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HAIL MICHAEL: Ballack reacting after scoring against Austria, but German legend Franz Beckenbauer does not reckon the team will get past Portugal. -- PHOTO: AP
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VIENNA - THE morning after Germany won a stupefying dull match against no-hopers Austria in Vienna on Monday, two separate situations developed in Germany.
The praise for Michael Ballack's free kick - which enabled the fifth-ranked team in the world to just squeeze past a nation that barely figures among the top 100 - was such that, if the Germans had the same system as the English for ennobling sportsmen, he would now be Lord Ballack of Berlin.
It was a good free kick, even a great one. From the instant he struck it 25 metres out, its pace sizzled, its direction was pinpoint, and Austria's goalkeeper Jurgen Macho had given it up as a goal before it passed him.
However, in the rest of the 90 minutes, Germany played the game at the level of the home team, which is so low that 10,000 people petitioned before the tournament calling on their own nation to forego the automatic qualification and hand the slot to some country that might be worthy of competing.
But, as Josef Hickersberger, the Austrian coach, drew at straws and acclaimed Ballack's wonderful winner, Franz Beckenbauer, the true Kaiser of German football, asked and answered the relevant question.
'Do we have a chance with such a performance against Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portuguese team in the quarter-final?' he asked. 'No, definitely not.'
I'm with Beckenbauer. I wasn't when he forecast a year ago that Germany's might had then risen anew in football and, according to him, they were big favourites to win the European crown for the fourth time in their history.
My view was that Germany were pretenders, that buoyed by home support in the last World Cup, they had run the extra miles and, combining sheer physical effort with Jurgen Klinsmann's inspiring optimism, they had exceeded their talents by finishing fourth.
Beckenbauer has won both world and European winners' medals, so he should know that fourth in the world - at a World Cup on European fields where all four semi-finalists were European - does not automatically translate into first on the continent of plenty.
Indeed, some would say it is easier to make progress at a 32-nation World Cup than in the 16 nation Euro, simply because the politics of the World Cup means that teams from lesser continents have a geographic ticket to the Finals, whether or not they become outclassed at the event.
But I will lay my bias before you. I fear that the Germans might find a way to blunt the Portuguese in Basel tomorrow, though I hope not.
There, I said it. What do I have against the Germans? Nothing, except that their reliance on drilled units and athleticism and solid refusal to let opponents play is not what lifts my soul.
The Germans have won three World Cups and three Euros. They are the closest thing to Brazil in trophy collections, but the antithesis of the way Brazilians love the ball, and make us love their use of it.
Well, Portugal and Brazil share a common language, and the Portuguese, bless them, have never won a thing at senior level. It is time, under Big Phil Scolari, they impose their talents on a major tournament.
I sat in a restaurant in the charming city of Salzburg on Saturday, hearing a 12-year-old boy discussing football cultures.
'Schweinsteiger!' he said, making it sound like a swear word. 'Mertesacker! Ballack!'
And he gestured with one hand against the other and a grimace on his face.
You prefer who? I asked.
'I like Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe...' he rolled off the names of Portuguese, his voice rose a pitch or two, his eyes reflected the fantasy they create in a child.
We are all, in a way, children when it comes to sport. We want to see men who fire the imagination, players who can do things on a pitch that we once dreamed, perhaps, of doing.
It takes a considerable physical presence to play for Germany. It takes that, and more, to be as creative as Portugal.
As I said, I am biased. I'm also constantly told that I am a lost cause, a dinosaur believing sport is still sport, a fool who thinks winning is not in itself worth the watching.
So let us go back to the German euphoria on Monday, to the anointing of Ballack.
His shot was fantastic. To hit a ball with that velocity, that precise direction into the far top corner of the net, must take hour upon hour of training-ground labour.
But, hey, Ronaldo can hit those too. He can also beguile and bewitch defenders three at a time with the step-overs, the sways, the high-speed momentum. He loves the ball, and it seems to love him back.
Like I said, I'm biased. I hope to see the retreat of the Germans because they are in the way of real football.
stsports@sph.com.sg
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