Perfect title. Before they unraveled, there were stories in European news outlets that If Germany was eliminated, Merkle's government would collapse...which seemed a bit far fetched - but really underscored the idea that Germans were feeling a lot of angst and uncertainty about everything - with the team as the symbol of Germany itself. I don't know if that idea is true- but in any case, I suspect by Monday - Germans will be back to work and focused on the future.
2
Sorry. But the "angst" you talk about had nothing to do with Angela Merkel and the problems she's facing with her Coalition government. The real problem comes from the fact that the German team wasn't playing together as a 'team' ... and you can thank Yogi Löw for that.
4
Article ends on a weird note -- no mention of Spain?
Germany didn't just lose, they panicked! That's not a good look for this dour country.
Comparing Germany's poor performance in the World Cup to the retreat from Russia during WWII in which thousands of people died is regrettable. So is the comparison between the team's travails and the current German political situation. Watt'n Quatsch!
8
Uh huh. I get that you think this is important, and I'm sorry you are so upset. But you should try to retain a little sensitivity to context Roger. As you know this newspaper is mainly read by Americans. I don't suppose you could have published this anywhere else, but you could have asked for it to be run in the sports section, where it would not have seemed so incongruous.
2
Sport mirrors society
1
What are you talking about? Have you been to Germany lately? They are doing quite well. Berlin has a growing Jewish population and Germany is rebuilding synagogues. They are integrating a large Syrian refugee population. So their soccer team did not make it to the next round. So what? That does not mean Germany is NOT great. I think we need to think about our own backyard here where we are prosecuting 3 year old children in court for coming across the border with their parents. And the richest country in the world (USA) could not even get their soccer team in the tournament. Dude, time to think about your next article.
13
That German players of Turkish background wanted to be photographed with Erdogan, and that he wanted to be photographed with them, tell a lot about the state of immigration, assimilation, tribal loyalties, religion affinity, security and politics in Europe and Near Asia these days.
4
Geez what a pessimistic tone. I live in Germany right now. It’s not sad.
5
"Only Kroos, the engine room of Real Madrid when he’s not playing for his country, can look back on this humiliation without shame." Did you forget that his terrible, errant pass in the Sweden game set up the first goal for Sweden? Maybe his goal at the end made up for it, but he wasn't close to being stellar.
2
I thought this article would be about Angela Merkel and the possible tragedy that Europe faces. Instead Cohen uses a characterization of a soccer team to characterize Angela Merkel:
“Germany was slow. Germany was ponderous. Germany was out of ideas — just like its chancellor, Angela Merkel”
The least you could have done, Roger Cohen, would have been to stick with a soccer match and not take the opportunity to characterize a profile in courage with those words.
Fortunately, readers, you can read something better at https://nyti.ms/2IBDZlD
There, under the headline “The Tragedy of Angela Merkel” you can read these words by Wolf Biermann about Angela Merkel:
“I support our chancellor completely, because she proved herself to be an energetic humanist, because she has acted as a true Christian and has remained a stoic European despite Europe’s internal turbulence. She shows the world the friendly face of human rationality.
Her brave decision did at least as much for Germany’s image as the ‘economic miracle’ that won the world’s admiration in the post-Nazi period.”
Much more than a winning soccer team ever could have done.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen USA SE
11
With the Germans having to show itself to win the third game, it led to the South Koreans showing why the World Cup can be exciting down to the end. They played for their own pride which led to a welcome result for the Mexicans; a team that deserves to get a chance to move on. Sports are like all aspects of life: "And the first ones now, will later be last: for the times they are a-changin'". Good bye Deutschland!
You display your ignorance- soccer fans world wide (except the US) are fanatics. Dr. Angela Merkel led the EU through the Great Depression as did President Obama. Trump hates Dr. Merkel for both her intelligence and her role in the Wall Street fueled debacle. She has a remarkable record - think how great America would be with a similar leader.
11
I was present for all three Germany group games. Especially watching the off the ball movement, that one cannot do on TV, it was clear that the biggest blunder that the Löw made was leaving out Leroy Sane. The second biggest was the constant chopping and changing of the first XI during the tournament.
Die Mannschaft were ponderous, showing their age, and lacking in speed and ideas. Their lack of finishing at the goalmouth was frankly, appalling, having become accustomed to seeing the likes of Miroslav Klose poach goals regularly over the years. The insertion of Gomez at half-time in the Sweden game gave them some energy - but he's 32 and can only play about 30-45 minutes at full tilt. Notwithstanding Kroos' genius last gasp goal, it was clear that Germany were not going far in this competition.
I would also say that apart from Kroos, Marco Reus can also be considered to have delivered - he showed flashes of absolute brilliance in the Sweden game. It is a pity that he is injured so much of the time.
Time for Löw to pack his bags, and a new management and more importantly, new thinking to take over. Though, please don't take Jürgen Klopp away from Liverpool!
1
Cohen is right about the team appearing sluggish and old. But that was partially a result of its strategy. Its game was too patient, almost to the point of a chess game without a time clock. Instead of striking quickly when Korea was rushing to get its defence set, it decided to give Korea enough time to set up. Only then did it attack. My guess is they realized that Korea had nothing to lose, that Korea could not match the German skill and that therefore Korea would have to play a game of tight defence with quick counter attacks. So Germany wanted to make sure the Koreans were always stacked up in a defensive position and couldn't effectively counter-attack. Trouble is German had to win the game. It had to score. It had plenty of chances but couldn't finish. I think Germany's mistake was not altering its cautious strategy in the second half by opening up the game and striking with lightening speed. That was a coaching error. On the other hand, we're all geniuses in hindsight.
“ the nation of Auschwitz” will never go away it lays deep, though semi dormant, in each German who has come to believe that such mega crimes can be ever forgotten or forgiven despite the fact that with Auschuiz , Germany achieved the almost impossible .
While sustaining and maintaining the life of a resurgent racist doctrine / crime, Zionism, further empowering an adavancing a new racist community into power it never apologized to the people it helped destroy nor the community it assisted in dismantling , the Palestinian people and its Arab majority community, .
2
I'm trying to see how this loss will have a genuine impact on anything other than the players' and coaches' salaries . . . nope, can't do it. Regardless of what happens during the World Cup, Vladimir Putin will still be the Russian dictator, Kim Jong Un will still be the North Korean dictator, and Donald Trump will still want to be the American dictator.
The world has bigger fish to fry than worrying about a bunch of grown men playing schoolyard games, or a bunch of corrupt men growing rich off their roles in FIFA.
The Romans had a name for it - panem et circenses - and we the stupid masses fall for it every time.
3
Mostly agree until the last sentence. Are we "stupid masses" for enjoying an evening of great theatre? A night at the symphony? An afternoon at the museum?
Sometimes escape is its own reward. Be it arts or sports.
4
Were I a manager for a small country's national team I would have a little get-together with my 2 or 3 top players, and we would conspire to fill the roster. The outcome would would have the stars working with players whom they know and, um, love. A player, so selected, might ask hisself, "How did I make the Uruguay team when So-and-So didn't?" The answer may be, "Luis Suarez and Edison Cavanni, along with the manager, personally want you as a team mate." With a jolt like that, a player's commitment will likely soar. Does this scenario explain why the World Cup "minnows" are so strong?
You could never assemble such a "Band of Brothers" in a big country, where the selection is more "corporate".
1
I am visiting Hamburg as I write this. Here everyone seemed to take it in stride. Life has gone on as usual. As always, normal people don't take a football game as some kind of political metaphor.
6
That's true as long as it's not the HSV (Hamburger Sport-Verein) that's involved ... or Werder Bremen.
1
No creative finishers. Too old. Never had chance.
Before the Cup began I was shocked that there wasn't a sharp shooter on the squad, someone who could change a game in an instant. No Kloese, no Sany, no internationally celebrated forward.
I doubted they would go very far accordingly.
This was to me the main cause of defeat. They controlled the game and ball but couldn't capitalize on the opportunities; shot wide, high, off the post.
They had, I believe, about thirty shots and could only score less than the fingers on your hand.
And to me, who has coached hockey for years, therein is the reason for the failure.
Loew choose his team, so the buck stops at him.
1
My perception is that most Germans didn't really care that much this time. First, we won the title last time, and so the need for the title was not so urgent - Germans are not like Brazilians who think they have to win it every time.
Second, when an islamist who has made pilgrimages to Mekka and admittedly prays to Allah every time while the German national anthem is played before a match, and pays fawning visits to the islamist authoritarian Turkish president and gives him public pledges of allegiance, is allowed to still play for the German national team, without even apologizing, it really saps any enthusiasm for the team. I did not feel represented by this group of players. And now we start to hear that some German players in our team apparently felt the same way.
8
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
for want of a horse the knight was lost,
for want of a knight the battle was lost,
for want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
So a kingdom was lost—all for want of a nail."
'The European Union, Germany’s path to postwar salvation ...'
Not only Germany's salvation. Trump & Putin are both salivating in anticipation of destroying Europe together.
2
Soccer like any Sport is fickle. If the Mannschaft had just scored one goal in the first 60 minutes of the game against S. Korea, then we would all be talking differently now.
4
Too true, too true, alas. Loew unfortunately couldn't figure out how to regenerate the team after the 2014 triumph and they were caught unprepared on the biggest stage in the world. It can even happen to Germans (Toni Kroos excepted). It is a great tonic to read this "knallhart Klartext" from a mensch like Roger Cohen. I was just disgusted by the unbridled Schadenfreude that the English wallowed in at Germany's downfall. It is a real shame that some still want to fight a war (which they would have not won without Americans), but I suspect a lot of that malice was directed at Angela Merke and the European Union she is trying to save. But hope is still alive. Merkel is pulling a Toni Kroos in the negotiations over the migrant crisis and Die Mannschaft will be back.
3
Let us not give too much credence to the symbolic power of sport, even the World Cup, to define the state of a whole nation. Perhaps in this case "metaphor" would be an apter word.
German "angst" following the atrocities of the early 20th Century is in no way comparable to its reaction to an inexplicably poor soccer performance in Russia. The atrocities of WW2 were more monstrous than any other in the history of humankind, before or since.
The worry is that history continues to be written, and world records exist to be broken, including the record for collective human self-immolation. The entire globe appears to be on a glide path toward anti-democratic authoritarianism.
In this dark enterprise, Germany is a relatively small problem, the Mannschaft's abject defeat notwithstanding.
1
"The entire globe" on a path towards anti-democratic authoritarianism???
I don't think so. I can name at least 30 countries that are not - including Germany, which remains a leader in liberalism. You seem to think that where America goes so goes everybody. Yet another American conceit?
2
The German footballer Toni Kroos, on new year of 2017, sent out a tweet, "Happy 20 followed by the Brazilian flag and the German flag"(reminding us of the 1-7 humiliation that they inflicted upon Brazil in the previous World Cup).
How big pride comes before a big fall.
2
My gosh, it’s only soccer. This is not the end of Germany as a country, and “die Nannschaft” will be back in 4 years. My only regret is that I don’t get to see the exceptional talents of the German team fight it out on the field. And to Angela Nerkel: let’s hope she will outlast the trumps of the world! We will all be better off for it.
2
There are a number of factors that contributed to Germany’s downfall at the WC. Arrogance, an aging squad and the difficulty of repeating as WC champions.
I do find it interesting that Germany was knocked out of the WC in Russia, a place of another failure, on the battlefield, during World War ll.
I'm a firm believer that the US should do more international sports. While we may not care that much about soccer (it only becomes popular every 4 years with the WC) there must be some substitute. For instance - look at the hype and enthusiasm for our surprise curling win at these past Olympics! Nobody cares about curling, but we do care about winning.
Our true national pastime is pride. It's what Americans find fun; a way to express character without the baggage of everything political and economic about America's place in the world. Sports is a harmless venue to compete against other countries for dominance, bragging rights, prestige, etc. It's literally all fun and games. I'd rather go to a bar and cheer with a hundred other people about us beating Iran at soccer than go to a bar and watch pols boast about nuking Iran for real.
1
ALL this soccer - and NOTHiNG about the College World Series of Baseball results!
Come on man!
1
I never knew you were a soccer, sorry I mean football, fan. The best analogy I could come up to explain to my American friends was: imagine Alabama not going to a bowl game. Busted many brackets around the world.
I enjoyed the nice write up
2
Come on Mr. Cohen,
by laundry-listing these truisms you are just serving clichés.
You know Europe much better than to stay this superficial.
Interesting developments are e g. the interactions in Brussels last night of French idealism, German pragmatism and Italian cynicism. All on the surface however, as deeper down all three are reflecting true needs of their respective populations, and are thus very legitimate.
And what occurred in the wee hours in those conference rooms was true democracy, and the true art of the deal at work. The contrast to current developments in the US under you-know-who is striking. We’ll have to wait for November until we’ll know which direction democracy in America is going to develop into in the short term.
Luckily, despite some stress in Europe, the grass-roots democratic majority here still appears much healthier than in a US undermined by ever stronger bipartisanship.
Analyze that!
I have lived (and continue to) about half my life in either place and I am much more worried about America right now, how, to mostly its own detriment! it is trashing its reputation as the global force for good, just like the German Mannschaft has just trashed its reputation for invincibility.
2
Today, the NYT Opinion Page published a remarkable and eloquent tribute to Angela Merkel by German singer-song-writer Wolf Bierman. Alas, I can find no "comments" section on Wolfman's piece to which I can add my praise. Allow me, then, to do so here.
Forget football.
At a time when democracy in this country fields almost daily threats from an unchecked executive, the example of Germany, under Merkel's leadership, stands as a bright shining example of competence, compassion and hope. Her courageous decision to admit one million refugees two years ago when exodus from Syria overwhelmed Europe should easily have earned her the Nobel Peace Prize.
6
I just hope that the teams that play like Manchester City win so that all of us can see beautiful playing that goes beyond results. The German style of play this time around was from a different era.
2
You were correct in pointing out that winners of the 2014 World Cup winners, Germany, exited in the group stage in 2018 World Cup.
But Germany is not alone.
The winners of the 2010 World Cup winners, Spain, exited in the group stage in 2014 World Cup.
The winners of the 2006 World Cup winners, Italy, exited in the group stage in 2010 World Cup.
The “tradition” continues.
5
As a matter of fact, last 5 world cup winners have gone home without clearing group stage.
1
To measure a nation by one football match in Moscow seems harsh and somewhat exaggerated in these times when Europe looks to Germany for leadership and inspiration. Great Britain walked off the European political field some time ago because it did not like all the European rules. Europe more than a game; a group of nations that have made incredible blunders but learnt to deal with their past. Germany not a machine that always must win; there is honour in defeat if the game is fair and gets the right result. Sometimes fate plays its hand. Sometimes the gods are not in your favour. Football is sport; not a court-room.
14
This defeat hurts, but it will give them a chance to reset, rethink, and come back. In terms of quality, consistency, and long term competitiveness, German football will be just fine.
5
The greater mystery is how they managed to avoid this happening for long long.
3
The German team's loss is not a sign of the Beginning of the End. I wish everyone would stop reading so much into this. Germany will get past these bumps. Meanwhile, real and true crises unfold hourly in the United States, the so-called leader of the free world, which will have painful consequences for decades. Let's focus on real problems.
17
As is typical in trying to find meaning for a loss in a game in which goals are difficult to come by, Cohen's analysis makes too much out of minor problems. The main reason Germany is going home is they could not finish. Credit to their opponents (Mexico, S. Korea and Sweden), but only Mexico outplayed Germany (though both Sweden and S Korea counterattacked with venom), and in a WC, it is usually okay (often good) to have a bad game in the first round. One could argue that Germany was vulnerable to the counterattack (and maybe should have used more speed in the back to protect against that), but they dominated possession, and created chance after chance on goal (I think Hummels had two open headers in the last 10 mins agains S. Korea), they just couldn't put them away. So this is not a disastrous, burn the place down and start all over result, but rather a demonstration that there are no guarantees in soccer. I'm actually glad they were eliminated (they've won too many World Cups already), but I don't think their performance was shameful. I think the performance of their opponents was inspired, and Germany couldn't find the break they needed against S. Korea (they found it against Sweden in an impressive way; I'm also happy they're going home because of the shameful behavior of their two coaches against Sweded, but we shouldn't tar the whole team with that display).
10
If you really want to make football a metaphor for something bigger, It helps when you know something about football. As everyone now knows (hardly ever mentioned before Germany lost to Mexico), it is common for the holders to go out in the group stage and it is incredibly unusual to retain the cup; no one has done it in the modern era of the tournament (Brazil in 1962, Italy in 1938 were the only ones). Each year is touted as the exception--surely Spain could not be eliminated so quickly in 2014--but they were, including a 5-1 humiliation to the Dutch, much worse than Germany suffered this time.
So, as Freud said, sometimes even football is only football (you could look it up).
2
It's weird how the last four European winners of the World Cup ended in early exits in the group stages at the following tournament: France (98 winners out in 2002), Italy (06 winners out in 2010), Spain (10 winners, out in 2014).
3
Plodding and predictable indeed, but Cohen's fun is not entirely justified. Against Sweden, for example, Germany was dominant throughout and it would have been a grave injustice if they'd lost.
Even in the loss to South Korea, the Germans dominated every statistic. They failed to finish, but they controlled play and had multiple chances.
I don't particularly mourn their early departure, but their play was not as abysmal as Cohen's piece suggests.
8
What often happens is that coaches are too reluctant to replace ageing or now average performing stars of the previous world cup or euro championship. Germany should have taken a page out of England's book.
9
This also sounds like as good a lesson as any as to why the USA didn't even make this year's World Cup. Bruce Arena, I'm looking at you.
4
England's going to have their hands full with Colombia! They should have played with all their best to win! With that, they'd have a better chance of knocking off Japan! One game at a time!!!
1
It's just a sports competition. You win some, you lose some. That's it and that's what makes it interesting.
21
Like every German I was shocked at the outcome and quick expulsion of 'Die Elf' at this World Cup.
But it wasn't all that unexpected. The team has changed significantly since 2014 -- Gone are Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, and Lukas Podolski to name a few, and the cohesion that once held the squad together was noticeably missing.
Unlike Mr. Cohen, I am not quick to draw a correlation between their dismal performance and Angela Merkel's fate, Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gundogan's meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan, or any other political problem roiling the country now (of which there are many), but I do agree that Yogi Löw's decision to ditch Leroy Sane and bank on a barely recovered Manuel Neuer was questionable at best.
It also didn't help matters that Defender Jerome Boateng was red-carded out of the game against South Korea, leaving long-time playmate Matt Hummels to basically make do on his own.
There's no doubt there will be lots of discussion and a bit of finger-pointing, but yes, they will be back.
22
In 2014 Germany’s Elf (eleven) was eine Einheit ohne Helden (a unit withiut heroes). The Eleven were One, although composed of members from diffnerent cultures and languages. Thrre was no Neymar, no Massi, no star. I remember a Deutsche Welle interview in Berlin after their win. Nobody was able to say the name of the player they liked the best. They were all great TOGETHER. That has been lost. Just like here in America,
We want stars on our teams. Our Team Work is a hierarchy. A true team has NO star. All vwork in unison, heart in heart, hand in hand. That is the lesson that we need to learn. In a way, it is the lesson of our foreparents in the Revolution - together we hang or win. We won. It is the lesson that we, too, have forgotten. I cry silently at night for my country. The new German Elf has made the same mistake that we are mkaing. They lost in Fussball, we are losing in world diplomcay and in true democracy.
19
A cute metaphor, but I really can't agree. Germany is showing all the creaks and groans of a robust democracy during a time of great social upheaval, but they remain an exemplary one, and show no signs of electing a charlatan as Chancellor. The immigration crisis in Europe was real, as opposed to the manufactured one that is now tearing America apart. And Mrs Merkel - whether she wants it or not - is the leader of the free world, and doing a decent job of it too.
118
I have worked for and with German companies for a number of years now, including the people on the shop floor, but also the companies' owners and management. So, honestly, none of what is happening comes as a surprise. Not Dieselgate, not the stress test failure of Deutsche Bank and not the ignominious defeat of the Mannschaft.
As I speak German, I could learn how the ordinary German workers thought about things, but also how general the underlying arrogance is in management circles. The notion of incontestable superiority is very present. And, it must be said, in many technical areas totally justified by the facts. The social awkwardness is very real, too. There is little curiosity about the rest of the world, but a lot of untested prejudice , "The Poles are lazy", "The Italians can't be trusted.", that is swallowed whole.
For a country that is a export-driven as Germany, I have always been astounded, too, by the lack of command of even one other language, such as English, even among those people who were expected to be the face of their company. Finally, the still huge difficulties of integrating the East are routinely glossed over.
It was obvious this couldn't last. Germany, and the European Union with it, are in for choppy waters.
23
Interesting picture you paint of my country. Prejudices against people from abroad is normal. At least nobody in Germany says that "Mexicans are rapists" - not yet. And at least in Germany no president or chancellor would be so indecent to talk like the president of the USA - not yet.
Most Germans working in export related business are required to speak English and they can definitely speak it. Of course, Germans who do not need a second language do not speak it, why should they.
Germans are as well very much educated on what is going on in the world opposed to the "common" US worker.
Speaking of "integrating the East": "The East" does only take the money incentives from the EU and do not comply with the agreements they sign upon entering the EU. They do not want to integrate themselves.
If "the East" does not want to play along the rules all other EU nations play along, then they should leave like the Brits. But they won't because guys like Orban enrich themselves and their corrupt regime with EU money.
Best from a German who can express her thoughts in English.
3
Aapparently, this is the curse of several past world cup champs: becoming over-confident, selected personalities dominating over team identity and then some regrettable choices made by the coach, which all lead to disappointing results.
I think all actors in German football will conduct a thorough analysis of what went wrong. Perhaps some quite major decisions and changes will take place before the next round of matches begins in September. German fans demand and expect a high quality, professional team to represent them once again!
11
I don't know if I agree with your analysis. I don't think that Germany 2018, Spain 2014, or Italy 2010, had any personality dominating over team identity, if anything they were all well tested cohesive groups. For Spain and Italy I think the main reasons behind their horrible performances 4 years after winning the World Cup were age and the unwillingness of coach to try and rejuvenate well established teams. Germany 2018, on the other hand is harder to understand: all but three players are in their twenties, and the oldest player is 32 (Neuer, but that is prime age for a goalie).
4
I think that in the world of soccer nobody could expect Germany to end fourth in a group like that, with Sweden, Mexico and South Korea, because besides Mexico the other teams weren’t in the beginning as good as they later proved to be. The most worrying problems are an enormous self-confidence, which never helps you facing tournaments like the World Cup, bad performances offered by some key players (Müller, Özil, Hummels), and also some wrong choices made by the coach, like for example the fact of not including Sané, the Manchester City left-winger, in this National team or the fact of choosing Neuer, who had just come back from a bad injury, instead of Ter Stegen, capable of winning LaLiga with Barcelona after a fantastic season.
Nonetheless I think that Germany can have a bright future, because it has so many young talents to build the team on that I think that thinking that the golden era of German football has ended is nowhere near imaginable.
28
Yes, the Germans lost in football, first round, fair and square; they were like absent in spirit; they showed no 'ganas' (no will nor ambition to show their mettle; poor imagination and confidence). Accordingly, they got what they deserved, defeat. Although one may feel tempted to express 'schadenfreude', let's try to put ourselves in their shoes and feel the anguish of such a premature departure. I firmly believe that all teams able to participate in the world cup are winners; hence, an example from which we may draw strength and composure. And this is not the end of the world, not by a long stretch; with some courage, hard work and perseverance, we shall see them again in 2022.
17
Sorry, I feel like the preoccupied guy explaining to the cop that I walked into the ladies room by accident, thinking it was the men’s then puzzled at the absence of porcelain conveniences. I figured Roger Cohen, this was ABOUT Angela Merkel’s coalition problems over immigration. I get futbol instead, and German confidence problems over hand-size.
Please … talk among yourselves.
24
Roger Cohen perfectly articulates my own assessment after the Mexico game.
The performance of the German team was a perfect mirror of the German psyche. He has hit it spot on.
8
This was no accident. Once you entered, you used the facilities, so to speak. Otherwise how would you have known enough of what Mr. Cohen did not write about to comment on it?
At least your comment wasn't so long that you had to reply to yourself.
11
Why so much soul searching after Germany's fall ? Other teams have been sent home without as much as a small pip.It is German arrogance to search for their defeat. Follow German history since Bismarck and you will understand Germany's false angst .
1
I would say that the game against Sweden was one of the greatest “nail biting” games i have ever seen and the final goal in the last 40secs of the 5min overtime was simply stunning. The “ouster” against Korea was deserved and should have some consequences. Usually the coach is the one who takes the blame and resigns....and that would probably settle this.
4