At the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on the eighteenth of June 1972, West Germany lifted their first major tournament trophy since the 1954 World Cup. Two years later, at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, they lifted the World Cup. Yet it is sometimes said that the team of 1972 is more fondly remembered than the team of two years later, and it is certainly fair to say that the road to these twin victories was not without its problems.

verrückt!! There's nothing quite like a goofy footballer pretending to be an overzealous fan and you can count on Germany and Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller to do it! As the Euro 2012 approaches, the German National Team have been hard at work rolling out campaigns to drum up home support, launching new jerseys (ironically, it's back to 1972′s away green kit!

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we cover the wacky side of football! Today, read about the German National Team's bizarre new campaign, Mourinho's Carpark 'Me Time', Harry Kewell's Tennis Day Out and Guti's Holiday!

Now now, don't get all excited! You're not looking at the latest 80′s German pop band founded by Lothar Matthäus, but it's close to the truth.

Thailand are currently hosting the King's Cup, I'm not covering it, featuring teams from Scandinavia and North Korea and not doing particularly well it must be said. Anyway striker Sompong Soleb decided to go out for a few beers, breaking curfew, drove home, smashed up his motor and in fine Thai tradition, fled the scene.

When I was in Germany back in December, I watched an interview with Bayern Munich's Sporting Director Christian Nerlinger. Part of the discussion revolved around Bayern's interest in the newest young German football star, Marco Reus, who Bayern executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge termed "a person of interest.

By Puck Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to Puck's Happy Hour. Hopefully the Holiday Season is treating you well with your family, friends, and, of course, cocktails filling the calendar. After spending some time in Upstate New York with the family, I am back at the TYAC home office taking some much needed time to [.

According to the description (good luck getting a universally accepted tally on this stat), guess who's currently leading Big Europe in assists this season? Yup.

It's pretty unfair when he's surrounded by that type of talent, given the fact that rolling one onto the boot of a teammate is like rolling Adriano into a buffet he's very unlikely to fluff his chance.

Liverpool will reportedly look to lure Koln attacker Lukas Podolski to Anfield as the Merseyside club looks to beef up their attacking options following the FA ban handed to top scorer Luis Suarez.
Director of Football Damien Comolli has earmarked a move for the Polish born German international after seeing Suarez handed an eight match ban and was already scouting the 26 year old as Liverpool have been struggling for goals and have been far to dependent on the Uruguayan international.

Christmas time fast approaches. Slowly, the universe disconnects from the web. We sip eggnog. We talk with family members. We exchange gifts. Co-workers get embarrassingly drunk at holiday parties. Dormant hands get grabby. Title VII lawsuits get filed soon thereafter. But before you sign that release of claim waiver and confidentiality agreement, enjoy these footy links:

Remember when FIFA said they were going to release documents on December 17th and we got all excited?

On the new spot for the German National Team - Execution can be just as important as an Idea.

The video of everything moving backwards has been done many, many times. (ahem... Chris Martin will take full credit for promoting the trend). But the idea is solid, and this new spot for the German national team is undeniably fresh.

German coach Joachim Low : "You know Per, you're just like MAH SON here in the Mannschaft. We need to go on more fishing expeditions together." Per : "Oh really? I thought you were only interested in Blondes." (awkward silence) / via Bild

Tweet This Post

United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann will lead his side into a highly anticipated friendly fixture against Les Bleus in Paris on Friday evening and hopes to see the man who once taught him invaluable lessons in France Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Wenger coached Klinsmann for two years in Monaco and although the former Germany international striker had already enjoyed prolific spells at Stuttgart and Inter Milan earlier in his career, his stint in the Ligue 1 made him enjoy attacking football on a whole new level.

U.S. WNT defender Ali Krieger played the full 90 minutes in FFC Frankfurt's 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 for the UEFA Women's Champions League this morning and now takes a commanding lead back to France for the second leg on Nov. 9, so Krieger will be a bit delayed coming into training camp in Arizona.

Bayern signing Jupp Heynckes was the best thing to happen to Toni Kroos. The prototypical wunderkind to come out of Germany's reformed youth system, needed Heynckes to pop up at Leverkusen, to finally play his long awaited breakthrough season in the Bundesliga. Now that the two are reunited at Bayern, he could well establish himself at the top of German football, both at Bayern and the German national team.

Now that Germany has qualified for the Euro 2012 tournament with ease, with an unbeaten record, anticipation is building for the tournament next summer.

But what kits will Germany be wearing for their "home" and "away" matches in Poland and Ukraine.

Here are the leaked photographs at Germany's shirts they'll be wearing in Europe next summer, where they must be considered one of the favorites (other than Spain) to win the championship.

El Mundo Deportivo reports that midfielder Mesut Ozil has grown increasingly unhappy at Real Madrid and is seeking a way out of the Santiago Bernabéu at the end of the season.

According to the newspaper, Inter Milan have already been in contact and have asked to be kept informed of any developments concerning the German international, although Madrid President, Florentino Pérez, will attempt to get the player to reconsider his position.

There's nothing that screams "German Simon Cowell!" more than this shot of Joachim Loew sitting comfortably at yesterday's German NT press conference. Yeah, it's totally normal to put a black sofa at the training ground my dad did it once, Dunga sat on it.

This has to be the one of the top matches on Friday, in the Euro2012 Qualifications!
Turkey vs Germany match in Istanbul at Turk Telekom "Aslantepe" Arena.....
Germany already quantified and they are on top of the group A, with perfect record.

Right, we know Gossip Wednesday takes place tomorrow but this was just too difficult to pass up! Every football club needs to do Oktoberfest, like Bayern Munich (bitte! / pleeease). Forget all those gala nights and red carpets (here's looking at you, Man United) just arrive in your finest Bavarian suits and dresses- like Thomas Mueller and his wife, Lisa, above - and you're all bloody well good to go!

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

Concerns over whether Timmy Chandler was really considering playing for the German national team were put to rest by Chandler's agent, who told SI.com there was nothing to the rumor that made the rounds earlier in the week.

Thomas Kroth, Chandler's agent, shot down the rumor, telling SI.

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America reports that US national team right back is apparently leaning towards playing for Germany.
It was a bad news day on the national team front out of Germany. Former U.S. national team defender Tony Sanneh tweeted that German national team coach Joachim Loew was going to FC Nuremberg -- Sanneh's former club -- to meet with U.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

Despite Timmy Chandler's insistence that he wants to play for the United States, a familar name in American soccer has floated the possibility that the German-born fullback might still be considering playing for his native country.

I always find it interesting that everyone immediately chooses the Spanish teams in all competitions. Seems to be the Germans had been reloading and I think this is their time to start shining! Bayern Munich has a good squad put together and the German National team flew through Euro 2012 qualifying being the first country to qualify for the finals.

Out with the old, in with the new.
"I think we have some very interesting youngsters coming through the ranks," U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann remarked in the press conference following the 1-0 loss to Belgium on Tuesday.
It is the reality of the situation for Klinsmann; the window of opportunity is closing for a lot of the stalwarts of the national team.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated comments on U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann naming Martín Vásquez as his No. 2, as well as his strengths and weaknesses-
Let me start off by saying it's rare to hear so much talk about an assistant coach for the U.S. national team. Quick, can you name the No.

Is anybody else tickled by this careening notion that Jurgen Klinsmann is some tactical nincompoop?

As the story goes, Klinsmann was a kind of inspirational cheerleader in his days with the German national team – a darn successful time, it must be said. Accounts credit the German innovator with shaking up a rigid cultural order through bright, modern and clever techniques on the training ground and behind the scenes.

Jurgen Klinsmann connected with Scott French to discuss his coaching influences, as well as to refute some of the criticism he recently received from his tenure with the German national team.
"I had wonderful coaches throughout my career, from an [Arsene] Wenger [at AS Monaco] to a [Cesar Luis] Menotti [at Sampdoria] to a [Franz] Beckenbauer [with West Germany's champs and at Bayern] to a [Berti] Vogts [with Germany's national team] to [Ossie] Ardilles [at Tottenham and Giovanni] Trapattoni [with Bayern] -- they've won everything.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

BY ADAM SERRANO

MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. –Always his analytic yet positive self, Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to a group of reporters during a group interview in Los Angeles and outlined his plans for the U.S. National team.

Klinsmann & Vasquez: Back together again

My concern with Klinsmann is exactly the one lots of commentators have already cited he's not really a tactician, and it was Jogi Löw who did all that heavy lifting with the German National Team. And Martin Vasquez, who went from being an assistant at MLS's Chivas club to being Klinsmann's assistant at Bayern (and came back for a short tenure as Chivas's head coach), isn't really a tactician either but he seems to impress folks since he got the Youth Development Director position with Real Salt Lake post-Chivas.

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America writes of the diverse group of assistant coaches that new US head coach Juergen Klinsmann has selected to work with him for his first camp.
You really couldn't ask for a more diverse group of assistants for Juergen Klinsmann for his first game in charge of the U.

The German Bundesliga kicks off MatchDay One of its 2011-2012 campaign Friday with a matchup between reigning champions Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV. With former German international Jurgen Klinsmann taking over the reins of the USMNT after Coach Bob Bradley was dismissed, and Bundesliga players Torsten Frings and Frank Rost joining MLS clubs in recent weeks, it's time to look at the league where all these players starred, and where Klinsmann coached Bayern Munich after taking the German national team to a 3rd place finish in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The German Bundesliga kicks off MatchDay One of its 2011-2012 campaign Friday with a matchup between reigning champions Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV. With former German international Jurgen Klinsmann taking over the reins of the USMNT after Coach Bob Bradley was dismissed, and Bundesliga players Torsten Frings and Frank Rost joining MLS clubs in recent weeks, it's time to look at the league where all these players starred, and where Klinsmann coached Bayern Munich after taking the German national team to a 3rd place finish in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On Monday morning, in his first press conference since his appointment as head coach, Juergen Klinsmann talked about what style of play the U.S. national team should adopt. Mike Woitalla of Soccer America reports on the thoughts of the new US coach.
The 47-year-old German who has resided in California for more than a decade says he will seek much feedback on the style of play question: "Your opinions are important.

Editor's Note: We continue a great new feature on the Free Beer Movement site. In collaboration with the quality soccer site, "The Other 87 Minutes" we present the "Tuesday XI" (and sometimes the "Tuesday Ten") a thoughtful list on a variety of topics in the world of soccer.
Make sure you head over to "The Other 87 Minutes" and check out all the.

FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique knows a thing or two about winning.
The 24-year-old helped Spain capture its first World Cup trophy in 2010 and claimed the UEFA Champions League title with his hometown club this season. He also dates singing star Shakira, whom he met in South Africa last summer.

A new era of US Soccer will start tomorrow, when Jurgen Klinsmann is formally introduced to the media as the new national team coach.
Rob Hughes of the NY Times writes of the potential influence that Klinsmann will have on his adopted nation.
When Jürgen Klinsmann took over as the German national team trainer before the 2006 World Cup, he opened the eyes of his birth nation.

Jürgen Klinsmann named new USA coach | Football | guardian.co.uk.

As I failed to predict, German coach Jurgen Klinsmann was announced today as the successor to Bob Bradley as coach of the USA Men's National team. His official unveiling is at a press conference on Monday, and hopefully, with his record, it should herald a new era for a squad which has failed to impress since the Confederations Cup success two years ago.

The new era of U.S. Soccer has been ushered in with the news that Juergen Klinsmann has been hired as head coach.

The former Germany striker and coach for the German national team and Bayern Munich will be introduced on Monday, when more details about his hiring, his personnel plans -- for both coaches and players -- and his vision for the future should emerge.

Former German national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been announced as the successor to Bob Bradley to take over the top coaching role for the US.

Bob Bradley, head coach of the United States Men's National Team (USMNT) for the last two World Cups, was fired last night from his post by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).

''We want to thank Bob Bradley for his service and dedication to US Soccer during the past five years," Sunil Gulati, President of the USSF, said in a press release.