Reuters Soccer Blog
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U better believe it, Germany are the kings
“U” is an interesting letter in German. One of the first things that springs to mind is “U-Boot” (submarine) and then there is the “U-Bahn” (underground train) as well as “U-Haft” (jail).
But after Germany’s U21 team won the European championship, thrashing England 4-0 in Sweden on Monday to give the country all three “U” titles (U17, U19 and U21), there’s another “U” word that comes to mind: “Ueber alles” — as in “Deutschland Ueber Alles”.
“U-nglaublich (unbelievable), U-nfassbar (unreal) and U-nwiderstehlich (irresistable),” wrote Germany’s best-selling daily Bild, clearly caught up in the U-fever.
In May, they beat the Netherlands in the final to win the U17 championship it hosted with a national televison audience watching. Last July, Germany won the U19 championship, beating Italy 3-1 in the final. And Monday’s win over England was watched by a record 8.2 million, making it by far the most popular TV show in Germany all week.
England came under heavy fire in their home media for their “pathetic capitulation”, as the Daily Mirror called it or for “suffering yet more agony at the hands of the Germans”.
The Guardian noted that “Goalkeeping blunders are not the sole preserve of the England senior team”.
Hi John, I do agree with you that Figo, Rui Costa and all the star players of PURTUGAL, if one of these will get injured the purtugal team will not be as strong as they are before.