a triumph for German diversity

I grew up associating the German football team with the likes of Franz Beckenbauer Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaus...Unlike the Brits and the Dutch, they were ethnically homogenous.
But times have changed. Now we have players with names like Özil, Boateng, Khedira, Podolski and Cacau.
For more than 80 years, the rules about who could represent Germany were clear and strict. Players had to be German born, of parents born in Germany.
That law was scrapped in 1999 laying the foundation for the current squad.
Half the current squad were either born outside Germany, are the sons of immigrants, or have one non-German parents.
Surely football has on occasions been abused by right wing hooligans. Surely these types must be disoriented by the success of a multicultural team representing the nation....Perhaps football is more successful than politics in evoking a new sense of inclusive and playful patriotism.
For what does belonging to a nation mean today? What has blood to do with it? Football shows us that it has a lot to do with shared success and a common venture.