Footballbits and pieces

We’ve known for a long time that there would be a Franz Beckenbauer farewell match–it was announced at the annual meeting last fall; Still when confronted with the task of reflecting on Beckenbauer’s career, my internal reaction was one of dread.

After all, even in English, there must 10,000 essays, articles, blog posts and whatever else you can think of, detailing his career. What new insight about Beckenbauer hasn’t been mined? Maybe a media post would be better, just allowing images and video to tell the story.

Alas a lot of that ground has been covered as well–the lead photo above already showed up on the Bayern website this week.

But then I got to thinking, rambling commentary where perhaps silence would have been a better option, has become something of a Beckenbauer tradition in recent years. What better way to honor the person who has achieved more than any other in the history of the club?

So I put it to you succinctly: Tonight’s farewell match (Abschiedsspiel) is ridiculously named. When the impact of one individual is both so deep in influence and so wide across the span of time, there really is no question: he will always be with us. You cannot pull on your replica shirt, enter the stadium or watch the team from afar without being touched by the magic spell this Kaiser has cast at the club over the course of five decades.

Pity we don’t live in a different era, where tonight’s match would surely be taking place at Franz Beckenbauer Stadion. On the other hand, you can imagine a smiling Beckenbauer’s handshake in the Allianz board room sealing the naming rights deal for the stadium with not a moment’s regret.

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