After the Bundesliga title clinch is….before the DFB-Pokal semis, as Sepp Herberger would have said.
Both live on ESPN+ (and ESPNU)
Leverkusen-Bayern (Wed)
Stuttgart-Freiburg (Thurs)
On air at 2:30pm ET both days.
Lutz Pfannenstiel with me for expert analysis.
Yep. Always someone waiting to trip you up, play gotcha & feel they have won something in the process.
High pressing, high intensity football. Very credible coach. Explains himself pretty well too in German and English.
its (not it‘s) but too late to edit.
To continue this thought, it’s the whole culture of incongruously aggressive communication with strangers and politeness apparently now consigned to the dustbin.
In it‘s early days it felt helpful, informative, collaborative.
Now it’s a place for electronic vandalism.
I agree, Gary. Hope all is well.
Kicker features Wolfsburg on the cover & the headline “In the face of the crisis.”
“After 29 years the first relegation from the Bundesliga is a threat to Wolfsburg. How will it continue?”
Twitter really is a bleak place these days.
2 random thoughts after yesterday‘s title triumph in Munich.
We need Jamal Musiala at the World Cup. He enlivens games & makes the spectacle better.
Very sad for Serge Gnabry after perhaps his best ever season, relatively late in his career. Fingers crossed for him.
Always very special to be in Munich on a night when the title is officially cemented. Feel this is a special version of Bayern. Thanks to everyone who watched!
40 years ago today, was lucky enough to be given my first professional commentary on Kilmarnock v Dumbarton, April 19th, 1986.
Today, in Munich to commentate on Bayern-Stuttgart, potentially the title clincher. When you do what you love, never take it for granted. Happy Sunday.
Scottish striker Oli Burke starts in Marie-Louise Eta‘s history making first game in sole charge of Union.
Burke has been inconsistent but recently regained his spot as fastest player in the Bundesliga.
Hope Steve Clarke & staff are watching. 26 🏴 World Cup players needed.
Big weekend coming up.
Eintracht Frankfurt-RB Leipzig today from 18:20 German time along with Felix Bastians.
Then on the train to Munich for Bayern-Stuttgart tomorrow from 17:20 German time with Julia Simic.
Join us on the world feed.
There’s not a direct equivalent and an exact translation wouldn’t be understood but “gespannte Endphase” covers it.
On a train 🚊 in Belgium & always smile when the Flemish „uitstappen“ (equivalent of „aussteigen“ in German) pops up.
Joe Jackson should have done a Flemish version of “Steppin Out.”
“I’m stappen uit…”
Silliness on a Friday.
I do actually agree with a lot of that. The average taxpayer shouldn’t pay for this. But at the same time, sending unprecedented travel bills to people coming to spend in the area with no political voice is pretty unseemly.
And please can we stop this talk that if someone can afford to travel to the World Cup, they can afford to pay exorbitant transport costs. Not a great look. Again, these are ordinary fans who support their national team. World Cups have previously been priced so as to enable these fans to attend.
🙏
It’s possible to be sympathetic to local tax payers having to foot transportation bills while still acknowledging that it’s pretty despicable to think that you can just push the marked up costs on to non-American visitors whose vote you’re not relying on.
Not going to get into the weeds of the World Cup transportation row.
Will only say that fans who attend the World Cup are typically not the rich, let’s pay money for big events crowd familiar to Americans. They are ⚽️ fans who sometimes save up for years to be able to attend.
Kicker uses the alliterative „Wackler, Wahnsinn, Weiter.“
Doesn’t have quite the same punch in English “Wobbles, Craziness, Onward.”
“A mad spectacle. Real Madrid leads three times but Bayern through to the semi final against PSG.”
Studio recording in London this week but back to Germany for 2 🎙️ games at the weekend:
Sat: Eintracht Frankfurt-RB Leipzig
Sun: Bayern-Stuttgart (could officially be a title clincher)
Both for the world feed so join us if you can.
I hear almost weekly from Scots who attended & have since returned to watch the Bundesliga or 2. Bundesliga. They felt respected as visitors, not treated like human ATMs & German cities like Köln are now part of who they are.
Respect works both ways.
Scotland fans who poured into Germany for the Euros in such large numbers are proof positive of why price gouging US style is short term thinking.
No one in Köln, Munich or Stuttgart ripped them off. Germans loved Scots being there & vice-versa.
Memories & friendships made for the long haul.
There wasn’t anything at all on this scale. More innocent times. Then again it wasn’t nearly as common to travel the way people do now. Many of the fans of various countries were US residents.
Those who argue against 50+1 - often fans not based in Germany - need to know that 50+1 keeps our ⚽️ in Germany accessible. Rip it up & you know what likely comes next. Price gouging is not a thing in Germany & won’t be as long as fans are still participants & not customers.
It’s worth revisiting that UEFA was the body that signed an agreement with the VDV (the Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen) to ensure free travel in the local area for 36 hours for match attendees at Euro 2024.
The spirit of it stems from the existing German ⚽️ 50+1 culture.
Der Vorstand bei Fortuna Düsseldorf juckt immer noch die „Dark“ Serie an, oder? :)
No I was half asleep 😴
As someone who travels Köln-London a lot, the DB/Eurostar combo beats flying every time. So much more productive on trains. 🚆
Doesn’t work if heading to Scotland but for Köln-London ✅