Refreshments now available at Edelweiss Club events!

Good news! I am now able to serve refreshments at the Edelweiss Club. One more reason to come down to the Club for Flimmerkiste, German Games Night or Fußballfreunde!

Football Friends Germany December 9

Tonight's film presentation was from the 11 FREUNDE Edition video collection, "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait".

I found the movie to be quite good technically, with good music and some well-thought-out textual accompaniment to the pictures, but there were a couple of drawbacks.

One is that while Zinedine Zidane was a technically brilliant player, much of his magic was being able to read game situations, and that isn't best reflected from viewing him from a field level camera. Zidane also wasn't the most facially expressive player, either.

Another drawback was not exploring the written word to go along with the pictures shown. Expanding that aspect of the film would have brought the experience of the film up a notch.

The music was quite good once it began to be used about a quarter of the way through the film.

Interestingly, the riddle of Zidane is that while he gave the impression of a calm, level-headed player, with a control of himself and the game, there is a definite hint as to how his playing career would end.

The usual slide-show rundown of German football is below:

The next Fußballfreunde Deutschland is on Friday, December 19; the next English-language Football Friends Germany is in January. See you then.

Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen

Tonight's Fußballfreunde Deutschland presentation was Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen.

This documentary from Sönke Wortmann (Das Wunder von Bern) provides a well-edited insightful look at the German national football team preparing and playing in the 2006 World Cup, held at home in Germany.

The camera gives us a unique look at the team's management and players working through the challenges, stresses and huge opportunity of the situation presented to them: only once in their lives would they have a chance to win a World Cup on home soil.

The in-game action sequences emphasized the duels on the field between the Germans and their opponents perhaps more so than the offensively-oriented game the team was playing. Also providing an excellent atmosphere was the attention paid to the phenomenon that the team became during the month: a young team with a dynamic coach playing exciting football and exceeding everyone's expectations. A team who the German public could love as much as they love the game.

Football Films

Something I'm excited about doing at the Edelweiss Club during Football Friends Germany and Fußballfreunde Deutschland is presenting videos about German football--I have a modest collection which I enjoy and would like to share. (Of course, if other films are in our community and others would like to share them, too, I would like to hear about it!)

Just recently, I was able to get my hands on a boxed set of films put out by 11FREUNDE, the 11FREUNDE-Edition DVD Collection, and I will be showing these movies during both the Football Friends Germany and Fußballfreunde Deutschland presentations.

Also as a subscriber to 11FREUNDE, I was sent the DVD "Kicken für die Krone", a documentary about the national football team of Liechtenstein in their efforts to qualify for EURO 2008, the tournament hosted by the countries that surround Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland.

A complete listing of videos I have available to present is below. And as long as our gatherings are informal, I can play them upon request. Please let me know what you would like to see!

Das Wunder von Bern (Language: Deutsch/English Subtitles: Deutsch/English)

2003 movie with several story lines, brought to its miraculous conclusion at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. One of the most popular German films ever!











Kicken für die Krone (Language: Deutsch/Schweizerdeutsch Subtitles: Deutsch/English)

A behind-the-scenes look at Liechtenstein's national football team as it plays David to each opponent's Goliath during Euro 2008 qualifying. Learn a little about what life is like in Liechtenstein!









11 Freunde DVD Edition

01. Der Triumph von München (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

The story of Helmut Schön and his men: their preparation, and how strong Franz Beckenbauer's leadership was.

02. The Football Factory (Language: Deutsch/English Subtitles: Deutsch)

The film focuses on a football hooligan in his mid 20's who has begun to question his morals and the morals of those around him. Tommy's major conflict in the film stems from his inevitable ageing. Although he loves his weekend 'meets', he knows he cannot possibly play forever.










03. Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Sönke Wortmann's renowned intimate diary of the German national team during the 2006 World Cup.












04. Peladao - Elf Freunde und eine Königin (Language: Deutsch & Englisch & Spanisch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Soccer teams and beauty queens!

05. Zidane - Ein Porträt im 21. Jahrhundert (Language: French Subtitles: Deutsch)

Biography of French legend Zinedine Zidane.

06. Nordkurve (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Moments from the lives of a large number of people who have nothing much in common except a strong desire to achieve their various personal goals and their attendance at a soccer match form the body of this film. It is unclear whether the director intended this as a political allegory or as a slice-of-life film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide








07. Fußball wie noch nie (Language: Subtitles: none)

Concept piece by a German director following the moves of the legendary George Best during a match. The camera never leaves Best even as the action moves around the arena.











08. The Other Final (Language: English/Bhutan Subtitles: Deutsch)

One of my favourites! A Dutch football fan, depressed about the Netherlands not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, realizes it could be worse and looks at the bottom of FIFA's world standings. Watch the unlikely meeting between two football teams and two cultures and their common love of football.

09. Ginga (Language: Deutsch & Portugiesisch Subtitles: Deutsch)

Well-shot documentary detailing the soccer dreams and aspirations of seven young footballers, ranging in age from 13-20.












10. Im Westen ging die Sonne auf (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Documentary and tribute to the dreams of young footballers trying to make it into the professional game in Germany's Ruhr region.










11. Aus der Tiefe des Raumes ... Mitten ins Netz! (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: English)

This high-concept piece revolves around a romantic story and German football icon Günter Netzer as a Kick-Tipp player come to life!












Euro 1996 Finale: Deutschland-Tschechien (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

This video is part of a collection currently published by Bild am Sonntag and the Euro 2006 final is a game that no German football fan will soon forget. Commentary is by Bela Rethy from the original German TV broadcast.

The Art of Football (Language: English Subtitles: none)

John Cleese stars in this witty and perceptive German-produced documentary about the beautiful game.

2007/08 Bundesliga Saison-Highlights (Sport Bild) (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)
2006/07 Bundesliga Saison-Highlights (Sport Bild) (Language: Deutsch Subtitles: none)

Sport Bild magazine includes this little treasure in their magazine right after the season's end. On the disc are about 2 hours of highlights of the past season in the form of featured games and selected post-game interviews.

2006 World Cup Draw Program (Language: German & English Subtitles: none)

For anyone interested in German culture and football, this show broadcast worldwide from Leipzig in December 2005 is sublime. Features hosts Reinhold Beckmann and Heidi Klum, magician Hans Klok, singer Juanes, football legends Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Horst Eckel, Cobi Jones, Christian Karembeu, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, Roger Milla, Masashi Nakayama, Pelé, Lucas Radebe, and Markus Siegler, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and German politicians Horst Köhler and Angela Merkel.

German National Football Team Games
World Cup & Euro games since 1990 featuring Germany (Language: English Subtitles: none)

From my large collection of VHS tapes: I have every game the German national team has played in a European Championship or World Cup since 1990. I'm happy to dust them off!

Football Friends Germany October 7

Tonight's presentation featured the movie "The Miracle of Bern", the well-known 2003 movie that I will repeat upon request.

After seven weeks of the Bundesliga, Hamburger SV is still on top of the table, with last year's champions in eleventh!

Internationally, Germany is gearing up for two home games in World Cup qualifying the next week: first, at home on Saturday, October 11 to main group rival Russia, then at home to secondary challenger Wales on Wednesday.

The German Cup is finished for the fall and will resume again in the winter without any teams from the 3. Liga or lower.

Five German clubs have reached the UEFA Cup Group Stage (only Borussia Dortmund missed out, and narrowly so), and Bayern München and Werder Bremen are playing tough in Champions League, if not spectacularly (neither team has lost a game through the first two matchdays.)

Football Friends Germany August 30

The first-ever Football Friends Germany at the Edelweiss club featured a video roundup of the 2007/08 Bundesliga season. The program was recorded from GolTV Canada, which has the rights to broadcast Bundesliga (games, highlights and previews) in Canada on a digital specialty channel (151 on Shaw, $2.95+tax/month).

Germany's Men's National Team has just played a friendly at home against Belgium and is looking forward to beginning qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in UEFA Group 4 along with Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. Each team plays 10 games (one home and one away to each team) and the top team qualifies directly for the World Cup; the second-place team will qualify for a match against another second-place team if they have enough points.

The German Women's National Team finished third at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Germany remains World Cup Champions and will defend its title at home in 2011.