Young talent dominates German league

The German national team caused many surprises and won many admirers with its performance in South Africa. Choosing a young team with some extremely gifted talent, Germany proved an extremely good side and made England look rather stupid along the way. 

This was only the beginning for a hugely exciting future for both Germany’s national and domestic game. All across the Bundesliga, young talent is coming through, and it is coming through in vast and endless waves.

These youngsters are getting regular competitive top-level football. Take, for instance, Bayer Leverkusen’s Sidney Sam, a player who has particularly impressed me lately. He is slightly older than the young group of German stars who lit up the World Cup, not to mention the hugely promising ones coming behind them. But at 23 years-old he is young, quick, highly technically gifted and has played a very important role in a successful Bayer 04 season, which looks set to see this young side earn Champions’ League qualification. Yet Sam can get nowhere near the national side. This shows the scale and extent of German youth development.

The Bundesliga – a rising presence in European football

Despite being probably Europe's strongest domestic league for much of the second half of the twentieth century, the Bundesliga has been widely regarded for a while now as lagging behind the premier leagues of England, Spain and Italy.

Germany is easily Europe's largest economy, with a population of around 80 million and its fans every bit as passionate about the game as the English. The tools are definitely there for the domestic game to be great.

A main reason cited for the Bundesliga's low reputation compared with its rivals is its lack of (international) superstars, particularly throughout the last decade, with stars it does produce snapped up by 'bigger' clubs from other leagues. This has started to rectify itself, with the likes of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery at Bayern München.

Needless to say Germany is blessed with some excellent domestic players, but what was particularly impressive about Germany's World Cup campaign was its primacy of the team (particularly highlighted when compared with England), its surprising technical quality and its excellent youth. Much of the same can be said about the Bundesliga, and it could be part of the reason why the league has been so exciting and unpredictable this season.

Der Hammer breathes life into West Ham's survival campaign

With two goals and three victories in his first three matches for West Ham, Thomas Hitzlsperger has become an instant hit with the fans. Aptly named ‘Der Hammer’, he has made an excellent start at Upton Park, having waited six months for his debut at the club. 

Grant recently said of Hitzlsperger: “he’s like a new signing” – funny that, considering he only made his debut for the club three games ago.

But Grant’s relief that his summer signing is finally fit is fully understandable. Hitzlsperger, despite missing out on World Cup selection for Germany, returned to captain his country in a friendly against Denmark before the start of the season, before spending the rest of August through to February on the sidelines. 

It gives Grant the midfield balance and strength to effectively implement the 4-3-3 formation he had wanted to purse ever since acquiring his man in the summer but has not been able to (to full effect).

The problems with remaking a classic

After reading reports that Warner Bros. is looking into remaking, or possibly producing a prequel or sequel to the stunning Blade Runner, I, surely alongside other film enthusiasts, could not help but cry out at my computer screen in disappointment.

A compelling case is to be made against revisiting Ridley Scott’s seminal film. Purists will only cringe at hearing news of a remake, or worse still, a sequel. It has become an all-too familiar and disappointing feature of post-modern Hollywood, an industry which embodies capitalist excess in its crudest form, for popular originals and old hits to be reproduced and continued. So much so that these days the Razzies has its own category of ‘Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel’, each year an increasingly competitive category with many potential ‘winners’  - Vampiers Suck was denied the title this year by a worthier contender (if that’s at all possible) in Sex and the City 2. 

2011 Oscars: Predictions

Picture: The King's Speech (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin)

Director: The Social Network (David Fincher)

Actor: The King's Speech (Colin Firth)

Actress: Black Swan (Natalie Portman)

Supporting Actor: The Fighter (Christian Bale)

Supporting Actress: The Fighter (Melissa Leo)

Original Screenplay: The King's Speech (David Seidler)

Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Mere mortals can’t win majors any more

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won his second Australian Open title with a superb performance, spectacular in flashes, against Andy Murray. Murray’s own display was below-par, make no mistake, but he is an excellent tennis player who ultimately ran into a far better one today. Djokovic played an incredible championship, and demonstrated not only the supreme standards of his own game, but also the clear gulf in quality between the top three and the rest of the field.  Murray may have, in very disappointing fashion, gone missing in his third consecutive Grand Slam final, but at the moments when Djokovic was required by his opponent to show his true quality, he did not disappoint.

Over the past twelve months Djokovic has overcome problems with his serve and fitness to make considerable improvements to his game. He is now good enough to fulfil his early promise as a contender to the Federer/Nadal dominance, a remarkable feat considering the bar the latter two have set over the past two years. Most crucially to Djokovic’s win was his ultimately unstoppable all-round game, which he continued to raise according to the standard of his opponent. He would reach balls considered unlikely by the extraordinary standards of Nadal, maintaining balance in order for him to unleash with his next shot; his huge baseline game was unplayable – in this facet he has now eclipsed Federer; and players of considerable quality – Berdych (who managed to reach the levels of his Wimbledon final last year), Federer and Murray – never looked close to beating him over 5 sets. He beat each of them in three.

Australian Open Preview

As with seemingly all Grand Slams in this blessed generation of tennis, history can be made in Melbourne this fortnight at the Australian Open. Winning the tournament would see Nadal achieve what will become known as the 'Rafa Slam', holding all four Grand Slam trophies at one time (collected over two calendar years). Rod Laver (in 1969) is the only other player in the Open Era to achieve this feat, while only Don Budge did so before Laver. With the man labelled by many the 'Greatest of All Time' as one of Rafa's contemporaries, should Nadal win the title, it will be a truly remarkable achievement, probably the greatest the game has ever seen. Meanwhile, if Nadal, or any player other than Federer, lifts the trophy on January 30, it will be the first time since 2003, before he had even won his first, that the Swiss will not have held a major trophy.

With so much history at stake, will Rafa win the title? It is now clear that Nadal, not Federer, must be considered automatic favourite for Grand Slams, regardless of surface, and will be the favourite for this one too. His hindrances will be the strength of the field, with Nadal likely to have to play his very best tennis in at least two matches to win (not one person who watched Wimbledon and the US Open last year can doubt Nadal's ability to do this). But anyone inevitably has a bad day at the office on occasion, which only makes Nadal's consistent brilliance over the majority of 2010 on all surfaces all the more startling; while Nadal has also admitted that he is still suffering from illness – needless to say an under-strength Nadal is far more vulnerable than a fully fit one, especially against a player of Federer's ability.