Comments on: Quote of the Day: Michael Ballack on his Nearly Man Status http://germany.worldcupblog.org/players/quote-of-the-day-michael-ballack-on-his-nearly-man-status.html Germany - World Cup 2010 - South Africa Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:13:16 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: diana http://germany.worldcupblog.org/players/quote-of-the-day-michael-ballack-on-his-nearly-man-status.html/comment-page-1#comment-106900 diana Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:18:54 +0000 http://germany.worldcupblog.org/players/quote-of-the-day-michael-ballack-on-his-nearly-man-status.html#comment-106900 I still remembered what one of the newspapaers here wrote ahead of the final (it went to print before the news of Ballack's injury). If Ballack gets another runner-up medal, he should reconsider his jersey number. Something like that. It wrote that he wore No.13 for both Chelsea and Germany. On the day after the final in Vienna, in the newspapers I read, other than analysing the final, I was not surprised on the editiorials about Ballack's nearly-man status. Sometimes sports is like that. Unless you ever won something, people are not really going to remember you had been a runner-up...ten times. I remembered on the day before the final, reading what the now-former Spain coach Luis Aragones was telling to the media that he told his players no one remembers who come in second in any competition. Harsh but true. I still remembered what one of the newspapaers here wrote ahead of the final (it went to print before the news of Ballack’s injury). If Ballack gets another runner-up medal, he should reconsider his jersey number. Something like that. It wrote that he wore No.13 for both Chelsea and Germany.

On the day after the final in Vienna, in the newspapers I read, other than analysing the final, I was not surprised on the editiorials about Ballack’s nearly-man status.

Sometimes sports is like that. Unless you ever won something, people are not really going to remember you had been a runner-up…ten times. I remembered on the day before the final, reading what the now-former Spain coach Luis Aragones was telling to the media that he told his players no one remembers who come in second in any competition. Harsh but true.

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