

A side benefit to video reviews during a game is that they would offer players a few moments rest…A bad thing you say? Am I crazy for thinking this! Actually, I think it would take away some of the diving and acting we currently see. A big reason why players go down and stay down, especially later in the games, is to provide a quick chance for players to catch their breath. A few seconds here and there for call reviews might just help minimize those delays already happening.

I’m not saying there wouldn’t be some drawbacks to video reviews, but the benefits would outweigh the negatives. This is certainly not an original idea and no one should be holding their breath for FIFA to make changes…It’s just that each time there’s a huge controversial call in the beautiful game, it makes it look ugly…and worse yet, it arms all the haters another reason to take jabs at the game -- even though I don't care what the haters think ; )

And an unrelated side note: Media, stop attempting to use descriptive words like “mastermind” regarding Maradona’ s coaching! He’s a half crazy, former world great that has Lionel Messi on his team. Please. Mourinho, Ferguson, Hitzfeld, Van Gaal...those guys are masterminds. Diego, no.

Germany: Back Down to Earth

I’m recovering well from Germany’s disappointing return to earth on Friday, thanks for all the cards and flowers.

Indeed, the pain of sport when your team goes from being the hot side in the tournament to just another team trying to get out of the group stage, all in the blink of an eye. To be honest, a huge boost has been simply due to the fact that I'm not a fan of England, France or Spain. Ouch. While the latter will likely pull through the group stage, that may put them directly in front of Brazil. But England and France’s chances of advancement are not completely in their direct control (England especially, wow, what a story here...Remember that great player Wayne Rooney, I wonder what happened to him? I would have thought he'd be playing for England at this World Cup)...

But back to Die Mannschaft’s game, I’m not buying all of the media’s credit to Serbia for the “shock” win -- they won because they’re a good team that played with a man advantage for most of the game. Despite that, Germany had 58% possession and 16 shots on goal compared to 10. Germany’s keeper, other than letting in the goal, did not have to make a single save. Clearly with some better finishing from Podolski and they could have easily tied or even won.

What kills me about that card-wielding ref (4 of 10 yellow cards in the first 20 minutes alone) is that had he remained consistent with his yellow cards, the odds would have favored that at some point Serbia would have also had someone sent off. Thus bringing game back into balance. But no, in the second half the ref tamed his cards and let play go on more normally. For Germany, the damage was done.

I know I'm not being a good sport here, but it's painful when bad officiating has such an affect on the game (see next post). What matters now is for Germany to finish top of the group – with a win against Ghana (who really hasn’t shown much, only two goals from PKs) they’ll achieve that.

And who knows, their Round of 16 opponents just might be Slovenia if England can’t improve.

First Game Recap and the Vuvuzelas

As of now, each team has played their first game of the group stage and here are a few of the themes:

> The big teams failing to make the big statements: With Germany being the lone exception, most of the heavily favored teams failed to dazzle us. Some looked good but couldn't get their the goals (Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Holland), some teams looked a little flat and disorganized (Portugal, Ivory Coast, England) and some looked lost (France).

> Few goals scored: I'm waiting for the stats on how the goal tallys compare to previous tournaments -- They've got to be on the low side. Could it be the ball everyone's complaining about? (there were a lot of really off shots.)? Obviously though, this is largely due to teams being very conservative in their opening games, feeling each other out, not wanting to take big risks. We can expect this to change as teams need to open up and go for it.

> The vuvuzelas...

I’m not buying the argument that you only hate vuvuzelas if you don’t have one. They’re absolutely awful and mindless.

Besides the obvious issue of them being completely annoying, what bothers me the most is they actually take away from the games…We’re losing the cheering, the songs, the chants. When a goal is scored and you expect to hear the roar of the crowd, we get nothing, just the same incessant buzz. I remember seeing an exciting breakaway during the first game and immediately noticing there was no change in the background sound. I'd love to hear what the players think.

I remember in the MLS’s earlier days when the crowds were a few thousand, you’d hear one or two every 10 seconds and I hated them then. This is a whole new level. I’ve heard ESPN has tried to minimize them in the TV broadcast and I commend them for that (now if we can just get them to take away the update ticker at the bottom of the screen. Note to ESPN: I’m just making a guess here, but most World Cup fans don’t want to see the latest MLB stats during the World Cup).

It’s a safe bet this World Cup will forever be remembered by these things unless, in the reaming three weeks we see more Hands from Gods or head-butts.

Now it's on each team's second game to see how everyone reacts to their current position. Bring 'em on!

Germany: Better off Without Ballack?! You're Kidding Right?

So Germany’s 2010 World Cup is off to a near perfect start. I couldn’t be happier. Unlike some of the other big teams, they showed no troubles in making a strong opening statement (referring to less than stellar performances from the likes of Argentina, Holland, France, Italy, England…Of course Brazil and Spain have yet to play). True, Cahill’s straight red card was a bit brutal but I don’t think the score-line would have changed much with him in the whole game. Germany were pretty solid in back, they were full of good, sharp passing and movement throughout and fun to watch (equally important, no one really played poorly). And Polodski's opener, please!

I have to confess that despite his talent, I’m still having trouble with Cacau’s presence on the team. I’m not a fan of countries “adopting” these Brazilians who opt to play for foreign teams because they’ll never get to play for Brazil. Especially Germany, I can see San Marino doing this, but Germany, come on. And before you go there, these “naturalized” foreign born players are entirely different than those players who have foreign heritage but that basically grew up in Germany (or whatever country) since their childhood (like Klose, Podolski, Ozil and, well…basically half of the team)…Again, this is totally different.

Speaking of Klose and Podolski, it’s huge that they got their goals considering their Bundesliga combined goal tally was something like…three. Seriously…and they’re starting a World Cup. I wouldn’t even want to compare, say, Argentina’s top striker's goal tally (OK, its’ 84. That’s 34 for Messi, 27 for Higuain and 23 for Tevez…106 if you add in Milito’s 22 off the bench…that’s sick). And it’s comforting to know Germany can still take it up a notch by not missing as many opportunities: Ozil once again did brilliantly to get in front of goal but failed to finish. Klose had a couple missed chances too. It’s only the first game, I can’t get too excited yet.

All this brings up a good question: Is Germany better off without Ballack?

On the one hand, no. Absolutely not. He’s the captain, he’s a leader, he has loads of experience and despite being a bit past his prime, in watching him towards the end of his Chelsea season, he was superb with his reading of the game and one-touch, perfect ball distribution. I’ve always said, while soccer is not about stats, if you tracked the guy who gave the ball to the guy who provided the assist, Ballack would be high on that list…the assist to the assist. And Germany doesn’t have that Lampard/Gerrard dilemma, each of their midfielders has a clear role. While Sami Khedira did well, I don’t for a second believe he can do anything Ballack cannot.

On the other hand, well, there’s that number 13 thing going on…

Everyone knows his always-a-bridesmaid story: At Leverkusen, he scored an own-goal that essentially cost them the Bundesliga title one year (a title they've still never won), he was second place in the Champions League TWICE, with Leverkusen and Chelsea, he missed the 2002 World Cup final against Brazil with a yellow card suspension (I will forever wonder the outcome had he played…Germany of course lost 2:0 but had more possession and shots on target, and Ballack was on fire that tournament…), with him as Germany’s captain, they narrowly missed the 2006 World Cup final with a last minute extra time defeat to Italy (another huge “what-if”), in Euro ‘08 he was again on the runner’s up stand. And now, he gets this injury on his LAST competitive game before the World Cup.

Ultimately I’d take him back in two seconds -- but without him out, I’m just saying…

I Officially No Longer Care About Chelsea FC

Yes, I've learned they will not be renewing Michael Ballack's contract (too bad I've invested in so many jerseys, hats and posters for my son, he won't understand when dad comes in this morning and cleans house).

Ballack will look to finish his career somewhere else (Sounders, this is your chance!). Not a huge surprise -- the club needs to build its future and he's, as they say, on the wrong side of 30. Truth be told, I was never thrilled that he went there. By the time he and Sheva arrived, they'd gone too far with their new signings. It's a shame when the Chelseas and Madrids of the world sign so many players that they have players like Deco and Joe Cole riding the bench all year.

Additionally, he was never fully appreciated there. I think he was expected to play the Lampard role (even though they have Lampard) and score a lot of goals. Also, in the Premier League, they want you to be running around a lot, always, no matter what, and felt he didn't do enough of that.

I always said Ballack would have slotted in well at ManU, they've never really had the strength in midfield after Keano left and Scholes continued to age. I'd love to see him at Schalke to help with their Champions League campaign next season.

In any case, he had a decent time there with plenty of trophies and will have to see out his last couple of years somewhere else...I know he likes life in London so we'll see where he ends up.

Every World Cup, the Same Media Story

I'm SO over articles like this one from MSNBC "Hate soccer? Other reasons to watch World Cup", by Johnette Howard (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37451958/ns/sports-world_cup/)

It's the same story every time: Why isn't soccer big in America? They point out all the same clichés about soccer's global popularity, how unique the stars are, how crazy the fans are, the differences between it and American sports...and the headbutt! Oh, they can't omit the headbutt (BTW, anyone who thinks Zidane is synonymous with the headbutt is part of the reason I've taken to this blog...Yes, I know, a crazy event -- Unbelievable. But it would be like thinking Michael Jordan is synonymous with gambling compared to his incredible basketball achievements).

Back to my point...

There's still this chunk of mainstream media that thinks there's this audience out there that views soccer as if it's a spaceship full of aliens that just landed in the center of a baseball diamond. And that they need to explain this strange and exotic sport to them.

Now I'm not saying there isn't a good discussion to be had about cultural differences in the US and how soccer fits in, or doesn't fit in (as a matter of fact, I'll likely put my 2-cents in later), but these pre-World Cup pieces that come like clockwork are the ones that are getting old.

Here's the bottom line: The people that aren't into soccer today, won't be tomorrow or next year or in 2014. So stop trying to impress them.

(and PS Johnette, we don't want them following the game anyway)

World Cup Ball Complaints

There sure are a lot of complaints from players about this year's ball, the Jabulani from adidas (it's unpredictable, hard to handle, etc)...Here's a tip from the Germans: Every time adidas introduces a new ball, the German Bundesliga begins using it for regular season games to give all the players a few months to get used it.

(It's the little things)

2010 World Cup Breakdown

I'm not claiming anything completely original here, but here’s my run-down of the 32 teams at the 2010 World Cup nonetheless. I won’t bother with predictions other than to say the winner will come from Tier One or Tier Three (look for random predictions in the coming days, we're just getting started):

Tier One: The Stratosphere Teams
There are two clear favorites who have it all. No other teams are near them in terms of depth and quality. Each and every position for these teams (and even the benches) is occupied by true world-class players. When they’re on their game, they’re untouchable. Easy bets to be in the final:
> Brazil...Brazil, like usual, could easily field two separate teams to compete
> Spain...Ah, to be a fan of Spanish fútbol these days, good times. Broke their curse by winning Euro08 and haven't lost a step. Freaky good.

Tier Two: The Usual Favorites Yet None of Them Will Win Teams
These teams are made up of about half world-class players and about half really good players. Any of these teams could easily win the World Cup if everything goes right (or they don’t choke). They are:
> Holland...Excellent club seasons for many of these guys. I've always liked the Dutch, a pity I can't root for them
> Argentina...Some questionable picks by a coach who may actually be insane. And yes, they have that one player
> England...Great talent, new coach and...oh...why bother (they peaked in April)
> France...Could crash hard or pull something out of this

Tier Three: The Tournament Teams
Tucked in under Tier Two, this special group is reserved for only two teams. Regardless of their talent, world-class or not, these teams know how to pull it together at major tournaments and win (or come close):
> Germany (3 World Cups, 4 times runner up)...My team of course. Lowered expectations but that's what they said in '02. True, no Ballack, no strikers (except a Brazilian, can't believe Die Mannshaft resorted to this). I'm feeling Podolski, Schweini, Lahm and the rest of the young guns to come through
> Italy (4 World Cups, 2 times runners up)...With respect, I'm not a big fan of this team, no identity right now (oh, and two of their four World Cup trophies were in '34 and '38 when the tournament wasn't half of what it is today...just had to point that out)


Tier Four: One-Horse Teams
These teams have one or two world-class players and a solid supporting cast. The problem with these teams is they’re too dependent on their stars and don’t have enough experience to do it. Don’t listen to the pro analysts, these teams won’t do anything this time. They are:
> Portugal...Not gonna happen, sorry C-Ron
> Ivory Coast...if Drogba doesn’t play, then Côte d'Ivoire drops a full two tiers to tier six

Tier Five: Dark Horse Teams
These teams don’t have any true World-All-Stars (or perhaps one), but can play top drawer stuff on a good day. They are:
> USA...I like this team
> Serbia...There's something about this team that scares me
> Cameroon...It's really all about Eto'o
> Ghana...With Essien out injured these guys really should be down a tier


Tier Six: Good for One Great Game Teams
These are respectable to semi-respectable teams. But truth be told, they are really only at the World Cup because they had their act together during qualification (when other/better teams did not); or because their qualifying region isn’t that strong:
> Mexico
> Denmark
> Switzerland...Go future Seattle Sounder Blaise Nkufo and German coach Hitzfeld!
> Uruguay
> Paraguay...name to remember: Lucas Barrios
> Honduras
> Japan
> Australia
> Slovakia
> Greece
> South Korea
> Nigeria

Tier Seven: Why The Euro Cup Can be Considered a Better Tournament Teams
These are teams that I couldn’t name a single player. Their presence at the World Cup is a reason why there’s an argument among some purists that the European Championship is a stronger tournament in terms of pure talent (brutal I know). But then this wouldn't be the World Cup now would it:
> Chile
> Slovenia
> North Korea...Please
> Algeria
> New Zealand
> South Africa...the hosts automatically qualify and I wish them luck

There you have it. Now let's get this thing started so we can see how it unfolds.
(My wish: Germany and Holland in the final with an exact repeat of '74)

Tschüß

Why I’m Blogging: No Soccer "Watercooler Talk" Around

It’s not always easy being a soccer fan in America…

True, things have gotten much better here in recent years: Soccer's popularity is generally on the rise. There’s increasing TV coverage with the likes of Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN (still wish I could get GolTV with Comcast), the MLS league is growing steadily and of course there's the internet. All of this is great but there still remains a Maracanã sized hole for one’s basic need to talk about all this stuff!

The majority of my friends simply don't follow the game (gotta love 'em for trying though). And you're lucky if there are two or three people at your work that know what’s going on. And by that I mean they really know what’s going on. They know the difference between club and country, they understand how the domestic and European leagues work and they know more than three players (not including Pelé and one of the Ronaldos). But that's two or three out of what? A few dozen, a hundred people.

Whenever I’m out and about and I hear a foreign accent nearby, I can’t help but drift closer to the person and ask: “Where are you from and who’s your team?” And boom! I’m in business talking to someone about the real deal. They know the history, the current events…Czech, English, Dutch, South American, it’s all good.

I liken this problem to a hardcore NBA/NFL/MLB fan living in Europe – they’d be dying over there – here they have it all and can take it for granted.

So all that said, this blog will attempt to serve as an outlet for expressing my many opinions about the Beautiful Game. Hopefully it will clear my head a bit, allow me to be more focused at home and work, and if I’m really lucky, I’ll even get a reader or two.

Here’s my disclaimer: I am not a news reporter or a journalist and, if you couldn't tell from the blog’s name, I definitely lean towards the German perspective.

So, bis später and Prost until next time.