Two World Cup Winners on the table, two generations, two defensive masters. The Bild newspaper brought Klaus Augenthaler, World Cup Winner in 1990 and Jerome Boateng, World Cup Winner in 2014, together. A special journey came out of the interview. Boateng (26) was taken on a journey in time by Augenthaler (57). Augenthaler did not take Boateng back to autumn 1989, to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the journey ended in summer 1990, in fact. The wall had already fallen but reunification was on the verge of official completion.
Even before 3rd October, the whole of Germany was able to celebrate a major sporting triumph for the first time together. In Rome at 22:15 on 8th July, 1990. This is where Augenthaler begins. It's a little unsavoury, but then again, maybe not. Augenthaler had just been crowned World Cup Winners with the Germany national side. Beckenbauer promenaded on the pitch alone and delivered a picture that would last an eternity, the players stretched the World Cup long into the night sky.
Now we should have gone into the dressing rooms and began the internal celebrations. And they began. For Augenthaler too. But they didn’t go on too long for him. He tells: "I had to go to doping control just after the final victory unfortunately. That took four hours. I had already drunk a glass of champagne before the men from FIFA came. They marched straight behind Helmut Kohl in the dressing room, when I came back, nothing but my clothes were left. And the driver, who waited for me.”
That was it. Augenthaler was unable to experience the spontanous celebrations in the dressing room. In reply, Boateng gave him a piece of advice, which was correct but could do nothing to alter the past though. There’s a simple way of solving the problem if you can’t urinate: “Take in water.” Boateng was not called into doing so following the final in Rio, he had less bad luck than Augenthaler. “I could kick off the celebrations immediately. I didn’t have to do the doping test,” he said.
Boateng ‘disdains’ Augenthaler’s squad number
Boateng was just two-years-old when Augenthaler won the World Cup. He, the youngster, knows the achievements of his elders only through stories. In contrast, Augenthaler has followed the career of his successor’s successor in the national side’s defence with particular attention since Boateng moved to Bayern from Manchester in 2011.
Boateng’s era in Munich began with personal disappointment from the perspective of Augenthaler. Boateng disdained choosing the squad number with which Augenthlaer walked through the Bundesliga stadiums with during his career. “It amazed me at first that he didn’t take the number five from me,” Augenthaler said. Boateng countered the joking attack with a home truth: “It was already occupied.” So the Berlin-born Boateng opted for the number 17.
His career didn’t disappoint. Augenthaler wasn’t offended for so long, in order to ignore the journey Boateng would have embarked on without the number five. “I sometimes used to think: You play very hara-kiri. You went into a challenge so riskily despite being on a yellow,” said Augenthaler. He thinks different about Boateng today. “Jerome has improved every season and played a very comfortable World Cup.”
Boateng remains modest
Even more than that. There are experts that regard Boateng as the Player of the Tournament. As a defender, he didn’t have those spectacular moments up front. Not everyone sees what Boateng does, it is an art though. Then it was somewhat of a spectacle to see how composed and at the same time almost majestic how Boateng took the ball from his opponents with his feet. When Boateng won the ball, he held the expression more than just a saying: Not with me!!!
Nevertheless, the whole of the attention was different. Footballers of the Year are your Ronaldos, your Messis in second place. Augenthaler knows this problem as he was a defender himself. Augenthaler quotes a big coach to describe the injustice: “Otto Rehhagel always said to me: The strikers are in front of the camera. And the defenders are brushed under the carpet.”
Not a complaint, just a description of the current situation. Augenthaler was not complaining and Boateng doesn’t value his ego by the number of articles about him in the papers. “That doesn’t affect me at all,” he said. “The most important thing to me is that I get good feedback from the manager. I don’t have to be on the front cover.”
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Two World Cup Winners on the table, two generations, two defensive masters. The Bild newspaper brought Klaus Augenthaler, World Cup Winner in 1990 and Jerome Boateng, World Cup Winner in 2014, together. A special journey came out of the interview. Boateng (26) was taken on a journey in time by Augenthaler (57). Augenthaler did not take Boateng back to autumn 1989, to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the journey ended in summer 1990, in fact. The wall had already fallen but reunification was on the verge of official completion.
Even before 3rd October, the whole of Germany was able to celebrate a major sporting triumph for the first time together. In Rome at 22:15 on 8th July, 1990. This is where Augenthaler begins. It's a little unsavoury, but then again, maybe not. Augenthaler had just been crowned World Cup Winners with the Germany national side. Beckenbauer promenaded on the pitch alone and delivered a picture that would last an eternity, the players stretched the World Cup long into the night sky.
Now we should have gone into the dressing rooms and began the internal celebrations. And they began. For Augenthaler too. But they didn’t go on too long for him. He tells: "I had to go to doping control just after the final victory unfortunately. That took four hours. I had already drunk a glass of champagne before the men from FIFA came. They marched straight behind Helmut Kohl in the dressing room, when I came back, nothing but my clothes were left. And the driver, who waited for me.”
That was it. Augenthaler was unable to experience the spontanous celebrations in the dressing room. In reply, Boateng gave him a piece of advice, which was correct but could do nothing to alter the past though. There’s a simple way of solving the problem if you can’t urinate: “Take in water.” Boateng was not called into doing so following the final in Rio, he had less bad luck than Augenthaler. “I could kick off the celebrations immediately. I didn’t have to do the doping test,” he said.
Boateng ‘disdains’ Augenthaler’s squad number
Boateng was just two-years-old when Augenthaler won the World Cup. He, the youngster, knows the achievements of his elders only through stories. In contrast, Augenthaler has followed the career of his successor’s successor in the national side’s defence with particular attention since Boateng moved to Bayern from Manchester in 2011.
Boateng’s era in Munich began with personal disappointment from the perspective of Augenthaler. Boateng disdained choosing the squad number with which Augenthlaer walked through the Bundesliga stadiums with during his career. “It amazed me at first that he didn’t take the number five from me,” Augenthaler said. Boateng countered the joking attack with a home truth: “It was already occupied.” So the Berlin-born Boateng opted for the number 17.
His career didn’t disappoint. Augenthaler wasn’t offended for so long, in order to ignore the journey Boateng would have embarked on without the number five. “I sometimes used to think: You play very hara-kiri. You went into a challenge so riskily despite being on a yellow,” said Augenthaler. He thinks different about Boateng today. “Jerome has improved every season and played a very comfortable World Cup.”
Boateng remains modest
Even more than that. There are experts that regard Boateng as the Player of the Tournament. As a defender, he didn’t have those spectacular moments up front. Not everyone sees what Boateng does, it is an art though. Then it was somewhat of a spectacle to see how composed and at the same time almost majestic how Boateng took the ball from his opponents with his feet. When Boateng won the ball, he held the expression more than just a saying: Not with me!!!
Nevertheless, the whole of the attention was different. Footballers of the Year are your Ronaldos, your Messis in second place. Augenthaler knows this problem as he was a defender himself. Augenthaler quotes a big coach to describe the injustice: “Otto Rehhagel always said to me: The strikers are in front of the camera. And the defenders are brushed under the carpet.”
Not a complaint, just a description of the current situation. Augenthaler was not complaining and Boateng doesn’t value his ego by the number of articles about him in the papers. “That doesn’t affect me at all,” he said. “The most important thing to me is that I get good feedback from the manager. I don’t have to be on the front cover.”
