Author: Martyn Green

How Pep Ruined Germany (And Why It’s Not His Fault)

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The downfall of German football has been remarkable to watch.

When Die Mannschaft won football’s ultimate prize in 2014, it was the culmination of a process that had taken over a decade, and looked set to compete at the top of the game for years to come. The majority of that squad were just hitting their peaks, and had at least one, if not two, World Cup cycles left in them. Of those who didn’t, Per Mertesacker was already in the process of being replaced, losing his place in the team when Mats Hummels regained fitness, and Toni Kroos was ready to step up and replace Bastian Schweinsteiger. Then there was Philipp Lahm, whose retirement did cause chaos and confusion until the rise of Joshua Kimmich, in many ways a neo-Lahm, in 2016. The future of German football looked set, which was worrying for the rest of the world.

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The Heartbreaking Story of the First Italian Invincibles

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If you were to guess at the first team to go through an entire Serie A season unbeaten, a few obvious names leap out. The Milan clubs, Juventus, maybe Roma or Lazio. But in the 1978-9 season, in a long, difficult title fight against Milan, it was a small regional side from Umbria, Perugia, who achieved the feat. And yet, more remarkably still, they somehow still failed to win the Scudetto.

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The Football War

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There was heavy rain in Mexico City on 29th June 1969, as the national teams of El Salvador and Honduras lined up against each other in the final qualifying playoff for qualification to the 1970 World Cup. It was the third of three games, a match forced by Honduras’ victory in the first leg, and El Salvador’s in the second, and held in a neutral venue. The first half was a relatively calm affair, considering the violence that had taken place in the previous two games, and the sides played out a 2-2 draw, forcing extra time. With 101 minutes on the clock, Mauricio Rodriguez scored what would ultimately be the winner for El Salvador, and the players celebrated they qualification. By the time the teams had left the pitch, their countries were at war.

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Der Massacre

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Most major leagues have huge rivalries between teams from different cities, that in many ways define football in that country. In England, it is Manchester United v Liverpool. Italy has the Derby d’Italia which pits record champions Juventus with Milan rivals Inter. And the most famous of them all, Real Madrid and Barclona, whose tie has become a byword for heated rivalry. So with the marketing success of El Clasico, it’s not that surprising that other countries have followed suit. In France, they have Le Classique, between PSG and Marseille. The Netherlands has De Klassieker, the fiery affair between Ajax and Feyenoord (earlier this season, quite literally). And in Germany, there is Der Klassiker, the much hyped but often underwhelming meeting between Bayern and Dortmund. Unlike the other ‘classics’, which have swung between one side’s dominance and the other’s, or even been a close fought affair in almost all cases, Der Klassiker underwhelms because, however good Dortmund have been in the season to that point, however close they are to success, they almost never turn up. The same was true on Saturday.

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‘No longer Ajax’: The Rapid Demise of the Dutch Powerhouse

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When the half-time whistle blew at the Philips Stadion, the suffering Ajax supporters must have been in a positive mood. The worst start in their history saw them in the relegation zone, violence had seen the postponement of the De Klassieker against Feyenoord with the Amsterdam side 3-0 down, and €150m in player sales seemed not to have been reinvested particularly vigorously. But PSV – sporting a 100% record in the Eredivisie – looked vulnerable, and goals from Branco van den Boomen and Brian Brobbey either side of a Hirving Lozano leveller saw them lead. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, or so they thought. As it happened, that light was just another oncoming train.

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The Birth of Brazil

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When we look at the history of football, one nation stands out above every other. Brazil have won the World Cup five times, a record, and have produced not just some of the best players of all time, but arguably the greatest of them all. But they are more than just a successful side; they have defined the sport in the imaginations of generations of children across the globe. O Jogo Bonito – the beautiful game – the phrase that most emphatically defines football, was popularised by Pelé himself. When people think of the way the game should be played, they think of Brazil. So it may be surprising to learn that this journey began, just over one hundred years ago, in Devon. And it wasn’t supposed to happen at all.

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‘Champions in Maroon and Khaki’

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At the beginning of the 1914-15 season, Celtic, fresh from winning their eleventh Scottish title, travelled to Edinburgh to take on Hearts. The home side had won two titles in the 1890s before being eclipsed by the Glasgow giants, and had been crowned World Champions in 1902 by beating Tottenham Hotspur, but hadn’t been able to win the league for nearly two decades. There was a sense of optimism, then, when scored in the 27th minute, Harry Wattie netting for the hosts. Hearts’ goalkeeper James Boyd ensured that the Celtic onslaught came to nothing, before deep into the second half Tom Gracie doubled the lead and put the game to bed. That same day, King George V declared war on Germany, and within four years all three – Wattie, Boyd and Gracie – were dead.

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Eternal Hope: The Opening Day

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Hope. It is the word that makes most sense of the beautiful game, of why we spend hours and days and weeks of our existence obsessing over something that, for the vast majority of us, if we’re being really honest with ourselves, has little impact on our lives. And the beginning of a new season is where the hope is at it’s highest. Old heroes have moved on, the failures and successes of last year are in the past, and now we look forward. New players to deify, new trophies to be chased, new records to be set. Each and every one of us knows, right up until kick off on the opening weekend of the season, that this is going to be our year. And, depending on whom you support, that knowledge can last anywhere from 60 seconds to 60 matches into the campaign. But, however it goes, every summer we reset, we get excited, and we believe again. There’s comfort in that.

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A History of Magic

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The FA Cup is the oldest cup competition in the world. It is more than 150 years old. In the same year as the first ever FA Cup match, Germany was created, there was a Napoleon in captivity having been removed as leader of France, Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall, and the President of the United States was Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. The FA Cup has survived from that alien, ancient time, to provide us with something that few other competitions in the world can provide. As unlikely as it may seem, it is still theoretically possible, a century and a half later, for a team that starts in the earliest rounds – today, and all over this first weekend of August, before the elite clubs have even remembered that the competition exists – to go all the way and win the competition. That’s something worth celebrating.

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