Darby Jean #60 | We're back + Germany suck (plus thoughts on the James Milner door)
I took last week off because it was the international break, and honestly sometimes, what’s the point?
Regardless, we’ve arrived at issue number 60.
6 + 0. The same scoreline by which Spain dispensed with Germany last week in the Nations League, and the same differential Germany managed when they bested Brazil (7-1) in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals. All of this brings three useless ideas racing to mind:
I read just last night that Brazilians have taken to wearing the black and red striped jersey the Germans wore in 2014 as an ironic nod. But to what, exactly? Things, I suppose. Losing, perhaps, also seems like a good bet.
Joachim Low - Germany’s longtime manager now probably gets canned sooner than later. Apparently crisis talks were held in the airport lounge in Frankfurt on returning from the Spain match. Nice. There’s only so long you can keep putting fitted t-shirts on a non fitted t-shirt body without someone saying something. Maybe this formed part of the talk? It’s so hard to know these things.
Die Mannschaft - This is hackneyed, I know, but I can’t resist. Does anyone else not find just a tickle of humour in the German national team’s nickname, Die Mannschaft? France: ‘les Bleus’. Holland ‘Oranje.’ Germany: Die Mannschaft. It translates to “the team” in an abstract sense, but really, does it? ‘Mannschaft’ doesn’t sound the same as ‘team’ to me.