Germany's B-Team beats Beckham and the England squad

Yesterday evening, most people in both England and Germany were watching another episode of the England and Germany football (that is soccer for those of you who aren't European) rivalry, when both teams played the first international game in the new Wembley Stadium that is being called the fortress.

Germany was the last team to beat England in the old Wembley, and they were the first ones to beat them again in the new one in a 1:2 game last night- but what upset most England fans had to be the fact that Germany just played with a B-Team and replacing 11 players, including captain Michael Ballack. Of course, the ever recurring difficulties with the English goalie didn't help either- as Mr. Robinson (or Mrs. Robinson as the English press calls him) "gave away" the goal as a special gift to Germany. But then again, the goalie seems to be a big problem for English squads for the last centuries now, so it's almost a tradition.

I was watching the game with my family, and I'm the only England fan in the house (actually, I like Wales even better: hey, I'm with low-profile teams and underdogs, and Ryan Giggs is just one of the best players ever), but there I was in my England jersey, being ridiculed by my family. I guess I agree with them, though- England played very poorly for the better part of the game.

And don't even get me started on David Beckham. I liked him in his younger years when he was still playing for Man United (he and Ryan Giggs- pure magic!), and he still is pretty good when it comes to free kicks, but yesterday, you could see him having trouble keeping up with the pace that comes with European football- he's way too slow, he didn't bring any creativity to the game and quite frankly, I can't see him playing a big role and being a leader in the upcoming qualification games that'll hopefully lead England to the European Cup next year (Right now, they are 4th in group E with Croatia, Israel and Russia being ahead of them). So he is a big star in the US, and he is good-looking if you like the type, but I'd rather see Steven Gerrard back on the team. The Sun compared him to a headless chicken, and I hate to say it, but they had a point last night.

The English press was pretty harsh on the boys, too, saying that Germany even won the singing contest- when approx. 9000 Germany fans were being heard singing and celebrating, and 78.000 English fans were not.

The Sun said it all: "What a load of robbish!" Let's just hope they'll get their butts together and start doing what made the English national teams special: a strong sense of team spirit and the absolute willingness to fight until the last second. Oh, and a new and creative midfielder wouldn't be too bad, either.