Die Mannschaft: A Cinematic Tale of Happier Times For Germany
Well, you’ve probably heard the news. The German football team got knocked out out of the World Cup in Russia, by 2 goals in stoppage time in yesterday’s game against S. Korea. Holders Germany crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history – failing to make it past the opening round for the first time since 1938. Sweden and Mexico advanced in the next phase of the tournament, and not only Sweden, but Brazil too had the biggest belly laugh of revenge after yesterday’s defeat.
As you well remember Brazil shamefully lost to Germany in the previous World Cup that was held in Brazil, and with one of the most shocking results of all time… 1-7. But, that game and many more on the road to triumph were documented in the 2014 documentary Die Mannschaft.
Die Mannschaft follows the triumphant winning of the fourth World Cup champions title in Germany’s history and it’s a little comfort for you German fans out there. The film’s official trailer starts with the words “Brazil have Neymar. Argentina have Messi. Portugal have Ronaldo. Germany have a team!” (in German: “Brasilien hat Neymar. Argentinien hat Messi. Portugal hat Ronaldo. Deutschland hat eine Mannschaft!”), credited to Steven Gerrard. An official press release by the German Football Association (DFB) even called this phrase the central idea for this film. The original source for this words was a tweet by a Twitter account named “@iSteven8Gerrard”, published on 8 July 2014, the night of the world cup match between Germany and Brazil. However, this account is not run by Steven Gerrard, but by a Liverpool F.C. supporter called Seumas Beathan. Media from around the world, but especially in Germany, took up the sentence and credited it to the real Gerrard.
So, as a little comfort and a cinematic tale of happier times for Germany, i give you…. Die Mannschaft.
