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The World Cup once again proves that immigration has changed Germany for the better Israel today

2022-12-08T20:58:21.300Z


For years we suffered from the Germans partly because of the robotic football, soulless but terrifyingly effective • But with names like Gundoin, Jamal and Yusuf in the national team, it is no longer


When did we stop hating the German national team?

After all, there must be a point between the damn war years and the World Cup in Qatar where we replaced loathing with indifference and after that we moved up a level to sympathy.

Today you will even find quite a few Israelis who are really fans of Mannschaft from Berlin.

Perhaps this is partly because next to Manuel Neuer, the captain, is played by Yusuf Mokoko, whose roots go far to Africa and stop in Cameroon.

I am one of those who grew up on hate.

One of my first childhood memories is the World Cup final in '74 when Germany defeated the Netherlands, the champion of the nations of the world.

I admit that at the age of 8 I didn't really know history in depth, but that's the education I received at home, at school, in the neighborhood.

Germany was not even mentioned in the fine print.

For years I couldn't stand names like Franz Beckenbauer, Ollie Hans, Bertie Vogts.

I also loathed them when they lifted the trophy in the 90' ​​World Cup and so did my whole generation, who got a rash when they saw the black and white uniforms running on the grass led by the Spielführer (captain in German).

But those days have passed, and for years now the squad has been adorned not only by sturdy blonds, but it is possible to find the descendants of immigrants, who came to the industrial cities in the Ruhr in order to find a livelihood and found a kingdom for their children, today legitimate footballers in the country that gave them shelter.

Ilkay Gundoan, of Turkish origin, has more than 60 appearances for the national team and 19-year-old Jamal Musiale, star of Bayern Munich, is the son of a Nigerian father and a German mother.

There are quite a few of them, but the next thing in German football is probably Mokoko, which is light years away from the wet dream of the Nazi extermination machine.

Mokoko is currently in Qatar, where he celebrated his 18th birthday.

The talented boy was born in Cameroon, and arrived in Hamburg only when he was 10 years old. He started his career in the St. Pauli team, which represents a district in the port city of Hamburg - a club whose fans are known for the ideology that has been with them for years.

They will always be against racism, homophobia, fascism and sexism.

Today, Mokoko stars in Borussia Dortmund, if we mention her at all, then it will be said that its leaders visited "Yad Vashem" last May after contributing to the renovation of the place.

I don't intend to do PR for the Germans, there are still phenomena of neo-Nazism there, including in the football stadiums. After all, when the Israeli Almog Cohen played in Ingolstadt, a fan tweeted against him 'Jews for gas', and it was a journalist from "Bild" who reported swearing from the stands at the players A team like Leroy Sane, every time he touches the ball. Only, unfortunately, you can encounter similar racism in the stands of the stadiums in England and France, and certainly in the countries of Eastern Europe. Germany is no different from others. It's just that the positive change is much more dramatic. After all, how can you hate it today when there are G Mal, Joseph, or Antonio Rudiger, a Muslim whose mother comes from Sierra Leone? Whether we like it or not, this is the other Germany.

The change is not only in who staffs the faculty, but also in the character that was so detested in the past.

For years we suffered from the Germans, among other things, because of the robotic football, soulless but terrifyingly effective.

"We play for 90 minutes, and in the end Germany wins", is a phrase that has become part of the history of the game.

That's it, not anymore.

The column was written before the clash against Costa Rica, which was supposed to determine whether Germany would qualify for the round of 16 of the World Cup.

Regardless of whether she succeeded, this tournament proved that this is a human team, systematically cut off from its dark roots.

Losing to Japan is really breaking distance.

One of our own.

were we wrong

We will fix it!

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-12-08

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