In World Cup, England's Still at War With Germany

LONDON (June 26) -- We all know there's no such thing as time travel. But if you picked up a paper in England this week, you might have felt as if you'd gone back to the days of the Blitz. The tabloid press here has been filled with World War II-inspired articles warning of a showdown with "The Hun," predictions of "Germ Warfare" and a reckoning with "The Old Enemy." Is England about to go to war with Germany once again? Nope, the country is merely gearing up to face it in the World Cup this Sunday.

England versus Germany is one of the world's great sporting rivalries. Although the two countries have been at peace since 1945, and have become close partners in trade and global politics, that friendship has never extended to the soccer field. And those old wartime tensions are always played up by the English media, which acts as if each meeting between the two teams is a cross between 1939-45 and 1966 -- the year England beat West Germany in the World Cup final, and the only time it's ever won the trophy.

Admittedly, this week's display of Kraut-bashing by the British media has been mild compared with previous years. In July 1990, for instance, best-selling tabloid The Sun previewed a World Cup semifinal against Germany with the front-page headline: "We beat them in '45, we beat them in '66, now the battle of '90.' " (Final score: Germany 4, England 3).

Six years later, The Daily Mirror took the anti-Germanics even further and declared a "soccer war" ahead of the countries' European Championship semifinal. It promised that the national team would "Blitz the Fritz," and even superimposed tin helmets on two English players under the headline, "Achtung! Surrender. For you, Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over." (Another unfortunately premature announcement. England lost 6-5 on penalties).

It could have been worse: Then-Mirror editor Piers Morgan had originally planned to hire a Spitfire and drop insulting leaflets over Berlin, and drive a tank to the German Embassy in London.

Jeannette Ladzik, a project manager at the London office of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation -- which aims to increase Anglo-German understanding -- says this national rivalry is largely a myth peddled by lazy journalists. "Most of my friends are British, and in seven years of living here I have never had any bad experiences," she says. "The [British tabloid] press, of course, always likes to exaggerate. But you know they do German-bashing all year long. And the quality of their papers is so low that you can't take them seriously."

But while the average Brit feels no ill will toward Germany, there's little doubt that losing to it hurts more than almost any other nation. Perhaps it's because Germany has consistently proved itself to be the better team. Since 1966, Germany has made it to 11 major tournament finals, while England has only appeared in two semifinals.

Peter Beck, an emeritus professor of international history at London's Kingston University and author of "Scoring For Britain: International Football and International Politics," argues that this annoyance at being outclassed by upstart Germany can be traced back more than 100 years. "The roots of the rivalry can be found in the late nineteenth century," he noted in the Mirror. "Britain had been the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution but was overtaken by Germany as an economic and naval power."

But the most curious thing about this sporting rivalry is that it's almost entirely one-sided. For Germany, this Sunday's contest will be just another match. (It has its own bitter rivalry with the Dutch, who German fans charmingly call "the cheese-heads"). German coach Joachim Loew has dismissed any ideas that Sunday's match will be influenced by the events of 65 years ago. "It is high time to forget about that," he told reporters Friday. "We live in 2010 and in a unified Europe." Ladzik, meanwhile, says that she wants Germany to win, "but only because the team is still young and they really played nice football in the first game."

Even England's players, it seems, are fed up with the media's endless references to blitzkriegs and panzers. "It's another football match," goalkeeper David James told a press conference Friday. "Obviously there'll be a lot of external references. ... But for us it's a game against a decent outfit -- one we have to win to progress."

Don't expect that military jingoism to disappear from the press if England wins, though. Because in the quarter final, it will likely face Argentina. Anyone know any songs about the Falklands?