Crinkly Ears

I liked this short article in LIGABlatt because it sums up what we close observers of the Özil phenomenon have probably felt over the past few months - and because coming on the heels of the announcement that his ears will be immortalized in wax and that he is national player of the year (more on that below!) it seems rather apropos!

( Here is what they have to say... )

I'm going to get fancy with two cuts today because we have two pieces of news! As noted above, Mesut is, once again, National Team Player of The Year. This is the second year in a row and by a far, far wider margin. He blew away the competition - Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus - and was a clear double-digit winner this time!


Here is the write-up from ESPN


( So much happy news today... )

Community announcement: There will also be a friending meme on the weekend to celebrate the community reaching 300+ members over the past two days just short of our one-year anniversary! New members are particularly welcome - though all the old ones we've been putting up with might as well show up too ;) So try and remember what book you last read, since that is one of the questions!
.

Pictures of Mesut with PM Erdogan in the lovely post by jorzil yesterday bring back many memories of our well-brought-up young lad in his other political adventures! There's no point denying it - he's a bit of a political animal (if a somewhat reluctant one) whose tact and goood sense always wins the day!

Let's take a look back!

The Chancellor of Germany, The President of Germany, And The Prime Minister of Turkey!

Here's a jersey Mesut signed for Christian Wulff (president of Germany). It was taken by the Spanish Prime Minister on a trip to Germany!





The famous handshake (with belly!bonus):
( Every Mesuty Political Connection You Can Imagine... )

.

With Livejournal back up and (nearly) running properly, here is part two of the Mesuty spam - as seen through the eyes of andriy_7 and his beautiful gif creations - comprising the second half and the celebrations for the super copa!




The second half was a fascinating thing to watch. 10 man Barcelona dominated possession in the second half, and nearly got back into the game, for a couple of reasons.

( A win and some bromance... )

.

( Two pictures... )

.

Germany 1 -  0 Portugal - Match Pictures
('72 Gomez)

I haven't time to write up this game properly. Ozil made 5 scoring chances, but it was a poor performance over-all from Germany, lacking in fluidity or speed. Because Germany would normally expect to meet an opponent like Portugal in a quarter or semi-final it was also a cagey game with a knock-out feel about it. Most of Germany's lack of speed came from the simple desire not to lose the ball. Passes were lacking in ambition going forward and the defence spent much of the evening monopolizing possession and passing among themselves.



( Read more... )