Germany coach Joachim Loew needs to watch his language at the World Cup, with a deaf German lip-reader ready to decipher his every curse.
Julia Probst, a 32-year-old deaf blogger and activist for the handicapped, rose to fame during the 2012 European Championship by lip-reading the sideline directives and occasional expletives of coaches and players.
Loew has been Probst’s favorite target to decipher and his dug-out directives often find their way to her Twitter account.
“This is so shit!” Loew shouted during Germany’s 1-0 group stage win over the US.
“What is that?! I don’t understand why it’s not better,” he fumed during Germany’s 2-1 win over Algeria in the last 16 on Monday.
Soccer fans have flocked to Probst’s Twitter feed @EinAugenschmaus (“A feast for the eyes”) with 27,500 followers reading what players say on the pitch during Germany’s matches.
Loew indirectly acknowledged Probst’s lip-reading during Euro 2012 when he said he “may have to hold back more” after German media highlighted her skills.
However, Loew does not always make it easy for her by occasionally holding his hand over his mouth — and he is not the only one.
“At this World Cup, there is increasingly a trend that players and coaches hold a hand over their mouths,” she said. “After the final whistle of the Algeria match, for example, [Germany goalkeeper] Manuel Neuer did it when he talked to a teammate, that is the best advertisement for lip-reading.”
Probst says Germany defender Jerome Boateng is the hardest to lip-read as he tends to mumble, but she can lip-read any player speaking either German or English.
She said the German squad keep their cool even during tense games.
“The players are on very friendly terms, they praise and encourage each other, they are well-mannered gentlemen,” Probst said. “There is no real chatterbox in the team, but there are emotional leaders like Philipp Lahm. Bastian Schweinsteiger told the team ‘Nothing comes from nothing!’ before they won the third-place play-off at the 2010 World Cup.”
A devout soccer fan, her decipherings are a hobby and she admits her unique skills are unlikely to provide future employment.
“No, that would only make sense if the sport was very tactical,” she said. “In American football, the top teams have lip readers to spy on each other. In games, you can really see coaches trying to hide what they want to say from lip-readers.”
Probst said she would only help the German soccer body (DFB) if her services were needed in certain situations, but she would like to help others with a disability.
“I would like to be invited once by the DFB to work with those in charge about how to break down barriers for people with disabilities,” she said.
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