Interview, Cross Pass, Legend
How Tony Cruise divides football Germany

By Tobias Nordman
05/30/2022, 8:12 pm

Tony Cruise is one of the most successful footballers of all time. Not only has he won world championships and six national championships, he can now also call himself a five-time Champions League winner. He is still 32 years old and controversial in his German homeland.

For some it’s a tough cross-push, for others it’s the world’s smartest bass. Tony Cruise polarizes. Not only because of his abandoned angry interview on ZDF on Saturday evening, but it also woke the whole country from the laziness of a fantastic final. After Mesut zil, he was the most emotionally debated national player of the best generation, the world champion in Brazil in 2014, and he is now losing more attention. Very funny: no matter how good the emotions in Cruz’s rating, Griffswald’s native is as cool as a professional, and his game is very torn. And incredible success for many years.

Personal criticism was generated when his team, Real Madrid’s Royals, won 1-0 against Liverpool FC in the most important club match at the State de France in Paris. A classic in sports journalism. Popular genre among fans. One that provides the best material for emotional reassessment. Cruise was considered by some experts to be the best man in the reals. The French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”, on the other hand, saw him as the worst player on his team. And the most vulnerable man on the field alongside Liverpool’s Louis Diaz. The statistics do not support that. The pass rate was better and the number of ball operations was higher than his teammates.

But what about the statistics! Football is an emotion, not just numbers (based on results only). If anyone has anything to say about it, it’s zil. In this way his evaluation was often mixed with alienation from his Turkish roots. The famous Cristiano Ronaldo has been able to repeat many times, he does not value a teammate more than Ozil. It did not like his German homeland. And will not do it. The environment around Playmaker is deeply poisoned by his proximity to internationally criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his solutions to the DFB. His life was so shattered that it could have ended after he was kicked out of Fenerbahce. How strange that would be.

Why is he so appreciated?

On the cruise, things are emotionally different. No one works as a person at Tony Cruise. But from the eighth place it was his game to plan strategically. Cruise does this with his passion for the needs of the team. However, he is always stuck in the corset of the coach’s tactical specifications. In Madrid he excelled. Neither club icon Ginoden Zidane nor the immortal Carlo Ancelotti and eternal national coach Joachim Lo have ever raised the slightest doubt that the game designer no longer meets the needs of modern football. The Sovereign Championship and victory in the Premier League in the Spanish League are statistically undeniable evidence. Cruise is an undeniable regular player.

But there is also the “Uli Hoeneß” group. So the team, which has only seen the 32-year-old as an annoying cross-pass player for years, is a follower. Hoeneß, who is heard more than anything else said in the German football republic, said after last year’s losing European Championship: “I like Tony very much but the way he plays is completely over. I’m a refuge with the whole EM. I have never seen a player play football. Song.

Cruz will no longer play for Germany. He may have been tired of hearing people say things would definitely go better with other players in midfield. Joshua Kimmich is considered to have more bile and more interest. Leon Koretska is very energetic. Thomas Mல்லller is essential. Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz are future magicians. Anthems were sung to them, and Cruz was only allowed to listen to the strings. With all his wins, six championships with world champions, Real and FC Bayern, five wins in the Champions League (full list of titles can be found here), he was an occasional German football hero.

The 2018 World Cup goal is a bitter punch line

In the 2018 World Cup defeat, when he kept Germany in contention for a while with a last-minute free-kick against Sweden, the fact that he scored one of his most famous goals was somehow a bitter and fitting punchline. He is fighting for deserving confirmation from his homeland. It is not about love and affection. “The best controversy in Germany and more global recognition than any other way,” Cruz once said of his image at home. Explain the bitter hell in one sentence. Cruz did not tell a Goutburch story like Mல்லller or a favorite neighbor story like Jerome Padeng. He’s not a gladiator like Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina, not a hero like Mates Hummels, not a fan icon like the moody Lucas Podolski. Cruise is just a cruise, a great trickster. However, that has changed over the years. Through his personality documentary, he opened the page of the unknown as an accessible family man. His tattoos, done only later in his life, gave him something so rebellious as to oppose the brave. In podcast and social media fights with brother Felix, he is a hobbyist. This change was certainly part of his struggle for recognition.

Would it be different if his position in the game was even better? What if Messi was the striker who gave Germany magical moments? What if he was a triple wing attacker? A power in the federal defense, the Titan flying at the target? Possible, but meaningless. Cruise is an eight, a strategist, with a ball-safe and sport-intelligent naval control, rarely in the center. Cruise is a liaison player, not a purifier, not a blocker. Heroic stories have been written in different guises for years. At least most of them. There have been very few legendary eights in recent years. For example, a Xavi, the heart of Catalan Tiki-Dhaka, had something magical in it. Andrea Birlowe, who stabbed Cruz early in the semifinals of the 2012 European Championships early in his career, was also very elegant.

Cruise is not all that. Gives the team what it needs. A game shift, a small pass to relieve the pressure of the opponent. Cruise is strong with his ball defense and against the opponent’s attacks. He offers small, big moments. This game of ice-cold precision does not want to go together with the ability to represent this player in public view. Shouldn’t every game be characterized by its brilliant technique and ingenuity? Just like Lionel Messi did his triples. Or Cristiano Ronaldo for his speed, his power, his shot.

There were two answers to this question: Yes, he definitely is. Those who did not know what to do with his game who never saw him as an unavoidable protagonist said. No, he does not have to. So his influence was hailed by his admirers as the “Cool Heart” of his team. According to data portal Opta, Cruise He has played more dangerous attacking three passes than anyone else in the Champions League since data collection began. Giants like Xavi, like Safi Alonso, like Cesc Fabregas, like Sergio Busquets. Everything is Spanish. Is it a coincidence that Cruise, who is truly the epitome of German football virtues (reliable, accurate, successful, but not magical or spectacular) found peace here? Not likely!

Discussion without common feature

The debate over the origin of western Pomerania actually gained momentum in the summer of 2018. No German national player has been the subject of public debate since the World Cup defeat (Ozil was fired for his resignation). Although Lowe did not allow Cruz to talk about personal matters, one country spoke with its mouth vague. Fans praised his excellent passing game. They left the opponents’ arguments that the player lacked leadership, size, toughness and interest without comment.

Since Saturday night, his angry interview on ZDF has been discussed as enthusiastically as it was basically discussed. Is he right? Is his complaint about the questions justified? Or the arrogance of a well-paid footballer who knows what awaits him after a game like this? It is a strange side effect that the topic of critical reporting appears in the whole situation. The cry for uncritical journalism runs through almost every field. For the game only, this emotional world seems to be entitled to the exception. There is no answer to how Cruise’s explosion should be assessed. There are two. With Cruz as always. He divides the Football Republic of Germany.