There are two things on my mind today. One is the disastrous game that Sweden played against the Netherlands yesterday and the other is immigration. Lets start with the game. Almost everyone had agreed in advance that there was only a very small chance that Sweden could really beat Holland. Stranger things had happened of course, but when one weighed up the levels of the players on both squads, it quickly became obvious that Holland had a significant advantage. Sweden also walked into their trap: they played the game and Holland just waited for any mistakes, and when the mistakes came, well wow. That is called being efficient. Nevertheless, I applaud the Swedes for trying and I think it can be a good lesson for the team if they are willing to take heed. I also think that it shows what the football academies in Sweden need to be promoting: a fast, pass-intensive game with a focus on two-way play, as well as a strong sense of team.
Now to immigration: Horst Seehofer has been making a splash and following in the footsteps of Thilo Sarrazin by making negative comments about Muslim immigrants. As an immigrant myself, I find these comments so oversimplifying that its almost unbelievable that the antagonists get so much air time. On the other hand I wonder if this isn´t just a bit of clever posturing and trying to redefine themselves within their respective parties (note that Sarrazin lost his parties support and Seehofer is still in command). To elaborate on that further: I wonder if this is not simply a way for Seehofer to attempt to get Christian Democrat voters and other conservatives to believe there is some sort of threat coming from the "others" who are coming to Germany. This way he can energize his base. Its more an American political move than a typical European one, which is why I am not super certain about it. Still I keep a wary eye on the whole thing. A political party using the name of Christ is rather presumptuous in any case.
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