Bundesliga Can't Play Beautiful Game All Season Long
August 13, 2006
After finishing third in the World Cup on home soil, Jürgen Klinsmann's Germany side showed critics that it is possible to play aggressive, open soccer and get positive results, but many in the Bundesliga are shy about following Klinsi's example.
National team manager Oliver Bierhoff said he hoped at least some coaches in the German league would learn from the example the national team set this summer and not settle for results at the expense of style.
"I think the World Cup will raise the trainers' and clubs' willingness to take risks," he told Sport1.de. "Now they know that fans are not only interested in the result, but also in attractive soccer."
Fans have been putting pressure on Bundesliga sides to match the national team's aggressive approach as one of the few leading international teams to play with two strikers.
Not up to Bayern to lead the way
Many would expect Bayern Munich, the German league's perennial favorite with more titles and top quality international stars to their name than any other Bundesliga side, to be among the German leaders when it comes to attractive soccer, but there are a number of factors working against them, according to coach Felix Magath.
He said he would like his side to open its style of play and become more attacking than it has traditionally been in the past, but it cannot be up to one team to change a league's direction, especially when there is no pressure on other teams to do so.
"We want to play a more attractive style -- the players, the coach and the board all want that," Magath told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper. "The wish for a more attractive style is justified, but it cannot be achieved because we play against teams that pack their defense and because the pitch conditions, for instance in January and February, do not allow it."
Munich won the last two Bundesliga championships and German Cups but did so with tight defending rather than offensive brilliance, that's a style that needs to change, according to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, head of the team's board of directors.
"Soccer is a game that lives from fun and joy, Bayern has to learn that too," he said. "Starting (this season) we will convey the fun of soccer in addition to fitness, discipline and order."
Top names leaving Bundesliga
Despite a record amount being spent in the transfer market, more of the world's most creative players left Germany than came to it.
Last season's playmakers Michael Ballack, Tomas Rosicky, Dimitar Berbatov, Jan Koller and Johan Micoud all left the Bundesliga and not even Bayern Munich proved to have the drawing power to convince Ruud van Nistelrooy to make the move from Manchester.
Only Werder Bremen, who finished second to Munich last season, could be pleased with the comings and goings in their locker room.
Bremen signed 21-year-old Brazilian midfielder Diego, capped 14 times for his country, for a club record six million euros from FC Porto and in arguably their best piece of business held on to German international attacker Miroslav Klose -- winner of the World Cup golden boot and recently voted German player of the year -- amid strong interest from abroad.