German newspaper roundup: Germany vs England
Der Klassiker: England vs Germany
It's nine years since England and Germany last played out the Klassiker in a competitive environment. England reached their zenith under Sven Göran Eriksson in a 5-1 demolition that was supposed to kickstart the team in the run up to the 2002 World Cup. The reality was England went out in the quarter finals, whilst an ageing German side made it to the final. Since then, this historic fixture has sat unfinished, the next chapter eagerly waiting to be written.
In the absence of any kind of contest between Brazil and Portugal, today's game is arguably the first meeting of two football powers at this World Cup so far. The Kurier am Sonntag (an Austrian paper) calls it "The game of all games". It's a similar motif in both the Tagesspiegel and Neue Westfälische: "Der Klassiker" against England. Rivalry or no rivalry, quality football or not, Germany versus England is always a compelling fixture.
Par for the course in this match is for newspapers on both sides of the Channel to jump on the jingoistic bandwagon and try and wind the other side up. Both are pretty useless at it. Where the English papers tend to be borderline (which is being generous) racist, the German press tend towards a faux mockery of the sort perfected by Franz Beckenbauer.
Bild am Sonntag leads with "Celebrate, relax, barbecue England". The Rheinische Post and Rheine Zeitung both feature front-page penalty spots, the latter claiming "Hello England, meeting point as usual!". As if your ribs weren't tickled enough, the Berliner Kurier and Express have decided that the England team is just too old to take on Germany's young lions. Though quite why they decide to not bother altering Wayne Rooney's appearance is beyond me.
The Hamburger Morgenpost calls the affair a "War of Nerves", which is as close as you'll get to mentioning the war on the German front pages. The Abendzeitung thinks it will be "Bye Bye England".
It comes down to the Berliner Morgenpost to use what will surely become Gary Lineker's epitaph: "Fußball ist ein einfaches Spiel: 22 Männer jagen 90 Minuten hinter einem Ball her und am Ende gewinnen immer die Deutschen."
