WHAT Pele is to Brazil, Franz Beckenbauer is to Germany. “The Kaiser”, as Germans call him, so dominated German football in the 1970s that he created a new position for himself: “Libero”, a free-ranging defender who planned attacks out of midfield. Mr Beckenbauer led his country to win the World Cup in 1974 as a player and in 1990 as coach. And as the boss of the relevant committee of the German Football Association (DFB), he helped Germany in 2000 to become host of the 2006 cup.
That tournament was a turning-point in modern Germany’s self-image. Dubbed a “summer fairy tale”, it was a month-long festival of good feelings. It was the first time since the second world war when Germans enthusiastically waved their flag without provoking bad reactions at home or abroad. Germans showed themselves to be fun, optimistic, tolerant and even (on the pitch) elegant.
So they cringed on October 26th as they read a statement from Mr Beckenbauer about that happy tale; it was issued after his questioning by a law firm hired by the DFB. He had made a “mistake” all those years ago, he said, in…