Kahhhhhhhhhhn !

Today’s goalkeeper is one that provided much entertainment for us and especially for the media.

(Hover over the next couple of links.)

No not that one. A bit later than that.

Yeah you are nearer, but I said entertaining not calamitous.

There’s your man.

It’s a pity that we never got to saw him play in the Prem, but we did get to see his compatriot successor (in every sense of the word !) at Arsenal.

2002 was the pinnacle for the man. They went into the 2002 World Cup (Korea/Japan) with low expectations. They qualified poorly. (Remember in the qualifiers England had beaten them 5-1) But in the final stages they somehow they found themselves in the final.

Their captain and goalkeeper – to use a cliché – played a blinder throughout the tournament and is the only ‘keeper to ever receive the Golden Ball for his performance.
(I’m sure the memory of Owen’s hattrick against him in Munich spurred him on).

Because of his inflated self sense of being the newspapers loved him for a good quote. As it happened with Lehmann in his final days, Kahn thought that he was still the number one and still should be out there.

He finally gave up his gloves and retired at the end of last season (2007-2008).

- Going back to the World Cup in 2002 and a German band did a song about him during that time:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Die Prinzen – Olli Kahn

This gives me an opportunity to post something from them:

I have fond memories this band…

In the mid-1990′s I found myself living and working in Munich (quite by accident). I loved discovering new music so I watched the German MTV channel (yes you young whippersnappers, MTV used to play music once) all the time.

Die Prinzen were in the charts with the following song – a literal translation of it’s title is: “Everything (with) mouth” – and it was on MTV all of the time. The band were known for a cappella music and their songs are a humourous, tongue-in-cheek take on German society.

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» Die Prinzen – Alles mit’m mund

Thank you to Peke for the Olli Kahn tune plus a few others he sent to me, which will be posted soon.

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