World Cup Road Trip World Cup 2006 – The Road Trip – Barcelona to Berlin

2300kms

OK, got a bit behind with the posting, the daily updates went out the window over the last two days. That’s due to me running halfway round Germany, I’m now in Mainz, having visited Nurenburg and Kaiserslautern in the last two days. I’m exhausted at the moment, am having a chill out day today, will just go watch todays game in a bar.

So once again a hell of a lot to tell, i’ll kick if off back in Munich at the England game. England were playing in Frankfurt so a few of the English in the camp headed up there in the morning. I stuck around and went to watch the game at the ‘FanFest’ again with a group of English guys. Lots of people again, but not nearly so many as at the Germany game. Which was pretty good cos we managed to get a place on the grass to sit down. Very important when the sun was banging in full blast and the temperatures were hitting 30 Celsius. A good representation of English there, but I didn’t see any Paraguyans there, think that’s one of the only flags I haven’t seen.

Anyway we all gave a stirring rendition of ‘God Save The Queen’, and the game kicked off. What a Start !! Becks floats a beautiful inswinger in from the left, and it flies off a Paraguyan head into the back of the net ! 1-0, COME ON ENGLAND ! Surely there’s gonna be goal fest now. But no, despite having a pretty good next half hour, the expected goalslide didn’t appear. Though Paraguay didn’t make many chances either. Guess the heat had something to do with it, the pace of the game slowed right down which suited the South Americans more. I hear everybody was asking questions about Svens substitutions, they seemed alright to me, thought Hargreaves came on and did alright. At the end of the day it was the first group game, and we got a result. To quote the cultured and immortal song ‘Vin-da-loo’ … “We’re gonna score one more than you!” … which we did.

So then I headed into the centre and found the ‘Augustine Großgaststaten Bierhalle’, where a fat Frau served me German ‘Regensburger’ sausages, Sauerkraut and Pretzels with a Weißbeer. Ser Guht! Watched the Sweden v Trinidad & Tobago game there. (Jesper what went wrong ?? You can only draw against the Carribeans, i’d be getting worried about Paraguay, let alone England 😉 ! )

So then back to the campsite and after watching the Argentinans sneak past the Ivory Coast (or to translate literally from German ‘Elephant bone Coast’, it was out to the campfire they have there. Just take a moment to say about this place I stayed about, called “The Tent” (http://www.the-tent.com), just outside the centre of Munich, you could pitch a tent or sleep in a big dormitory tent. It’s a great atmosphere, especially during the worldcup with all these nations together, some that you wouldn’t normally find travelling. Costa Rica was a classic example of that, think i’ve met a handful of people from there before, this time I met about two dozen.

Anyway what sort of the party did we have at the campfire? English? Carribean? Argentinan? None of them, it was a full on Irish music session. Yep, despite their teams not having made it out here there’s still a lot of Irish and Scots travelling around as well. Guess they go wherever there’s a good party! Anyway a coupla of Irish lads who were busking round Europe were leading us along with the Bodrahn and a Guitar. They were really brilliant, a few traditional irish songs mixed in with classic covers and some of their own songs. There was also a big group from Cork there. The beer was flowing (no Guinness unfortunately, but you can’t have it all), and the craic was great. The height was a pretty exuberant rendition of ‘The Wild Rover’ at 1am. Our German hosts got a little bit nervous at that point and threw water over the campfire and told us to “go to bed”. So we just went to the only place were we could play where the noise was contained … the bathroom block. It was a bit more chilled there, with some really beautiful Gaelic tunes being sang. A top night !

So anyway, the next day and it was onto Nurenberg for the Mexico v Iran game. Was a 170km trip up there, only took a couple of hours. And when I arrived the campsite was turning into ‘England Camp’! All the England on tour boys were arriving from Frankfurt for the next game which is at the Frankenstadion on the Thursday. Some very decorated cars and buses from all over England. The lads were certainly out to have a good time, they’d pitched their spot and the next couple of days they were gonna sit there and enjoy the German Beer. And then hopefully see England beat T&T before heading off to Köln.

So anway at the “FanFest” (it seems that this is turning into a bit of a FanFest tour, but if you were out here you’d see why … free entry, well organised and the beer isn’t too pricey), which was a Mexican Fiesta with a bit of Iranian spice thrown in. I met up with Elliot (australian) and Alex (mexican) a couple of friends from Barcelona who were here for the Mexican and Aussie games. They’d hitched up with a group of Mexicans who were in from Guadalajara for the football and fiesta. Dressed up in Mexican flags and strange masks they were really up for this game. The Mexican fans are great, for them football is real matter of national pride, they really really need they’re team to put a good performance in so they can go away proud and standing tall in the eyes of the world. There were pleny of Iranians there, really getting into the party as well, just one nation in the World Cup. The dress code of some of the chicks didn’t conform to the image that we have of them !

So it all started good for Mexico. A first half goal sent los Cabrones wild, jumping around and dancing. But then Iran pulled one back, the Iranian flags flew and it all went a little quiet in Little Mexico. Half time game, and a game of Joga Bonito followed with a whole host of people. Must say that me and Elliot kept up the FC Flahertys side of things well with a few little tricks we’d learnt from Mr Currie! The second half kicks off and it’s much the same, no real chances for either side. Then the Mexicans roll out a huge banner on the floor, an image of the ‘ El Angel de la Independencia ‘, a national monument in
Mexico city and start dancing round it. It worked, within 5 minutes, Mexico had scored and the fiesta was on again. When they got there third five minutes later they were safe and it really went crazy. Drinking, dancing, Flag Flying, limbo and general mayhem followed for the next hour or so. Despite losing, the Iraninas were also enjoying the party.Must be said that the Australian & English gatecrashers certainly got involved as well!

From there we headed to the centre, where the party continued, there was a Mexican girl dressed as an ‘Aztec Queen’, everyone was dancing round her. Met up with a couple of friends of Alex who’d managed to get tickets to the game, they’d had a top time.

The next morning it was off to Kaiserslautern for the aussie part of affairs, Australia v Japan. It’s the first time for 32 years that the Socceroos have made it to the World Cup, and though they really want to do well (they’re Australians after all!), it was in a much more laid back way than the day before, after all football isn’t their national sport. There here to shout a lot and have a damn good time whatever. The national self confidence is always there though, Elliot summed it up when he was asked how he thought they’d do, his response was “We’re gonna bloody win the thing mate!”.

Kaiserslautern was a sea of yellow of gold, sprinkled with the dark blue national shirt of the Japanese. It was quite bizarre to see little Japanese girls darting in and out of big beer guzzling Aussies. I’d arranged to meet Alex and Elliot at the FanFest, but that plan went awry when they managed to score tickets ! Real result that. The sun was beating down hard again, there’s a real heatwave in Germany at the moment, but managed to find a spot in the shade to watch it. After a damn good show of Ball juggling beforehand the game kicked off. Pretty slow to start with, and then it all went wrong for Oz as the Japanese scored. Was a dodgy looking goal, should really have been disallowed for a foul on Mark Schwarzer. Talking about deflating an atmosphere, there weren’t many waltzing matilda’s around at that point. So half time comes and goes (with some minxy dancers, which we’d see more of later) and still the Aussies can’t seem to create much. A few “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant’s go around, but it’s not looking good. Tim Cahill comes on and they start to create a few more chances. Then with eight minutes left, suddenly a scramble in the Japanese goalmouth. and the balls in the back of net. “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!”, and the whole place goes mental. Southern Cross flags waving all over the place. But then Japan are attacking and come close, and a few whispers start goin round “We have to bloody win this”, with Brasil and Croatia to come both teams need all the points. Then in the last minute Cahill lets one rip from the edge of the box, and it flies into the back of the net. “YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! YOU F**KING BEAUTY!!!”. Aussie are two one up and back from the dead. And when Aloisi nets the third in injury time it’s dreamtime in Ozland.

The final whistle blows and a green and gold wave goes up in the air. Brilliant. So this time the Aussie party starts and it has to be said that the German DJ there did his homework beforehand. He started rolling out all the classics … “Beds are Burning” and “Land Down under” and the place was full of “Aussie Aussie Aussie ! Oi Oi Oi !”. Then to top it off, the two minxy dancers from earlier went up to a platform the top of the amplifier scaffolding and started pole dancing. Only in Germany would they send a couple of chicks up to start dancing in front of a group of football fans who’d been drinking all day! One German guy turned round to me and says, in a classic German accent “It’s good in Germany, yes?!”. Too bloody right mate !

I finally met up with Alex and Elliot after the game, they’d had an amazing time, Elliot was almost hoarse from shouting through the whole thing, and was emotionally drained. When Alex suggested that they fly back over and go to the Aussie v Brasil game in Munich his quote “That’s like offering me a shot of Tequila the day after a huge hangover!”.

So the Mexican / Australian double went off brilliantly, great games, great fans and great results. After the game I travelled up to Mainz on the Rhine, travelling through some really nice German countryside on the way up, as the sun was setting. I think this area is famous for it’s wine, next week i’ll probably be back down here for a wine Festival. Tonight i’m heading for Langen near Frankfurt where i meet up with my German mates, Frank and Dirk, tomorrow we head to Dortmund for the Germany v Poland game which we have tickets for.

And of course the football keeps rolling on … wins for the Czechs and Italians last night and the Dutch and the Portugese on sunday. All the big names seem to be winning, we could have some classic knockout games if it carries on this way. Korea v Togo and France v Switzerland today (Hupp Schweiz!)

And of course the favourites kick off tonight, the Brazilian Samba train starts rolling against Coratia. Joga Bonito !

Sorry for such a long post, hope you all stayed with me. I’ll try and keep it shorter next time ! Hopefully photos will be posted soon as well. Keep checking back here !