Tag: Germany

Child mascot dab-fakes opposing goalkeeeper’s handshake attempt

Further proof that children are merciless


Before Heidenheim’s 2. Bundesliga match at Hannover 96, goalkeeper Kevin Müller sweetly went to high five the outstretched hand of a Hannover mascot. What he did not know was that he was blindly wandering into a trap devised by the vicious mind of a child.

As Müller swung his arm for the friendly greeting, the child pulled back and dabbed as Müller felt the breeze against his gloved palm. Müller smiled, because he had to, and turned away, presumably vowing to never trust the good nature of a child again.


This is just the latest example in a long history of child mascots showing professional footballers who’s boss. In 2013, a Spurs mascot laid waste to Luis Suarez, then with Liverpool, in the pre-match handshake line.

And then there’s the original master. I’m not sure Steven Gerrard ever recovered from this.


https://upscri.be/16bb19

Former Werder Bremen keeper wins his WWE debut

Tim Wiese begins an unusual post-football career


Tim Wiese played in the Bundesliga for more than a decade and made six appearances for Germany. Now retired from football at the age of 34, Wiese has begun a new career as a professional wrestler in the WWE.

What started as a few selfies showing off a beefed up physique and rumors of the WWE’s interest two years ago has now resulted in “The Machine” winning his tag-team debut in Munich.

Paired with Seamus and Cesaro against The Shining Stars and Bo Dallas, Wiese delivered the final belly flop and pinned his opponent to start his wrestling career undefeated. Here’s video of the match (and someone who is not at all interested in it):

Hopefully this paves the way for more cross-pollination between football and professional wrestling. Maybe steel cage matches can replace penalty shootouts one day.


German player apologizes for reminding Brazil of the “7-1” after Olympic final

(@BILD_sport)
(@BILD_sport)

In the immediate aftermath of Neymar/Brazil beating Germany on penalties in the men’s Olympic final, Robert Bauer held up seven fingers as he walked off the pitch in reference to Germany’s 7-1 win against Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. Naturally, the Brazilian crowd did not appreciate this reminder of the national shame that their first ever Olympic gold in football can’t make up for, but it wasn’t Germany’s only reference to it, either.

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Neymar pays tribute to Usain Bolt, wins Brazil’s first ever Olympic gold in football

Given Brazil’s many footballing embarrassments in recent years, they really, really needed to win their first ever Olympic gold in the sport at the Olympics they are hosting. Neymar was held out of the Copa America Centenario earlier this summer just so he could be fresh for the Olympics and right about now that decision is looking like a good one.

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Dirk Nowitzki does a Simone Zaza impression during charity match

Some time has passed since Simone Zaza’s cartoonish penalty in Italy’s shootout loss to Germany in the Euro 2016 semifinals, but German NBA star Dirk Nowitzki isn’t going let him forget it. During a charity match in Mainz, Germany, Nowitzki replicated Zaza’s high-stepping run-up and crap shot, then laughed at Zaza’s endless pain.

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Antoine Griezmann takes a bow after proving himself to be the star of Euro 2016 on and off the pitch

So much of Antoine Griezmann’s is a response to disappointments. He was forced to move to Spain at a young age after being rejected from French clubs for being “too small” and now he’s France’s top scorer at the Euros. He was in tears on the pitch after France’s quarterfinal loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup and at Euro 2016 he scored both goals to beat them 2-0 in the semifinals. At the Champions League final in May, he missed an important penalty for Atletico Madrid as they lost to Real Madrid and in the match against Germany he converted an important penalty to open the scoring.

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France make Mesut Özil regret his pre-match banter

One of the most notable aspects of this expanded edition of the Euros is the imbalance of the knockout stage. Part of that has been down to the new structure of the tournament with 24 teams and four of six third-place finishers in the group stage advancing, and part has been big teams starting slow and smaller ones playing out of their skin. But the result was Germany battling Italy in the quarterfinals while France made easy work of Iceland.

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Jogi Löw provides his first gross moments of Euro 2016

Germany manager Jogi Löw has made a habit of picking his nose at major tournaments. But when you’re a world champion, you need to change your game up in order to keep everyone guessing. So during Germany’s Euro 2016 opener against Ukraine, Löw unveiled a couple of gross new moves that are on a whole new level.

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