In the spirit of the World Cup season, allow Ballackwurst and co' to present to you with the new German national team kits. It seems to set in well on the shoulders, don't you think? Lieblich! Bastian Schweinsteiger is all "meh" in this photo below, but they all secretly love the extra space on the left to show off the arm muscles, so do not fear!

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The Beauty: When I saw this photo of Miss Sarah Brandner, I almost dropped my own beer. Look at that image. When I saw it, I knew how James Joyce's character felt at the end of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I too had seen a beauty that radiates nature's perfection.

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1. A Schweinsteiger ad
2. It's also on the iPhone
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Bastian Schweinsteiger is "The Illusionist". "By the time you realise he is gone, it is too late." Zinedine Zidane is assembling an Adidas team unmatched in skills and desire for victory. Schweinsteiger is the first player to be unveiled : The Illusionist. Click to continue reading...

AC Milan wins. Shirts stay on. AC Milan loses. Shirts are removed.

Someone needs to let Leonardo know this formula isn't working for us.

How did your boys do last night? Are you feeling confident?

Whilst Pato & co. walk off their defeat, let's all recover from the festivities with a few feel-good photos.

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Milan win. Shirts stay on.
Milan lose. Shirts are removed.

Someone needs to let Leonardo know this formula isn't working for us.

Whilst Pato & co. walk off their defeat, let's all recover from the festivities with a few feel-good photos.

Manchester United's Ryan Giggs throws up some gang signs.

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(video highlights di Bayern Monaco-Juventus)
BAYERN (4-3-3): Butt; Lahm Batsduber Van Buyten Braafheid; Ottl Schweinsteiger Muller; Ribery Klose (76' Gomez) Robben (46' Olic). A disp. Rensing, H. Altintop, Breno, Pranic, Gómez, Tymoschuck. All. Louis Van Gaal.
JUVENTUS (4-3-1-2): Buffon; Grygera Chiellini Legrottaglie Grosso; Marchisio Felipe Melo Camoranesi (90' Tiago); Diego (60' Poulsen); Iaquinta Trezeguet (75' Amauri). Click to continue reading...

Miércoles 29/07 – Audi Cup – SemifinalesBayern Munich (Muller x 2, Schweinsteiger y Saer Sene) 4-1 Milan (Pirlo)- Once inicialEntre paréntesis los cambios realizados, donde la mayoría de los jugadores actuaron en gran parte de la segunda mitad con excepción del delantero Saer Sene, quien ingresó a los 80 minutos. Click to continue reading...

Anybody who uses the phrase "Hat's off!" is my kind of fella. That's why I like Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel. Not only has he taken control of his squad with less than a week's notice prior to the start of the season following the dramatic dismissal of his predecessor, but when he masterminded his team's magnificent 2-1 victory over the mighty Bayern Munch at the weekend, he proudly uttered the words "Hats off to my team". Click to continue reading...

And no, it's not over this picture -- though it might be now.
The German club's piss-poor form has got the fans at a new level of upset. They are penning a open letter to the club, detailing the shortcomings and possible solutions.
Here's a taste.

1.5 The principle of performance and his lack of application
The players need to be selected on merit, not reputation.

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Goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose were enough to keep Germany on top of their World Cup qualifying group. Azerbaijan had an early opportunity to go in front but could not finish after beating an offside trap. FC Bayern winger Bastian Schweinsteiger took command of the game in the 12th minute by launching a screamer [. Click to continue reading...

The 2009 Audi Cup started on Wednesday and the second semifinal saw Bayern Munich take on AC Milan. The winner would play Manchester United in the final. Here's a recap and video highlights of the match.

Bayern Munich beats AC Milan 4-1 Video Highlights

Bayern Munich scored early and added a few goals late to win 4-1 against AC Milan in the Audi Cup.

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Turns out a highlight video online helped this guy get signed by Borussia Dortmund.
How awesome is that?
Now for some less-exciting links:

• Jermain Defoe arrested on police error. [Guardian]
  
• Bayern Munich defends Ribery after Franz blast. [AFP]
  
• Schweinsteiger and the drinking contest.

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Well, it's summertime and aside from the occasional mega transfer, preseason friendly, and Newcastle embarrassment, there really isn't a whole hell of a lot going on.

So with that in mind, here is an inexplicable video of Bastian Schweinsteiger taking part in a water drinking competition.

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Bastian Schweinsteiger In the real world, the uber-hot Sarah Brandtner wouldn't even look once at the German winger. But in a world where footballers attract the sort of women who would normally be way out of their league, the...

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Well, it's taken them nine straight wins and ten games unbeaten in all but Wolfsburg are finally top of the Bundesliga. And they're not top by a squeak either. There is in fact an enormous gulf of 3 (three) points behind the swarm of teams immediately behind them. OK that may not seem like much, but by this season's standards it's a gaping chasm. Click to continue reading...

Jürgen Klinsmann got his wish as Bayern Munich departed the Champions League competition with heads held high, even if Seydou Keita denied them victory on the night as Barcelona eased through to the semi-finals with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate triumph.

After their 4-0 first-leg defeat in Catalonia, Bayern were determined to restore pride, and appeared on course for a morale-boosting win when Franck Ribéry put them in front early in the second half.

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Was für ein Debakel für die Bayern! Mit sage und schreibe 4:0 gingen die Münchener beim FC Barcelona im Camp Nou unter. Gerade mal einen harmlosen Torschuss von Schweinsteiger brachten die Bayern in 90 Minuten Champions League zustande, dazu gefühlte 10% Ballbesitz und eine Zweikampfquote von geschätzten 5%.

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La jornada de hoy fue especialmente fructífera para las grandes selecciones de Europa en la fase de clasificación para el Mundial de Sudáfrica 2010, ya que tanto Alemania, como Italia y Francia consiguieron sendas victorias que les acercan al objetivo de finalizar en el primer puesto de sus respectivos grupos. Click to continue reading...

Allez Lyon!!!

Lyon:

Lloris
Reveillere - Cris - Bodmer - Kallstrom
Juninho - Toulalan - Makoun
Govou - Fred - Benzema

Bench: Vercoutre, Boumsong, Kallstrom, Ederson, Piquionne, Mounier

Bayern:

Rensing
Oddo - Breno - Lucio - Lahm
Schweinsteiger - Demichelis - Ze Roberto - Ribery
Klose - Toni

Bench: Butt, Van Buyten, Podolski, Ottl, Van Bommel, Sosa, Borowski

Feel free to post commentary, frustrations, and thoughts here during and after the game.

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Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann is preparing for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Olympique Lyon with the pressure already mounting on the former German national team boss.
The German champions are off to their worst start to a Bundesliga season in 31 years, winning just two of their opening six games as Klinsmann's side followed up a 5-2 home hammering by Werder Bremen with a shock 1-0 loss at Hanover at the weekend. Click to continue reading...

According to this article on Sports Illustrated's website, Bayern Munich were interested at one point in signing Landon Donovan and may still sign him during the winter transfer period. The article describes how Bayern's manager Jurgen Klinsmann was interested in signing Landon, but the Board of Directors were concerned because of Landon's previous experiences in the Bundesliga. Click to continue reading...

While this is expected to become a weekly column, I have decided to hand out the first Weekly XI based on the cumulative efforts of the first three weeks.  I will use a 3-4-3 formation for my picks. Schober (S04) Westermann (S04) Subotic (BVB) Friedrich (HBS) Kuba (BVB) Marin (MON) Schweinsteiger (FCB) Dejegah (WLF) Wichniarek (AB) Helmes (BL) Ibisevic (TSG) GK: Mathias Schober (Schalke 04) - The [. Click to continue reading...

Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann can invest in a few new Buddha statues for the team's locker room after hammering Hertha Berlin 4-1 for the Bavarians' first win of the season. After two lackluster draws, the victory puts Bayern within two points of league leaders Schalke 04.
Luca Toni scored for the first time this season early in the match, and defender Philipp Lahm curled home a pretty shot for Bayern's second goal. Click to continue reading...

Jürgen Klinsmann will wake up in the morning to a warm Danish and frothy cappucino to find out it was all a nightmare. He'll swing himself out of his king-size bed, stretch in his cotton PJs before enjoying a leisurely frühstuck. He'll then grab the leash and go wandering along the golden sands with a happy retriever bounding in the surf and a light heart beating in his tanned, relaxed chest. Click to continue reading...

Defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich kicked off the new Bundesliga season with a 2-2 tie with Hamburg. Bayern who were playing without Luca Toni and Franck Ribery wasted a 2 goal lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski scored to give Bayern a 2-0 lead only 19 minutes into the game. However, Guerrero scored for Hamburg in the 25th minute, and Trochowski scored in the 57th minute Click to continue reading...

I was reading this article on ESPN's website and it got me to thinking, how does Bayern Munich expect to measure success during Jurgen Klinsmann's time as manager. Are they expecting to go on a run of Champions League victories? What exactly is the measure of success? They won the Champions League Cup back in 2001. Click to continue reading...

I always think that international competitions like Euro or the World Cup provide much needed correctives.

Fernando Torres muscled his way past Philip Lahm in one of the more indelible images of Euro 2008 to provide Spain's winner. The Liverpool striker was one of the heroes in his country's win against Germany.

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Getting to the final of a major tournament is a huge achievement and even the achievement of getting to one and then losing it should be celebrated. Even for Germany, where expectations used to be incredibly high due to the team's enviable record, the fact that they battled to the final of Euro 2008 without really playing that well is reason enough to be proud. Click to continue reading...

Euro 2008 Final

Spain 1 - 0 Germany

It wasn't the most exciting or goal-filled game of the tournament, but Spain won't mind as they held on for a 1-0 win over Germany for their first European Championship in 44 years. Fernando Torres, who was overshadowed by his strike partner David Villa in the previous rounds,
scored the winning goal for Spain.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the European Champions now over, it is time to look back at the players who made the tournament one to remember.

From the daring Turks to the high-flying Russians to the dynamic Dutch, there were plenty of standout players in the tournament, but only 11 can make the Euro 2008 Best XI.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the European Champions now over, it is time to look back at the players who made the tournament one to remember.

From the daring Turks to the high-flying Russians to the dynamic Dutch, there were plenty of standout players in the tournament, but only 11 can make the Euro 2008 Best XI.

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First, congratulations to Sixes and Sevens who won the Wicked Deflection Euro 2008 Fantasy League.
Consider some of these fantasy points totals in choosing your Tournament 11.
Strikers
Lukas Podolski, Germany - 28
Miroslav Klose, Germany - 24
David Villa, Spain - 23
Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russia - 22
Fernando Torres, Spain - 19
Nihat Kahveci, Turkey - 18
Semih Senturk, Turkey - 18
Dirk Kuyt, Netherlands - 15
Andrei Arshavin, Russia - 15
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden - 14
Robin van Persie, Netherlands - 14
Ruud van Nistelrooy, Netherlands - 14
Daniel Guiza, Spain - 14
Ivica Olic, Croatia - 12
Nuno Gomes, Portugal - 12
Libor Sionko, Czech Republic - 12
Midfielders
Wesley Sneijder, Netherlands - 25
Michael Ballack, Germany - 24
Hakan Yakin, Switzerland - 23
Cesc Fabregas, Spain - 22
Xavi, Spain - 22
David Silva, Spain - 21
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany - 20
Konstantin Zyrianov, Russia - 18
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal - 17
Andres Iniesta, Spain - 17
Arda Turan, Turkey - 16
Hamit Altintop, Turkey - 16
Deco, Portugal - 15
Jaroslav Plasil, Czech Republic - 15
Sergei Semak, Russia - 15
Danijel Pranjić, Croatia - 14
Luka Modric, Croatia - 14
Orlando Engelaar, Netherlands - 14
Marcos Senna, Spain - 13
Daniele de Rossi, Italy - 13
Darijo Srna, Croatia - 12
Igor Semshov, Russia - 12
Yuri Zhirkov, Russia - 12
Arjen Robben, Netherlands - 12
Defenders
Philipp Lahm, Germany - 20
Joan Capdevila, Spain - 19
Carles Puyol, Spain - 18
Christian Panucci, Italy - 18
Sergio Ramos, Spain - 17
Carlos Marchena, Spain - 16
Petter Hansson, Sweden - 13
Gio van Bronkhorst, Netherlands - 13
Pepe, Portugal - 12
Aleksandr Anyukov, Russia - 12
Giorgio Chiellini, Italy - 12
Goalkeepers
Iker Casillas, Spain - 19
Gianluigi Buffon, Italy - 12
Jens Lehmann, Germany - 12
I'd want to see Sneijder, Robben, Iniesta, Cesc, and Senna in my midfield. Click to continue reading...

Euro 2008 Final

Spain 1 - 0 Germany

It wasn't the most exciting or goal-filled game of the tournament, but Spain won't mind as they held on for a 1-0 win over Germany for their first European Championship in 44 years. Fernando Torres, who was overshadowed by his strike partner David Villa in the previous rounds,
scored the winning goal for Spain.

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Torres did really well to score his goal, with Lahm and Lehmann losing out.
Aragones took off Fabregas for Xabi Alonso. Xabi did ok while he was in there, but a better manager would have found a way to keep Cesc on as he was growing into the game.
Iniesta once again looked like a great midfielder pushing forward. Click to continue reading...