Man, boy? When commentator Matthias Stach has to endeavor not to let the player’s father hang out at the microphone at the Olympic soccer tournament.
There are supposed to be people who cannot get much out of the sport even in these Olympic days, because what they see seems too simple to them: a jump is as far as the jumper jumps, whoever swims the fastest is the first to strike , and when a goal is scored, the coach is happy. Therefore, sport is not necessarily ambiguous at first glance.
And yet in all of this there are always situations that add another dimension to the 1-0 event. For example, when Matthias Stach comments on the games of the German national soccer team at the Olympics and his son Anton plays along. The 58-year-old also experienced this before the Olympics: his son came on as a substitute for the Netherlands at the U21 European Championship. Stach set himself the task aloud Kicker with the words: “I could now say: Don’t embarrass me, boy. I won’t.” And then, like that Kicker further: “There are things that don’t exist at all.”
And Eurosport ensures that it stays that way. On Wednesday in the decisive third round match against Ivory Coast you can very likely see again how a commentator tries not to let his father hang out on the microphone, neither the strict nor the compassionate, neither the proud nor the embarrassed. Just how Stach pronounces his own name when his son comes to the ball should leave as much room for interpretation as there is room in midfield for long passes. The family constellation does not only exist in therapy. It’s now also available at Eurosport with the Stach family.