I think Portugal has a chance to go to the semi finals.

You're all gravely mistaken.

England have Roy Hodgson! We have a man that can take a team to mediocrity no matter where they are, no matter how good or bad they are. With this combined with a load of overpaid halfwits (that we have trouble stopping shagging the goalposts in their belief they're legs) - England will come out on top!

It is racism, and it is quite atrocious. Your whole argument only makes sense if you assume that people like Özil, Boateng or Gomez are somehow "not German" just because a part of their family originated from another country (several generations ago, in some cases). I'm reporting your post and I hope that action is taken. I'm surprised and saddened to read such drivel from you.

Hopefully mine is not viewed as racism. I just don't like the idea of naturalize import player from their domestic league just because they can't mould / build their star player. This trend is increasing in SEA region. Just wait for this year AFF Cup, you can see plenty of them.

I'll let you fight out the racism debate elsewhere, but would like to point out: That guy's currently spit-roasting in hell, if his body's doing the same thing, the only annoying thing is we haven't fixed it in to a turbine.

Let me put it this way - compare Cacau,Boateng or Aogo to Matthias Sammer,Oliver Bierhof or Jürgen Klinsmann - see any difference in their visual appearance? Are they looking like germans? Are they names sound like german ones?

Ozil,Boateng & Kedira play for Germany - cause they make more money this way - not because they love Germany.

My point was that you have enough tallents to use naturalised players or emigrants.
Or let me explained it even further - Ozil takes the place for Gotze,Reus or Marin. So what you prefer?
That was a joke :) And btw Hitler was not the reason for all those awful things that happened in WW1 & 2.

Naturallisation of players is something different and can be criticized with racism. That racist schmock up there said people that were born and raised in Germany weren't germans because their parents or grandparents weren't.

Now having a player switch nationality just for a sporting event (which is a lot more often the case in the Olympics I think) is also something I don't like. But we don't have (afaik) such a player in our team. The Boatengs, eg, were raised with a dual citizenship (quite a few of our players are). Funny enough, sometimes germans with turkish dual citizenship opt for the turkish team, because they wouldn't make it in the german team. They are then seen then as "legionaires" in Turkey (Well, until they shot their first few goal ;-) ). .
I thought Enland was beyond their "Denial" phase when it comes to football? Or is that "Bargaining". (relevant vid)

:-P

I would like to correct some of the utter ... misinformation ... that has been spread here:

He grew up in Germany as a son of a Ghanaian father and a German mother. It's very telling that this makes "Ghana his country" in your book. In reality he never considered Ghana to be "his" country at all. He identified much more with Germany, he played in the German youth teams until 2007, but he got thrown out due to his misdemeanors. Later he was approached by Ghana and took the opportunity to play for a national squad after all.

Actually they are half-brothers; they have the same (Ghanaian) father, but different (German) mothers. Not that it would matter much though, considering the amount of misinformation you're spreading. This is where it gets hilarious. You're actually reviving this age-old braindead argument of "foreigners" somehow stealing the place of "true" Germans. And the way you do it actually shows that you have no idea what you're talking about. Jerome Boateng, who has a German mother and lived his whole life in Germany, is - in your eyes - a Ghanaian who steals focus from "German talents" like Marko Marin. In reality, Marin is of Serbian (or Bosnian, depending on how you look at it) descent, both his parents are Bosnian Serbs and moved to Germany when he was two. But, of course, Marin's name doesn't sound as foreign as Boateng's, an he's blond-haired and has white skin. This, more than anything else, shows the amount of prejudice, racism, and sheer ignorance in your atrocious line of argument. Why? He is a German. He was born and raised in Germany. He speaks German. He has the German citizenship. His parents were born in Germany as well. He respects Turkey as the country where a part of his heritage lies, but he has always been completely committed to Germany. Why on Earth should he play for Turkey? It's (again) very telling that you can't accept Özil as a German, that you feel the need to put his nationality in quotes. But, to address your argument:

1. There have always been footballers who played for nations different than that from their parents (or one of their parents). Michel Platini's parents were Italian. Alfredo di Stefano was born in Argentina. In Germany, members of the team that won the Euro 1980 included Rainer Bonhof (Dutch), Felix Magath (Puerto Rican father), Horst Hrubesch (clearly Czech family name), Calle del'Haye (probably Belgian ancestors), and Miroslav Votava (Czech parents). You can continue the line with later players like Mehmet Scholl (Turkish father), Fredi Bobic (Slovenian/Croatian parents), and so on. Germany has always been home to people from many different cultures and origins (and benefited massively from this).

2. It is correct that there are currently many players in German youth squads who have a multi-ethnic background, or whose parents were immigrants. You're saying that this is "not normal". Well, actually it _is_ normal for the German society. We had a lot of immigrants (Turks, Poles, Yugoslavs, Spaniards, etc.) who help rebuild our economy after the war. Many of those have stayed, some married German partners, their kids grew up here - the usual process. And many of those played soccer, especially in the poorer areas (many immigrants had been rather poor when they came, some lost everything they had in wars). You need money to buy a playstation, you only need a ball and some friends to play football.

However, there's one thing that may be specific to the German soccer association: After the debacle of Euro 2000, the German soccer federation invested a _lot_ of money into the infrastructure, especially in the poorer areas of the country. They built soccer fields, they supported youth clubs financially, they mandated that every professional football club in Germany needs a youth academy (otherwise they wouldn't get a license), and they did everything they could to show young kids that football in germany offers them a perspective. For years we've seen PR spots in the media like this one, which shows the parents of German national players, originating from many different nations, at a barbecue. The message at the end of the clip is the Spanish term "mas integracion" - it's a message of integration. The German football federation has made it very clear that it has no room for racial or ethnic discrimination, it offers all talented youths (who are living in Germany) a chance to become a member of the squad, no matter where they or their parents came from. And they also take care that the youths are really integrated into all parts of German society, the kids get courses in German if they have language problems, they get help in school, etc.

So, what you're seeing in the German youth teams is not "not normal", as you say, it's instead proof of a dedicated integration program that actually works.

So, would you please, please leave these sad, racist, utterly misinformed, comments of yours at the door next time? Thanks.

His father actually has a German passport. You're not even consistent in your own argumentation. Your knowledge of the things you talk about is severely lacking. Somehow, this seems to be often the case for people spreading racist thoughts ...

I never offended or attacked you so don't be an a*s ;) I don't like this cause it doesn't look normal. Like the French national team full of players with origins from Africa.

Look at the Spain national team and besides - Marcos Senna(who played some matches for them) they don't use players with different origin than Spain.

See the difference now ? This is not rascism ...you have enough tallents in Germany already. Damn half of your young tallent don't play in the national team because there is no space in it.

I'm speechless. You are now actually arguing based on how a player looks or how his name sound? How deep are you intending to sink?

I'm sorry, I don't find any non-blunt way to put this, but you have no idea what you are talking about. None at all.

Özil has never identified with Turkey. He respects it. He likes to say that his technique comes from his Turkish heritage, and his discipline from his German roots, and that both together have formed him as a player. Khedira is very similar in his approach, Boateng too. All these players have spent their whole lives in Germany, they have seen the countries of their ancestors (Turkey, Tunisia, Ghana) only during holidays. And while they do respect their heritage, none of them had any doubts that they wanted to play for Germany, the country they feel at home. They have said so consistently since their childhood, all three of them.

Your prejudice is a bad replacement for actual knowledge about the topic.

You are seriously asking this question? Why should I _prefer_ any of them based on your heritage?

Also, I find it despicable that a dark-skinned young man with a German mother, who has spent his whole life in Germany (Boateng), can't be a true German in your book, whereas you repeatedly name blond, white-skinned man with Bosnian parents, who was born in Bosanska Gradiška, as one of the poor German talents who have to suffer under the alleged flood of "foreign" players. Either this demonstrates once more how little you know about the topic you keep arguing about, or your racism runs even deeper than I thought.

For Marin - my bad I always thought he was a German.

Most of the players with different origins use the opportunity,cause this way they can be noticed by better teams,not that they love your country or something.

Btw where are the Bender brothers(Sven & Lars),Gotze,Hummels,Höwedes,Baumjohann,Draxler,Groskreutz,Schmelzer? Should I continue?

That is my problem with players like Ozil,Kedira,Boateng...

Oh yes you love integration in there:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,716067,00.html

And they love you too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/28/turkish-pm-addresses-immigrants-germany




Cacau is born in Brazil and do you trully believe that the others will say that they don't love Germany infront of the fans?

I'm sorry, but you _do_ offend us. Your offending everyone in Germany who identifies with this country and who doesn't meet your rather narrow specifications of "normality", there are probably some dozen members on GOG who fit this description. Your thoughts are also offending to any non-racist. It's sad that you seem so totally incapable of seeing that.

Your point being?

This could have been taken right from a propaganda brochure of the German neo-Nazi party. It's exactly their argument, bit by bit. And it's wrong on several accounts. One, people like Boateng or Özil are Germans - pity for the racists that they don't accept it, but they are wrong by every single legislation available, plain and simple. Two, _all_ the talents in Germay's football benefit from the high competition, it's one of the things that drives them to excellence.

I'm not tolerating this racist neo-nazi poison, sorry.

Just ignore that racist prick, he is not worth it. Even though I really like your excellent posts. Heck, I didn't even knew half of that. Honestly, that were some really, really good posts.

I get the feeling Spain have dropped a little bit in quality, so I'm guessing Germany will win it. Netherlands as number two.