Didn’t mind the ref till the ~80th minute. I don’t even mind that she revoked the hand penalty. Probably the right call. She maybe should have checked the VAR images herself after that double foul against Müller, but that depends on what the VAR told her. But what I really found irritating towards the end is her lack of communicating. She didn’t really speak a word with the players.

Sicher doch. Sollte ein Naturgesetz sein, dass Spieler, die weniger als 5 Pflichtspieleinsätze im Jahr bekommen, ausgeliehen werden.

Part of me was rooting for Alaba anyhow.

Good point about the late school hours. But I suspect that it also has to do with other sports and hobbies becoming more popular. There are so many more things to do, so naturally the number of boys for whom football is EVERYTHING is smaller today. (Which in and of itself isn’t really a bad thing.)

Agreed. We need to come to terms with the fact that this generation just isn’t as good.

Not that surprising either. Playing football just isn’t as big of a thing here as it was until the 90s. The bolzplatz (public football ground) we fought over when we were kids is almost always deserted and has been for years. Other countries like Japan have caught up with us not because something changed on the professional level, but because 15 years ago there was more football-mania among kids in Japan than there was in Germany.