The gentleman above is Mehmet Scholl, the ex-Bayern Munich and German international player.

Scholl is similar to his Scottish counterpart in that he likes to listen to some half decent tunes. I say half decent because unlike Nevin his selections are not the most eclectic or avant-guarde, but it is still stuff that you would hear on 6 Music.

Before we continue - Thank you Nick from Fisted Away for the scouting.

I’m not going to do a full bio on Scholl’s footballing career, but I will do a quick recap:
Mehmet Scholl is one of the most successful German football players of all time, during his career the attacking midfielder won eight German Championships with Bayern Munich, as well as the UEFA (Europa) Cup and the Champions League trophy. He was also part of the German national team which won Euro ’96.

It’s obviously the musical angle we are looking at and with a couple of mixtapes (compilation albums) in which Scholl was responsible for selecting the tracks.

From Wikipedia:

“In May 2002 and October 2003, he released two successful mixtapes, featuring his favourite bands. The compilation’s title “Mehmet Scholl kompiliert – Vor dem Spiel ist nach dem Spiel” is a reference to Sepp Herberger’s famous expression “nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel” (“after the game is before the game”). In an interview, Scholl said he chose this title because he listens to this music before the game, after the game, in the car on the way to the stadium, and in the car when leaving the stadium.

The first volume includes songs by The Beta Band, Sportfreunde Stiller, Jimmy Eat World, and The Notwist among others. The second volume includes songs by Oasis, Wir sind Helden, and The Flaming Lips. Once a month, he co-presents the feature Mehmets Schollplatten in the program Nachtmix of the Bayern 2 radio station, which is the culturally oriented channel of the federal public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.”

Since I’m doing the Summer Of Pod at the moment this discovery by Nick is perfect timing. I’ve chosen some (not all) tracks from each of the Scholl mixtapes for your listening pleasure:

You can purchase these compilation albums over at amazon.de > Mixtape 1 & Mixtape 2.

…and there more…

In 2007 there was a documentary made about the man. It’s called Frei:Gespielt – Mehmet Scholl: Über das Spiel hinaus (Free: Played – Mehmet Scholl: Beyond the game) and is a retrospective on his career.

There’s an accompanying soundtrack which by the looks Scholl also chose the tracks for this album. On there you can find Decemberists, Mazzy Star, Teenage Fanclub… It is still available at Amazon UK & Amazon USA.

…but that’s not all…

There’s one more band not included above but is a favourite of Mehmet’s. They played live at his farewell match (Bayern v Barcelona) plus he managed to convince them to wear the traditional leiderhosen as they performed at Scholl’s farewell dinner afterwards:

The band are called The Hidden Cameras [int w/lead singer] and I highly recommend you search out any or all of their releases. I didn’t know this band or anything about them until I saw the above clip, after this I had to go and find out more. They are just fantastic.
Nick from Fisted Away pointed me towards three videos of theirs: In The NA, Underage and The Little Bit.

I bought their 2006 album Awoo and this is the title track:

[See post to listen to audio] » The Hidden Cameras – Awoo

“The only things I’m afraid of is war and Oliver Kahn”   ~   Mehmet Scholl

“Hello! If you’ve just tuned in, welcome to the Eurovision Football Song Contest being held this year in sunny Helsinki.

You have missed some splendid arrangements and who will forget Iceland’s entry with Bjirr Stoppenmajer and his roller skating tribute to mountain climbing… Or that delightful entry from Jimmy the Jump… at least I think it was…

Anyway here for you are some selected highlights…”

… Starting with Invgar ‘Tjotta’ Olsson, with the 1958 entry from Sweden:

[See post to listen to audio] » Ingvar ‘Tjotta’ Olsson – Rock & Roll With A Ball Quick bio: Ingvar “Tjøtta” Olsen was a 1950s Swedish football legend. He scored 70 goals in 122 games. He was also a singer who released 20 albums and was one of Sweden’s most popular artists. The nickname ‘Tjøtta’ was from when he was a kid. He used to say all the time: “I will Tjøtta ball”. [That word does not translate.] » Read more

In a shock move which you may have seen last week, they have split up and there’s no longer the United Kingdom, they now have a representative from each country… so now, from England…the 1970 England Squad and their covers of Sandie’s and Cliff’s previous Eurovision entries:

[See post to listen to audio] » England 1970 Squad – Puppet On A String/Congratulations Info: Before they flew out for the 1970 World Cup the England players went into the studio and recorded an album of cover versions. This is pretty much nearly all the 1966 team with youngster Emlyn Hughes included. The album cover had the signatures of all the players on it, plus publicity photographs. It is now a very sought-after item. » Read more…

…and because of the above split we now have Scotland out on their own and they have those lovable lights of children’s television…. The Krankies, who are looking forward to their holidays:

[See post to listen to audio] » The Krankies – We’re Going To Spain Background info:   To those of you too young to remember The Krankies, consider yourself lucky.   (The quick version: A very short Scottish woman played a schoolboy (in uniform) and hung around with an older bloke.) Not creepy at all.   In 1982 Scotland qualified for the Euro Championship Finals and the Scottish F.A. commissioned this as THE OFFICIAL SONG. It gets worse: The terrible child-like drawing on the cover – that is the official Scotland ’82 mascot. » Read more…

…Yes thank you Jimmy, now please get off his lap.

Next up representing Germany we have an American expat, now living in Bavaria who is a bit of a local celebrity over there. Together with the early 90′s Bayern Munich squad they have done a number of cover versions and this is one originally from Tina:

[See post to listen to audio] » Andrew White/Bayern Munich Squad – Simply The Best Background: Andrew White wouldn’t get recognised walking down the main street of his hometown, but in Bavaria he made a name for himself first as a piano lounge singer then as a singer of middle of the road tunes which the Bayern people lapped up. I remember it well because I was living in Munich at the time. This bloke was on the telly every five minutes. He is like a crap version of The Hoff, always wore this big ridiculous leather jacket and had a pony tail. » Read more…

… Ah thank you Andrew and Jean-Pierre Papin, Lothar Matthäus, Olli Kahn and yes is that… Giovanni Trapattoni…? Bellissimo…

So whilst the jury from each country decide on this contest, some time filler courtesy of a 1963 Eurovision entry from José Guardiola… no it’s not his Dad… at least I don’t think so… @weloveallthat tells us that he also wrote a team song for Spain…

I once did a post about Hibs and in that article I mentioned their links to Irvine Welsh and Trainspotting. Rebus (the TV detective) and Bilbo Baggins (the band), oh and a bit of Dusty Springfield in there too.

I’ve just been on another trip and like with the Hibs one, I found some very unlikely bedfellows…

It is all thanks to @DolphinHotel who contributes articles to In Bed With Maradona.

He wrote a piece about a South Korean footballer who was a hit in the Bundesliga and whilst researching for the article found out that there was a German band who named themselves after this player.

Well sort of.

The Man:

Cha Bum-Kun (nicknamed Tscha Bum (“Cha Boom”) because of his name & thunderous ball striking ability) as mentioned was a legend in German football.

“…Cha Bum-kun, voted ‘Asia’s Player of the Century’ in 1999, remains an idol to many fans in both Germany and South Korea, famed for his meek temperament (in his entire career he received just a single yellow card) and the ferocity of a shot which brought him 55 goals for South Korea, and a further 98 in the 308 Bundesliga games he played between 1978 and 1989…”

“…Alex Ferguson called him “unstoppable” after seeing his Aberdeen side knocked out of the UEFA Cup; Cha scoring an early goal in the first-leg at Pittodrie…”

“…In Germany, Cha’s legacy still endures. When Michael Ballack arrived in Korea ahead of the 2002 World Cup, he had only one question for the assembled media. “Is this Cha Bum’s country?” he asked. “I’ve always wanted to come here.” …

- Read more in his article over on IBWM.
- Plus some pen pics at the Vintage Football Club

Also DolphinHotel gave me these couple of snippets:
– He was banned from Korean football for 5 years for claiming the K-League was corrupt after he got the boot as national coach after their 5-0 thrashing by the Netherlands in the 1998 World Cup.
- He has 3 children whose names mean ‘First Kid’, ‘Second Kid (Cha Du-ri, who plays for Celtic), and ‘Third Kid’.

The Music:

There is/was a band who obviously went for a bit of snark by calling themselves: Bum Khun Cha Youth.

The group Bum Khun Cha Youth released a couple of singles in the late 90′s, bit of a gap then another single in 2004. They followed this three years later with their only album which they entitled; “Alarm! Hanns-Martin ist verschwunden” (Alert! Hanns-Martin is gone.)
The title refers to Hanns-Martin Schleyer, an SS officer who was kidnapped and killed by the Red Army Faction in 1977. Tracks on the album such as “Starvation against the state” (Hungern Gegen Den Staat) and “Well All Thank You R.A.F.” (Red Army Faction).
- A good review of the album here.

Two tracks from the band as a sampler:

[See post to listen to audio] » Am Strande Von St. Antoine (On the beach of St. Antoine) [See post to listen to audio] » Bist Du Glucklich (Are you happy)

– Finally returning back to the footballer, a football and musical tribute to Tscha Bum:

Now for the first time anywhere… not really …some information has reached us about various international teams that would like it if you didn’t hear the following songs.   In truth you yourself would probably like it if you didn’t hear them either.

Or read the following text.

We first start with a serious note…

As we all know the corrupt FIFA association awarded the 2018 to Russia, who are known not only for being oil rich but for being a bit racist too.   So what are the chances of FIFA doing another anti-racism campaign, as they did in the last World Cup ?

Qatar, the winners of the 2022 bid are again like the above, oil rich – they also very homophobic. So what of the chances of FIFA… ah actually they’ve done nothing about this…

They are also shooting themselves in the foot because despite awarding the World Cup to the Arab nation of Qatar – FIFA themselves are Islamaphobic.

- This is via From A Left Wing, who wrote last April about the news that Iran couldn’t enter their women’s team into the Youth Olympic Games if the athletes play in headscarves.

To be precise the decision came from the Internation Football Association Board, which FIFA has four votes in these decisions. They demanded that these women either remove their headscarves (hijab) or withdraw from the competition.

- Talking of Iran… who are well known for their racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism… the men’s team qualified and played in the 2006 World Cup, in which there was some outrage before the tournament because their President Ahmadinejad was thinking about attending.

What you didn’t know though was that Iran also had an official 2006 World Cup song:

- Fast forward to the last (2010) World Cup there was a song for the South Korea team, which also has a link to a previous World Cup effort by the German team AND a tune done for a certain Everton player…

A couple of popular groups from South Korea teamed up to record a version of a very, very familiar song. Those groups were Brown Eyed Girls, a 4 member manufactured girl group – and 4minute who are a 5-member err… manufactured girl band…

The track that they covered (not at all cashing in here, oh no) was the Village People classic:

» Watch more Brown Eyed Girls here and more from 4minute here. Warning: You will cringe.

Related: Somebody reworded the above tune in tribute to Duncan Disorderly.

Also Related: Jurgen Klinsmann is really, really into the Village People.

Talking of Germany…

Again this is from the 2010 World Cup and over in Germany their entertainment media was pretty much the same as England (and South Korea above) – Money to be made and crap products to be released.

The money for old rope in this instance comes from a band who like the featured artists in the Footieleaks : The England Files post are also big in Germany. You may have heard of them – a showbiz act who like the Village People also like to dress up..

What they did is take one of their own songs and cover that. The original I wrote about a while ago where I mentioned that because of the ambiguous lyrics the tune could be taken and used by anybody and for anything.
Which is what exactly what happened and that must have pleased the Fairbrass brothers.

- They teamed up with Höhner (a band from Cologne) and co-sung this one which appeared on a tenuous link to football album.

..and there was a video:

Additionally:
This wasn’t the first time the song was franchised, in 2009 it was Stand Up For The Saracens.

Extra Time: Usually I bung in an extra couple of tracks from the featured artists, but this time I’m going to highlight some more cover versions – cover versions of some Right Said Fred songs actually. It was in 1992 and Heavenly Records released the Fred EP, with acts on their label recording the covers. All profits from the release went to the Terence Higgings Trust.

[See post to listen to audio] » Flowered Up – Don’t Talk Just Kiss [See post to listen to audio] » Saint Etienne – I’m Too Sexy [See post to listen to audio] » The Rockingbirds – Deeply Dippy

Another Footieleak file very soon.

Not that he needs any more promotion, he’s good at doing that himself. But some kudos to the author of European Football Weekends (EFW) for his Twitter posts – which are plenty – and particularly for a couple that tickled me because of their clever play on words AND song titles.

So to expand on his original tweets may I present to you…

Mertesacker Emptiness

http://twitter.com/DannyLast/status/17977733207

Arsenal were interested in him before the World Cup:

Werder Bremen’s Per Mertesacker opened the door to a summer move to Arsenal with the German international centre-half calling a potential move to the Emirates ‘attractive’.

The 25-year-old, a first choice for his country, was asked about his future at the Weserstadion by German daily Bild.

‘There are certainly attractive clubs abroad. In particular, clubs that have been playing for years in the Champions League,’ he said.

After completing his fourth season at Werder, the 6ft 5in stopper could be exactly the type of performer required by Arsene Wenger to solve his central-defensive conundrum.

While Thomas Vermaelen – a £10million recruit from Ajax last summer – shone in his first season at Arsenal, the futures of veterans William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Mikael Silvestre are unclear.

With 60 caps already under his belt, Mertesacker’s leadership qualities and consistency could be exactly the attributes required at Arsenal as Wenger looks to mount a title challenge.

» Read more…

There are other articles in addition to the one above which are post-World Cup and all of them say pretty much the same thing. At the moment though there’s been no actual official word from Arsenal or Bremen.

Late Update: There was a fantastic addition to this by Spearmint Rhino on the WSC (When Saturday Comes) forums when he added an all German players lyrics to go with this title.

Pjanic on the streets of Madrid

http://twitter.com/DannyLast/status/10290727787

Via the Guardian:

A second-half goal by Miralem Pjanic had brought them to this. Cristiano Ronaldo’s early opener had promised to clear an easy passage into the quarter-final. Instead, Madrid were beaten yet again. When Pjanic hit the ball past Iker Casillas in the 75th minute, the score was levelled at 1-1, leaving the French side 2-1 up on aggregate and Madrid needing two goals in quarter of an hour. They didn’t get one…

… And then it happened. Lisandro, with his back to goal, hit a first-time pass into Pjanic’s path and when the ball sat up he hit it on the bounce. Madrid could scarcely believe it.

» Full article…

There’s no talk of the lad moving at the moment. Usually after you’ve scored an attention grabbing goal like that it happens, but not right now. But he’s only 20 so there’s plenty of time.

…After the previous swimsuit round (with a slight embarrassment for Miss England who forgot her costume and subsequently went out wearing nothing but a knotted hankie on her head) – we now come to the talent part of the competition…

Thank you Uruguay for entertaining us with their balloon animals, and Ghana with the piano recital during the break – it’s now the turn for Miss Germany… Here tonight being represented by Franz “Der Kaiser to you and me, kick and rush football not for him” Beckenbauer.

“Take it away, Franz !”

[See post to listen to audio] » Franz Beckenbauer – 1-0 fuer Deine Liebe (English: One-nil for your love)

- German Lyrics 1:0 für deine Liebe 1:0 hast du gesiegt Denn ich weiß, dass Alles Glück in meinem Leben Ganz allein in deinen Händen liegt 1:0 für deine Liebe 1:0 für dich allein Hab ich dich, dann Kann mir gar nichts mehr passieren Deine Liebe lässt mich glücklich sein 1:0 für deine Liebe 1:0 hast du gesiegt Denn ich weiß, dass Alles Glück in meinem Leben Ganz allein in deinen Händen liegt 1:0 für deine Liebe 1:0 für dich allein Hab ich dich, dann Kann mir gar nichts mehr passieren Deine Liebe lässt mich glücklich sein

- (Google Translated) English Lyrics 1:0 for your love 1:0, you have triumphed Because I know that All happiness in my life All alone in your hands 1:0 for your love 1:0 for you alone Hab ich dich, then Can I do nothing happens Your love makes me happy 1:0 for your love 1:0, you have triumphed Because I know that All happiness in my life All alone in your hands 1:0 for your love 1:0 for you alone Hab ich dich, then Can I do nothing happens Your love makes me happy

» More here.

Ah ha… thank you for that… lovely…

Now for our next contestant – All the way from the Argentines (Don’t mention the Malvinas !) down there in the Americas… it’s the effervescent and always smiling Diego Armando “drug taking, tax evading, hand of god cheating” Maradona. Who in this instance gets into a three way:

[See post to listen to audio] » Pimpinela and Diego Maradona – Querida Amiga - There is a video too.

» More here.

Scintillating…just scintillating…

Going back to Europa again and to the low countries… to the Netherlands…Holland… the land of the Holland..ish peoples, who is being represented by Ruud “a big management failure at Newcastle, Feyenoord and even LA Galaxy” Gullit, who admits to being:

» Ruud Gullit – Not The Dancing Kind

» More here – Including an anti-Apartheid song.

“Super…super… schexy indeed…”

So once again we take an intercontinental passage back to South America and the beaches of Rio… the sand… the samba… and representing them is Edson “El Rey” Pele :

[See post to listen to audio] » Pelé & Gracinha Leporace – Meu Mundo E Uma Bola (My World Is A Ball)

» More here.

Thank you for that. Captivating…

“Join us again after the break where to entertain us whilst the judges are making their decisions… Kevin Keegan will perform a medley of his greatest hi.. some of the singles he’s released… “

We know how things are on our side, but how do the German fans and the country as a whole see it ?
I decided to ask a friend of F&M – Teena a “German Geordie” who runs Y I, Mum? for her thoughts and posed a couple of questions: What (in your opinion) is the Germany team like at the moment ? What do the German people think of the team and their chances ?

Teena went above and beyond what I was expecting so I’m copy & pasting her entire response:

“Our team ? Hmm… I like Jogi’s multi-cultural kids. Technically good (though the passing at times leaves me speechless… or voiceless), enterprising and entertaining, and surprisingly creative. Respect for the opponents but no fear. The last two games have shown a number of weaknesses, most worryingly individual errors and lack of communication/understanding in defence. Neuer hasn’t really done anything wrong in goal yet, largely due to the fact that he hasn’t had that much to do in the first place, but I’d rather not leave it till penalties. Mad Jens he ain’t.

Team spirit though is excellent and collectively, I think, we are a bit pacier and trickier than England, but also less experienced, bit brittle at the back, and at times prone to lose our cool. And of course we’re keeping all fingers crossed that MÖÖÖ (that’s MezütÖÖÖzil :) & Schweini get fit for Sunday. Without them…I’d start biting my nails now. But with them fit, I’m quietly confident.

Most of my fellow Germans are largely of the same opinion. While some still rate Gomez (dunno why or as what :D) and others shout for Kießling to get a chance up front (me too), all agree that the team is a lot better than we had initially thought/feared and reaching the quarter finals would be a massive achievement for such a young bunch. That said, I know more Germans who will loudly and proudly support England on Sunday (don’t ask..) and they reckon we (Germany) get soundly beaten by England (largely believing the “Rooney propaganda machine”. Despite having watched all 3 England games. Probably not all Germany games though.

All are in high spirits in Schlaaaaaaaaaaaaand, as it is now known, with wild anticipation too. Most football friends (of either nationality) hope for their country to win but also for a good and fair game. If we play crap and go out (even against England.. we’re quite over that old rivalry by now), most of us won’t have a huge problem (after 10 beers and maybe a few tears) then start preparing for 2012.”

The other question I put to her was obviously about music and like everybody over in England, there are many, many acts who have jumped on the Germany/World Cup song bandwagon.

“  The music…?

Obviously “Schland o Schland” is THE summer hit. I’ve seen strangers at tram stops jamming to it.
Also “Gimme Hope Joachim” is another one, but more amongst older generations as the kids can’t remember the original.

Much like myself, many people dig out “classic” football songs such as “54, 74, 90, 2010” by Sportfreunde Stiller, plus there’s Helden 2010 (Revolverheld’s re-written 2008 hit) highly shoutable, thousands of fans in a public viewing area singing it give you goosebumps.

Another ‘official’ one is Stefan Hämer’s “Wir glauben an euch” (we believe in you)… also there’s a Mercedes-sponsored campaign “Der vierte Stern für Deutschland”. A bit slow for my taste, I need more cheery uppy bounceable tunes like Kika Live Ben – “Let’s go WM 2010″ and also – “Schaut nach oben (Look up)“. The vid’s a bit amateurish but the song and lyrics are not too shabby, needs a wee make-over but I like…”

I’ll end it there because Teena mentions loads more which I want to save for another time.
IF they get through to the next round of course…

A postscript though on the “Gimme Hope Joachim” tune – Teena has informed me that there’s an updated and up-to-date video just made and published. So I’ll close this post with the a capella song by Basta which now includes Uwe Seeler, the current squad minus Michael Ballack. France on strike, Rob Green, Beckham in a suit instead of England strip, Spanish referees… ah just watch it below. Then go over to Y I, Mum? for more details and eventually some translated lyrics.

With thanks to Teena from Y I, Mum? and Sam Beckwith from Stumpy Moose for spotting…

There’s a song that was on Eurovision this year which has been reused for this World Cup.

No not that French one. It was from Lena, who won the competition and some university students have done a “version” of it to support the Deutsche Fußball Nationalmanschaft.

This via the English-language version of Spiegel Online:

Student Prank Becomes Football’s New Favorite Hymn

Lena who? A group of university students have remade Eurovision’s winning song into an unofficial World Cup football anthem. But what started as a joke, has resulted in a cult hit — and a record contract.

A prank video by university students in Germany has brought two of the country’s recent obsessions together. But now, what started as a prank has ended in a recording contract with one of the world’s largest entertainment companies and looks set to become a big hit in the next few weeks.

Inspired by Germany’s victory in the Eurovision song contest in late May, the students, from the town of Münster, performed a parody of the winning song “Satellite,” performed by Lena Meyer-Landrut. But the group changed the lyrics of the catchy pop song into an homage to the German national football team, now competing the the World Cup in South Africa. Instead of “Love, oh, Love,” the refrain became “Schland, oh, Schland” — football shorthand for Deutschland (Germany)…

» Read the full article

The video:

….and a live version from the winner of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest:

» Lena – Satellite

Yes, yes they’ve only played the one game and it was widely expected (even by me) that it was going to be a draw… But a supposition here: If England do not top their group and finish runners up – get your wallcharts out and have a look for yourselves – in the next round they might be playing…

It’s too soon. The tradition is that #ENG go out to them on pens in the Quarters, not the Round of 16.

As for the team themselves… well we all watched their first match yesterday and I’m going to roll out a terrible cliché now… but they really did look very efficient.

Before this World Cup some pundits were saying that the German team was too young, didn’t quite have the right players for some positions. But as we saw Jogi Löw knows how to get the best out of what he’s got. Another cliché – Never rule out Germany.

- There’s an a capella act from Cologne who before the World Cup appealed (in song naturally) to the coach Joachim Loew to give them and all of Germany, hope.

They are called Basta [Official website] and the five chaps (four Tenors and one Bass) released a South Park inspired video – which is below, along with translated English lyrics.

As you will hear this tune is based upon the Eddy Grant classic Gimme Hope Jo’anna.

Click for English lyrics:

This track is for sale via download from Amazon UK and Amazon DE.

[Found via 101 Great Goals]

» Next up in a few days: Acapella England

Pictured above. Fatty Ron celebrating with Pele (who can’t keep his eyes off that used-a-steam-iron-as-a-template bit of hair on his forehead) before being carried around by his team mates – who were treated for a hernia later on.

- Before I continue here’s a reminder of that final with commentary by Motty:

In case you can’t watch that clip: This was the game that was going to help relieve that bad memory and performance in the 1998 World Cup by the “biggest player in the world”.

Coming into this final it was a case of the “the three R’s” (Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and a resurgent Ronaldo) who were up against Olli Kahn, who afterwards was voted the best player of the tournament.

In the first half it was all Brazil and they laid siege to the Germans goal but by halftime it was still nil-nil thanks to Kahn (and the crossbar) denying a number of chances.

The Germans came out in the second half and it was their turn to trouble the Brazil back four, but again like Brazil in the first half they couldn’t find a way through.

Then in the 67th minute Kahn deflected – but crucially didn’t hold a shot by Rivaldo and Ronaldo was close enough behind to knock it in. [3mins 21secs on the above vid] Then in the 79th minute old triangular soul patch-but-in-the-wrong-place stroked in the winner.

- There was some German fans who watched all this and have recalled that day perfectly in song form.

With thanks to Stephan Uersfeld, who supplied the following….

The group were called Herr Nilsson (which is the name of s Pippi Longstocking’s monkey) but they are sadly no more. /  If you google for that you’ll find a Norwegian band who have now taken that name. That band and this one are not one in the same. / The German Herr Nilsson lasted about 10 years and had some success. » Their German Wikipedia entry translated.

As mentioned in 2002 after that final they took to pen and paper and eventually recorded a song about that frustrating, defeated day for their team, thanks to a chubby cherub in the yellow shirt.

[See post to listen to audio] » Herr Nilsson – Ronaldo [See post to listen to audio] » Herr Nilsson – Ronaldo (Remix)

Stephan was gracious enough to take the time to transcribe and translate the lyrics – in which it mentions about Oli Kahn’s finger and about how the humidity affected his gloves that night:

“…and the torn ligament in our gods little finger/which nobody knew about then/and the gloves (yes, the gloves)/and the humiditiy/the japanese monsum…”

I forgot about that bit and immediately remembered again when I read those lines. Kahn had a finger ligament injury which was either not well known at the time, or was know but he decided to play through the pain (this bit I can’t recall). Plus all that with the gloves.

- Click to read the full lyrics

Extra Time:

A couple of bonus tracks from Herr Nilsson, the first one was the A Side of the single that the above Ronaldo track was on. The other was an English/German language track that was on their 2003 Einfacher sein album, along with the single:

[See post to listen to audio]» Herr Nilsson – Die Vitamin B Werke

[See post to listen to audio] » Herr Nilsson – The World Needs Me