Well, while America celebrated July 4th, Germany lost. To the Italians. In the semi-final.

But WOW! What a game. It was fairly refereed and Berlin was quiet as a Sunday, except for a few expatriate Italians who drove around honking to rub it in. Thanks for your prayers.

One very interesting detail about Germany’s love-affair with the World Cup: the national coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, lives in the U.S. His wife is an American. When he began his job two years ago, there was a lot of criticism that he was tearing German football away from its roots. Now, there is nothing but praise for him and his staff.

Peter von Becker wrote today in Der Tagesspiegel:

Jürgen Klinsmann has accomplished the most peaceful revolution in Germany since the ‘Wende’ [fall of the Wall and reunification]. No joke! That is because German football is one of the most powerful and symbolically important centers of this society and Klinsmann didn’t just treat symptoms but tackled deep structures with new methods and new thinking. As a result, his reforms are the beginning of a football revolution. That can’t be accounted for with just optimism and a spirit for going on the offense (plus ultra-modern fitness training). The Klinsmann Principle means a different feeling for life and achievement. Thus, something enters the game that actually comes from California, Klinsmann’s adopted home: You feel good, when you make it better. That is a completely different melody than the cold, technocratic pressure found in many areas of society…

The principle of the adoptive Californian sets the tone: Reach for the stars, so that something will move on the ground. With passion, sweat and laughter. That, too, is something new.”

Gives one kind of a good feeling about being an American. We really can contribute something to the world and not lose who we are… if we do it with a big dose more humility. And more humor.