Das Reboot: How German Soccer Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World

289 Pages·2015·0.88 MB·English

by  Raphael Honigstein

3/C pms (185, yellow, blaCk C)
gritty matte uv + spot gloss
Sports/Soccer DD AEL S
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“A beAutiful story, expertly told.” AA STEI
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—per MertesAcker, Arsenal defender and member of the O
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German national team, winners of the 2014 World cup A
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Estádio do Maracanã, July 13, 2014, the last ten minutes of
extra time in the world Cup Final: german forward mario götze jumps to RR
meet a floated pass from andré schürrle, cushions the ball with his chest,
and in one fluid motion volleys the ball past the onrushing argentine goal-
EE
keeper into the far corner of the net. the goal wins germany the world Cup
for the first time in almost thirty years. as the crowd roars, götze looks dazed,
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unable to comprehend what he has done. BB O
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in Das Reboot, raphael Honigstein charts the return of german soccer O
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from the dreary functionality of the late 1990s to götze’s moment of sublime, O
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balletic genius and asks: How did this come about? the answer takes him B
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from California to stuttgart, from munich to the maracanã, via dortmund and E
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amsterdam. packed with exclusive interviews with key figures, including Jür- OO

gen klinsmann, thomas müller, oliver bierhoff, and many more, Honigstein’s
book reveals the secrets of german soccer’s success.
TT
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RAPHAEL HONIGSTEIN is the world’s top expert MA
on german soccer. He is a columnist for the Guardian and W GER
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espn, writes for Süddeutsche Zeitung and sport 1 in ger- H
many, and appears as a pundit for bt sport and espn as OR SOCCER
well as sky sports in germany. He is also a regular fixture NA NTED
on the Guardian’s award-winning podcast Football weekly. IGPH REINVE
S
born in bavaria, he lives in london. $17.99/$22.50 CAN TEINAEL ITSNEQLUF EARNDED
COVER DESIGN By PETE GARCEAU CO
COVER PHOTOGRAPH OF MARIO GöTzE © POPPERFOTO/GETTy IMAGES WORLD
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AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOk T
NATION BOOkS
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOkS GROUP
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spot gloss indiCated on page 2
DAS REBOOT
Also by Raphael Honigstein
Englischer Fussball:
A German View of Our Beautiful Game
DAS REBOOT
How German Soccer Reinvented
Itself and Conquered the World
RAPHAEL HONIGSTEIN
New York
Copyright © 2015 by Raphael Honigstein.
Published in Great Britain by Yellow Jersey Press, an imprint of Vintage,
part of the Penguin Random House group.
Published in the United States by Nation Books, A Member of the Perseus
Books Group
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New York, NY 10003
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A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
LCCN: 2015947738
ISBN: 978-1-56858-530-7 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-56858-531-4 (e-book)
First US Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Opa Leo who loved football, and
to Opa Heinrich who didn’t.

CONTENTS
A ngst 2014 1
T wo Thousand Zero Four, Party Over,
Oops: Out of Time 13
A Man of Small Goals 27
G o West 39
Second-game Itch 61
G ermany, a Summer’s Tale, Narrated by
Thomas Hitzlsperger 74
N ot the End 89
W e Against Us 91
T he Beginning of the Beginning 103
I ce Barrel Challenge 116
M oreIs More 131

G rill Shack 155
A n Island of Modern Football 170
V orsprung durch Technik 205
‘ Mineiraço’ 215
T he Gallic Village 232
D iving with the Maldives 238
G etting Closer with Arne Friedrich 244
T he Longest Goal 255
A cknowledgements 275

This is a story about control
—Janet Jackson