Germany v Holland was toxic in the 80s /90s . Not sure how bad it is now .
Germany v France was nasty in the 80s
I think with the globalisation of football , more multicultural societies in Europe and the passage of time the toxicity of international rivalries has diminished
You’ve taken a sample of one German and extrapolated it to the entire German public.
I’ve already given you the reasons for why he’s not talking on the level.
Germans as a whole are very reluctant to engage in outward nationalism, particularly against historical war rivals, for obvious reasons, because the country still exists under a sort of cloud of national shame.
Their nationalism really only tends to manifest itself against countries with whom they have no historical enmity, such as Argentina, or Holland. But make no mistake, the rivalry with England is deadly. The way a lot of Germans internalise it is to set England up as living in a war past, as a hubristic, self-unaware country who see Germany as a one way enemy. That has more than a grain of truth to it. But it’s also a form of mental denial, as well as trolling. The psychological dimensions of it are quite complicated.
If Southgate wasn’t so repressed, England would probably win this comfortably, Germany are creaking and slow in all the wrong places. If he just let the handbrake off, they could finish off this iteration of Germany. Lads like Hummels and Kroos have serious mileage, Gundogan has no pace. They’ve a lack of pace in the selected eleven. They’ve serious pace alright but on the bench and in attacking areas.
Germany-Holland is a massive rivalry, perhaps marginally Germany’s biggest. England is up there with it. Argentina after that because that has developed through playing them several times at World Cups, 1990 was the key showdown in developing that rivalry. Italy are big rivals but in a football sense only. Spain has latterly developed into similar type of rivalry.
The German rivalry with France has some of the historical baggage that the rivalry with England does but the French don’t play up the war aspect of it nearly as much as the English do.
Netherland are obsessed with Germany. A lot of it to do with the supine efforts of the Dutch during the War when they practically waved them in. Netherlands have never beaten Germany where it matters in a World Cup. The Germans don’t take the clog wearers seriously.