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

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Ok time to go ! The Prologue run down to Denia went well, 1000km round trip went with no problems, the car seems to be in good nick (touch wood it stay’s that way!). Three days chilling in a villa on the costa blanca was nice (thanks J, Neil, Lucy, Chips), a little bit of Mediterranean Sun before heading north.

So anyway the Car’s packed up and ready to go, the footballs in the back, the world cup tickets are in the bag, it’s time to head to Germany! If all goes well i’ll arrive in Munich on Thursday, via Avignon, a couple of nights in Chamonix (next to Mont Blanc) and Zurich.

To the World Cup !

900 kms (exactly!)

Well I made to the Alps ! Am in Chamonix, right up against the Mont Blanc Massif, just a few km’s away from Switzerland and Italy. It’s amazing up here, this is probably going to be a long post ‘cos I’ve seen so much today.

The journey up from Barcelona was pretty smooth, after bidding farewell to the city from the two towers (cheers to Pete & Chris for seeing me off!), i headed north east up past Girona and said ‘Adios/Adieu’ to Spain/Catalunya at La Jonquera. Had a pretty rough ride past Perpignan and Narbonne ‘cos of the wind, it really blows hard through there, on one occasion I nearly got blown into a juggernaut! After bidding farewell to the Med I chewed up the miles past Avignon and Orange and ended up near Montelimar, just south of Valence.

Next day (5th June), and the scenery started getting good as I slowly wound up into the mountains. I stopped for a while at Grenoble which sits on the confluence of the Isere and Drac rivers, very picturesque with the Alps off in the distance. Started getting a bit worried at the amount of snow sitting on the peaks, it was looking pretty white. But ‘Bronny’ (nickname for the car, Lucy F – does that name fit ?!?) handled the drive no worries, although the mountain bends certainly tested her a few times. Especially when I had to take a detour just after Albertville cos the road to Chamonix was closed ! Up through, a mountain village, over a small pass and down the other side, I had visions of hitting six foot of snow and needing snow chains … but as it happened the road had just been closed for repairs, and I came down into a wide green classic Alpine Valley. Then it was into real mountain country, the drive down from Megeve to Chamonix revealed the whole valley stretching away towards Geneva, split in two by the grey ribbon of the motorway, whilst towering mountain ridges rose away to the north.

Got to Chamonix late in the evening, staying at a nice little mountain hostel (cheers Benny!) just outside the main town. There’s beautiful views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding massif Last night the dusk light over the mountains was really good, the top of the mountains glowing as the sun westered behind them. And at nighttime, the mountain stars were incredible, there’s hardly any ambient light or pollution, so they’re real bright.

Anyway onto today, and my trip up to the La Aiguille du Midi & Italy !!! Looking up from the Chamonix valley, the Aiguille du Midi towers above the town, just to the left of Mont Blanc. The cable car up there runs in two stages, the first from the valley floor at 1000m, up to the mid station at 2300m. Then it’s a steep steep ascent above sheer black rock, ice and snow until you arrive at the summit at 3800m. Its one hell of a piece of engineering, I’ve been on cable cars before, normally the ascent flattens out as you arrive at the peak, but this one keeps going at about 60 degrees right until the end. The views from the top are almost beyond words, an amazing panaroma of the whole Mont Blanc Massif and the Chamonix Valley. It’s real harsh landscape, no green meadows and Heidi here, just black jutting peaks with streams of cloud blowing off them, everything blanketed with thick white snow. The ‘Glacier de Bossons’ tumbles off down the mountainside, a river of ice, as above Paragliders are out catching the thermals, sharing the sky with little black birds of prey, gliding and swooping in the alpine air. And then there’s the adventurers, the hardy folk that are actually out walking, climbing & skiing the mountain. There was even a few camping out in the snowfields, respect is due !

Then on the recommendation of Bernad & Brendan, a couple of young Irish lads in their 70’s, i caught the gondola over the ‘Glacier de Geants’, otherwise known as the ‘Valléé Blanche’ to the Hellbronner peak in Italy !! It was an incredible journey, just suspended over this huge glacier, blue crevasses and ice punctuating the snow, the Mont Blanc peak rising above us. Again there’d been some hardcore engineering to set this up, at one point the gondola went through a tiny little cutting in the rock, looked like we’d never fit through and in fact it actually banged the side as we went through. Then when the gondola stopped for 5 minutes halfway across, it started to get a little scary. But we made it, and I finally set foot on Italian soil. OK, it was only about 100 metres across the border, and I couldn’t go anywhere else, but what the heck, it was Italy, and to top it all, in the mountainside there was a picture of the Pope (the new one, Benedict) he’d beaten me there by a couple of months! Asked the Italians serving in the cafe there how they though Italy would do in the world cup, the answer was a shrug of the shoulders and ‘Brasil are too good’. There’s a lot of people thinking that.

The weather was closing in on the return, so was glad to get back to France and back down into the valley. On the way down there was a Japanese chick that was suffering from Altitude sickness, she’d collapsed and they were getting her back down the mountain as quick as possible. I certainly noticed the difference in altitude, just walking up a couple of flights of stairs to the viewpoints really took a lot of effort, at the top I was pretty breathless, and a little light headed. It was also pretty cold up there, one of the lift attendants said it was about -9 Celsius, though the sun and bright blue skies helped take the edge off that. I saw one girl that had no idea what she was coming up to, she’d was wearing a summer dress and flip flops, she was literally freezing up there, Don’t you know we’re up one of the highest mountains in Europe love ?! Some people have no idea !

So anyway today’s been a day to remember, some of the most breathtaking and incredible landscapes I’ve ever seen, absolutely amazing. I’ve posted a few of the photos up in the Gallery, check ‘em out. Tomorrow I head up the valley and into Switzerland, then I’ve got the run across the Swiss Alps to Zurich, hope Bronny holds together well, cos there’s a couple of 2000 metre passes to head across.

Shit, that was a long post, hope you kept going through it ! Guess by the time i post again i’ll have arrived in Germany. Only 3 days now until the good stuff starts. Bring on the Football !

1232 kms

So Rooney’s foot is OK ! Hallelujah, the World Cup is already won. Lets just get past the group stage and then see where we stand.

Switzerland, land of mountains, lakes and traffic jams. Arrived in Zurich last night, after travelling for most of the day through the Alps. It was a long journey, only about 300km, but 5 hours solid driving. I bid farewell to Chamonix, and a short while later to France. I was half expecting to get stopped at the border, after all I’m an English guy driving a German made car with Spanish plates from France into Switzerland whilst listening to Irish music, but no, they just waved me through without a second glance. Europe today, eh !

Climbed to the 1526m La Forclaz pass before dropping down to Martigny, and heading northwest into Valais and the Rhone valley. Was a bit of a throwback to the old ‘Ski Sunday’ days, passing all the signposts for classic resorts – Verbier, Crans Montana, Saas Fee and Zermatt under the shadow of the Matterhorn. I couldn’t see the Matterhorn from the valley floor, but it was up there somewhere ! Then after a short stop in Brig I started to climb up again, alongside the Rhone. Then, after almost taking the wrong pass, luckily some swiss dude i asked new that the road beyond was closed, i headed up to the Grimsel Pass. It was pretty steep and curvy, but was a lot shorter than I’d expected, in ten minutes I was at the top (2165m). Bronny handled it real well. There was a lot of snow there, think they’d had a fresh snowfall last week. The long winding road down was stunning, with the Finestraarhorn peak rising high off to the west, passing lakes and dams and cows with bells (classic Heidi country this!). Then it was up and down over the foothills until I hit Luzern and the traffic jam to Zurich. The last 20km took me about an hour, it didn’t help that I had to right through the centre at rush hour.

Anyway am staying at a friends place (thanks Stef & Stef!) right near the lakeside here in Zurich. It’s a very pretty and quiet (at least compared to Barcelona) city. Am gonna go and take a look round in a bit.

The weather’s been fantastic during the Alpine crossing, three days of sunshine and blue skies. Considering people have told me it’s been raining and snowing non stop for virtually the last weeks, I’ve lucked out !

So this afternoon I’ll be heading to Munich, ready for the big kick off tomorrow. It’s funny, normally this close to a World Cup I’d have been up to date on all the latest team news, gossip, all the merry go round, but this time round I’m totally of the pace ‘cos have been in the car or up a mountain, rather than reading all the papers or the web sites. I mean I haven’t even seen a World Cup supplement yet. The day before it all kicks off !! And I didn’t even know the result of Rooney’s foot scan until 5 minutes ago ! Hopefully I’ll get hold of an English paper today and catch up with all the la-di-da.

Oh yeah, the Swiss seem pretty up for the world cup, they just want to enjoy it, no pretences of winning the thing, but with a quiet confidence that the team will do well. I’ve actually got a bet on them to win there group ahead of the French. Hopp Schweiz !

1565 kms

So the tournament finally kicked off yesterday in Munich, finally the talking stops and we get to see some football !

Got to Munich two days ago , am staying in a Tent Village on the outskirts of the city. It´s a cracking atmosphere here, a mix of all nationalities and cultures. Obvously there´s shedloads of Germans about, but aside from them by far the most numerous fans are the Mexicans, they´re everywhere.

The last couple of days there was a real buzz of anticipation leading up to the opening Germany v Costa Rica game. Went to watch it at the Olympic Park where there was a huge screen mounted on the lake. It was absolutely rammed full by the time kick off came around, thousands of flag waving Germans, interspersed by the odd Costa Rican Flag. But it wasn´t just Germans and Costa Ricans, virtually every country was represented there, it was riot of colours, flags and banners. Getting a beer was damn difficult cos of the immense queues, but at least the Bratwürsts were good !

Then finally we kicked off. Good coupla goals from Germany, but there defence looked pretty shite to me, any balls over the top and they were in trouble. But they got the result they, and probably the tournament needed, so there were a lot of happy Germans at the end. And some very drunk ones as well, they can certainly drink when they want to.

The metro on the way back was quite entertaining, cos they were all singing and dancing and jumping up and down ans singing “we´re going to Berlin” like they´d already one the World Cup. It´s only one win against Costa Rica, calm down ! And what about the poor old Poles against Ecuador, they didn´t look very happy on the TV. DOn´t worry Pete, you can turn it round against the Germans in the next game.

Top moment in the centre on the way back, there was this old German dude playing the accordion, traditional Bavarian type music I guess. And there was this mini party going on round him, all these different people waving flags and dancing round him in a big circle, most of them pretty hammered. There was even an Iranian flag flying around. The accordion geezer was loving it, don´t think he´d ever had such a big Audience. It´s what the World Cups all about, people from different cultures and backgrounds coming together and having a damn good party!

So today it´s off to the Olympic park today for England v Paraguay. There´s a fair few English here in Munich, we should be pretty well represented there. Prediction 3 – 1, Crouchy getting two on the way to the Golden Boot. Tomorrow am probably off to Nuremberg for the Mexican game.

Will try and get some more pictures up soon.

COME ON ENGLAND !!!

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 !

Finally i’ve got round to putting the photos on, three new albums on the ‘World Cup Photos’ page, click on the link at the left, or on the photo below. I haven’t had time to put any captions on, so some might look a little random, will try and get them on at a later date.

So yesterday Brasil started off slowly, as they always seem to do, don’t think they really hit top gear, if that happens I think they will be pretty awesome. Today Spain kick off against Ukraine, which is a tough one to call, then Saudi Arabia v Tunisia, which i really can’t make any useful comments on! Then Germany v Poland kicks off the second phase of group games, when the tournament really starts to take shape. We’ll be heading off up to Dortmund in a couple of hours, it should be a pretty cracking atmosphere there.

2903 kms

Sorry, but prepare yourself for another mini essay ! This world cup is just incredible. Really it’s just so difficult to keep up with all that’s been happening.

Yesterday, for example, I was sitting outside a bar watching the start of the Sweden v Paraguay game, when there’s suddenly a bunch of Ecuadorians celebrating their qualification for the second round. Festooned in the national colours of yellow red and blue, banging Andean drums and dancing all over the street, singing ‘Nos Vamos en Berlin’ (We’re going to Berlin). They were enjoying their moment.

I’m not working on days and dates any more, but group games and kick off times. Everything depends on which team is in what city at which time, which can make travel plans difficult to say the least ! Throw in the fact that I’ve got at least two wine festivals to scheduled (traditional time for them in Germany) over the next week and things get very complicated. But it’s all great, I love it !

Anyway on Wednesday was the Germany v Poland game. I think I need to do a little habit of ‘scene-setting’ here. Back in January when I hatched this mad plan to head off to the World Cup, me and my old German mates from the early Barcelona era, Frank and Dirk, applied for a whole bunch of World Cup Tickets from the FIFA web site. Fixmeister Frank is the expert in this stuff, and worked out how we could get the most applications in. Still we really didn’t expect to get anything. Then in March the emails from FIFA arrived. We had tickets… Germany v Poland in Dortmund, the quarter final in Gelsenkirchen and … THE FINAL IN BERLIN! Yep it’s true, though i still can’t believe it, we do actually have tickets for the final. The only downside is that it says on all the tickets that they are ‘obstructed view’. Whatever, we can handle that.

So the first game was Germany v Poland on Wednesday. But things were further complicated by ‘The Thesis’. Frank, a typical eternal German student, had to finish his thesis. Originally he’d planned to have it done by the beginning of June, but like students the world over he’d left it until the very last minute and negotiated delays and extensions and pushed the deadline out to the 14th June, the day of the match. ‘No problem, I’ll finish it a couple of days earlier, it’s all under control’, said Frank. A couple of days earlier was actually 2pm Wednesday. By the time we sorted ourselves out it was 4pm and we still had to go the 240km to Dortmund for the 9pm kick off.

But no worries, we still had five hours and we’re off to a World Cup game. We took Franks car, giving Bronny a much needed rest. We left Langen, and hit the road up to Dortmund past Frankfurt, spirits were high. Then, from nowhere, we hit the traffic. Classic Autobahn jams, from 140 km/h to 20 km/h in half a kilometre. First one 16km. Crawling along at a max of 60km/h. Get that behind us, only to hit another one half an hour later. Not getting above 40km/h on this one. The clocks ticking, it’s 1830 now, and we’ve still got 150km to Dortmund. Slow panic starts to build. Then suddenly we’re through and away, the road is clear ! Finally we hit Dortmund, a big industrial town, bit like Sheffield in England. Just over an hour before the kick off, straight into the big match traffic. But no worries, we’re in Germany, we have ‘Germany Efficiency’ in full swing, there’s a Park and Ride service with express buses to the ground. We’re gonna make it ! Dump the car and change into match gear, Frank & Dirk wearing German National team shirts, I elect to be safely neutral and wear an Aussie shirt. Jump on the bus, get to the ground with 35 minutes till kick off. All under control.

“Are these your names on the tickets?”, the ticket security guy asks as we get to the first checkpoint. No they’re bloody not. In order to get round the rules for the ticket applications, we had only one of our names as the ‘principal applicants’, but the names of Franks relatives as the other applicants. Later we’d planned to go to a ticket centre and change the names on the tickets, we had all the documentation we needed, but we’d never got round to it. Plus I knew people that had been to games without any problems and got in. But now we were being told we had to go and change the ticket names at Hall 3B on the other side of the complex, with only half an hour till kick off. Shit! No time to soak up the atmosphere as the German and the Poles intermingled on there way to the game, although we did spot some very nice Polish chicks. Finally we see it, Hall 3B and the ticket office. Charge in, only to find it totally empty. Why is it empty? Surely other people have to change the names on the tickets. Up to the desk we run,

Frank (in very fast, stressed German) – “We need to change the names on these tickets”
Desk girl – “Too late, you can only change the name up to 24 hours before the day of the game”
Frank – “So what do we do then?”
Desk girl “I don’t know, try and get in and hope they don’t pick on you”

Great, we’ve been sent halfway round the stadium, and then we’re told by an official to take pot luck with FIFA security. Back out to the stadium complex. This time we get straight through the first line of security with no questions. Only to find we’re on the wrong side of the bloody stadium. Less than 15 minutes till kick off and we’re jogging round to our side of the stadium, the ‘yellow’ zone. Don’t think we’re gonna get a Beer & Bratwurst before the game lads! Finally we get arrive at the yellow are ticket point. Crunch time has come, will they let us in? Just as we get there, I realise that the name on my ticket is Brunhilde, Franks Mums name. Shit, i don’t think i look like a German Frau! The moment comes, hand the tickets over, they put them through the bar code reader, a moments hesitation, and then they wave me through. I’m in, no problems. Frank and Dirk too. We made it!

As we run the 100 metres to the stadium I’m hit by how silent it is. 10 minutes before the kick-off of a World Cup game featuring the host nation, and you can hardly hear any noise. Strange. Then we reach stadium steps, and you hear as if in the distance, the noise of the crowd. As we climb, up and up into the heights of the stadium, the sound gets bigger and bigger, now we can make out the words, ‘Deutschland! Deutschland!’. As we come out onto the concourse and up the last few steps underneath a huge German flag, we’re hit by a wall of sound, and the sight of 80,000 German & Polish fans, chanting and singing, huge flags swirling in a riot of colour. The atmosphere was just so intense, and then, twenty seconds after arriving, the teams come out onto the pitch. Talk about perfect timing!

The Westfalden Stadium in Dortmund really is something special. I’ve been to a few big stadiums over the years, Camp Nou, Anfield, Old Trafford, the MCG, St Mary’s, but this is way up there with the best of them, Four huge stands are perched right next to the pitch, steep terraces rising up to the roof. Totally enclosed, the acoustics are amazing, the atmosphere is right there on top of you. The National anthems were played and the stadium reverberated with the singing. Away in the stand opposite were the Polish fans, proud and strong, waving their red and white flags and banners high. The rest of the stadium was a sea of red, gold and black.

But hang on. Remember the tickets we’d got were ‘obstructed view’?? We’d been afraid we’d be stuck behind some big post being able to see a quarter of the pitch. Well the obstructed view was a position high up in the famous North Terrace, right behind the goal, a perfect view of everything, you really couldn’t have picked a better spot. And absolutely nothing in the way. I’ve no idea what was meant to be blocking our vision, but if all ‘obstructed view’ tickets were like this I’ll take them every time.

So anyway there’s a game of Football to play. The Poles kick off to a huge roar and we’re under way. It all starts off slowly, and pretty much stays that way. The Germans aren’t playing great by a long shot, and the Poles are having a lot of the play and lots of good chances Halfway through the first half I ask Frank & Dirk what they makes of it so far.

Frank – “Can’t talk, too nervous”
Dirk – “They play very bad the Germans. But this is German Football. Play bad, then one goal!”

The game continues in much the same vein. A couple of corners for the Germans, the fans are do this handshaking build up as the guy prepares to take the corner, finishing with a big shout as he kicks it. But they come to nothing. We spot Lothar Mattheus up in the commentary box above us. I suggest they substitute him for Ballack, he’d probably do a better job. Dirk agrees. Maybe they could put Beckenbauer back in defence as well. In the last minute of the first half, a great chance for the Germans, but the ball screws wide of the far post. Half time comes and there’s a lot of frustrated Germans around me. Down to the concourse for Beer & Bratwursts. Unfortunately due to FIFA licensing, it’s only crappy American stuff, instead of full on German Weissbeer. But the Bratwursts were good.

Second half, and the Poles are playing for time a lot. Not sure why really, they need to get a result out of this game, or else they could well be out of the tournament. Still neither team are creating many clear cut chances, and the Germans look decidedly ordinary. The locals are getting restless, lots of shouting of “Scheisse” and other stuff that i’ve got no hope of understanding. The referee is not their favourite person either, he seems to be blowing up for a lot of petty things.

As we creep up to ninety minutes it pretty much looks like it’s gonna be a goalless draw. Shame, would have been good to see a goal in this Stadium, but guess it’s not to be. Suddenly though a German chance,! No, it’s hit the bar … rebound … hit the bar again ! Don’t believe it. It’s a draw.

Then in the 91st minutes a long ball from midfield finds the winger on the right flank. Skipping a challenge he rifles the ball low into the box, there’s a German striker ahead of the Polish defender and … “TOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!”. The stadium erupts. 60,000 Germans go mental. Klinsmanns off the bench and dancing around with the team. The Poles are gutted, they’ve worked hard only to be hit with a sucker punch. A minute later, the final whistle blows, the stadium goes wild again. German flags everywhere, the whole stadium on it’s feet jumping and singing.

The German players do a lap of honour, don’t know if they should be doing that after that performance, as the Poles troop slowly off the pitch, out of the tournament. Everybody’s singing some song about going to Berlin for the final. Not sure about that lads, little premature maybe, you’re not exactly setting the world on fire at the moment. But Dirk was right, “One goal”, he’d said and that was exactly how it happened. One goal and the Germans win, football sterotypes never change!

The ground stayed full of people celebrating for a full half hour after kick off. We slowly made our way back through the hordes of drunk happy Germans, and drunk sad Poles, there was absolutely no sign of trouble at the ground, although i heard there were a few problems in the city centre later. Then it was back to the car and the long drive back to Langen, in all the round trip was 470km. We finally got back at three in the morning.

Yep, it was a real amazing experience, the first World Cup game I’d been to, and I’m not going to forget it. I really can’t put into words the moment when we finally walked into the cauldron of the Westfalstadion, it was very special, shivers down the spine stuff. And then the last minute goal, it was almost like it was scripted.

Anyway what else has been happening. At the moment i’m in Frankfurt, staying in a campsite for a couple of nights. Yesterday watched the England game at the Frankfurt ‘Main Arena’ FanFest site, which is the best i’ve seen yet. Two huge screens in the middle of the river mean you can watch the game from the riverbanks. The river traffic carries on through whilst the games are going on, a huge container barge floating past as Beckham floats over a cross, the crew out on deck trying to catch a glimpse of what is going on, quite a bizarre sight. Once again the game was exactly brilliant, but Crouchy came could, and then Stevie Gerrard knocked in a ‘HammerTor’ (‘Tor’ is the German word for Goal, a ‘HammerTor’ is when someone blasts the ball into the back of the net). So we’re safely through to the second round, and if we get a point against Sweden we win the group. Probably for a second round game against Ecuador.

Spain have made the first statement to the tournament with their 4-0 win over the Ukraine. They hit top gear from the start, and against a pretty strong team as well. A lot of people thought that Ukraine were gonna win that one. Be interesting to watch the Spanish now, knowing the media there back in Spain they’re getting carried away already and are only talking about possible quarter finals and semi finals opponents!

Today will probably be back at the FanFest here for the Argentina v Serbia game, then maybe out on the town later to experience a bit of German nightlife. Maybe a Techno club later ! The next few days are not going to be so ‘football’ oriented. I’ve decided to take a rest from dashing round the country catching games, because it is bloody tiring. The tournaments only 7 days old, there’s still a hell of a lot more to come. I’ll still be watching the football though, don’t worry about that! I’ll be in Kaiserslautern for a wine festival this weekend, then I imagine the next thing will be to take Bronny down to Stuttgart for the Spanish game against Tunisia. Still haven’t seen one other Spanish car on the road here yet, she’s getting lonely!

Just seen the Japanese keeper push the ball round the post from the Croat Penalty on the big screen here in the Easy Internet Cafe. Top Save !

Am back in Munich, couldn’t resist the lure of the Brasil v Australia game. Came down on the German ICE train from Stuttgart today, a model of efficiency. The centre is rammed full of yellow, blue green and gold, i thought it would be half aussie, half brasil, but it’s probably two or three to one in favour of the samba crowd. It´s a buzzing atmosphere, just like last week, but still quite diatinct from the one for the German. A samba train danced past me in the main square a couple of times earlier, green and gold moving through the street like a yellow wave.

Will be rootin’ for the Aussies today, don’t hold too much hope of them pulling off the big shock, but it would be amazing if they could. Am off in a moment to the Olympic Park, back on the grassy hill again. Later on wíll catch the last train back to Stuttgart, Spain play there tomorrow.

Yesterday was a football free day ! I headed down from Frankfurt to the Rhine valley, the last 50 kilometres driving through classic vineyard country. This is Riesling country, the classic German Wine Road and the summer festivals were on. Met up with Benny and Vanessa a couple of friends from Barcelona, and a group of German and Aussies for a little bit of hiking before headin down to the winefest. Except it turned out to be quite a long hike, think we clocked around 10km all. Starting out amongst the vineyards, we then climbed slowly up into the hills, cool wooded slopes, with sunlight rippling in and out of the branches. Reaching a high point of around 600 metres we had lunchbreak #1, for me a ‘WurstSalat’ and a Pils, at the restaraunt there. Then back down and up, views of the valley below punctuating the trip. Lunchbreak #2, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. Finally we rolled down to ‘Hambacher Schloss’, a small castle overlooking the village of Hambach. Big views of the wide Rhein Valley greeted us, green fields and vineyards sprinkled with typical German villages with church spires reaching for the sky.

Then it was down into the village of Hambach for the winefest. The small plaza was decorated with flags and footballs. Green trees and bright flowers adorned the square and a young brass band played a real medley of songs, from traditional German to Abba and Robbie Williams. We were drinking large glasses of Riesling with the other couple of dozen tables around.

The only problem was that the TV was too small so we couldn’t see the Italy v USA game very well. Grabbed a taxi, and headed to the next village round, we’d heard they had a big screen there. And indeed they did, we saw the three red cards really clearly ! By the time we finally headed out around midnight, everyone was a little merry, some seriously more merry than others (eh Benny!).

OK, that’ll have to do now, time to head up to the Olympic Park for the game! Will try and write more tomorrow.

In Stuttgart at the moment, the plaza behind me is full of Spaniards with the red and yellow flag singing “España! España”. A few Tunisians as well, but the spanish definitley outnumber them. They´ve been singing the whole morning, been quite impressd with them, wasn’t really expecting so much.

So back to Australia v Brasil last night. Think when i closed the post that I was off to the FanFest at the Olympic Park to watch the game. Well that didn’t last very long. As i walked down to the U-Bahn (German Metro), there was this long string of crackled German with the word Fan park in it. Two minutes later a much shorter English version comes across saying, “The Fan Park is closed due to overcrowding”. Great. Not surprising considering the huge amounts of people in towm, any game featuring Brasil attracts thousands of hangers on.

The only option was to find a bar, so I went back to the Augustiner Bierhalle that I was in last week. A nice little atmosphere in there, probably more Aussies rather than Brasilians, mixed in with a few brits singing songs about the Ashes! Chris, an old mate of mine from my Barcelona language school days came down as well. Seemed quite a tight game during the first half, the brazilians not really threatening, the Aussies having a few half chances. /at half we left the Bierhalle and found a big screen in the famous “Englischer Garden”, a large park in the centre of Berlin. Was almost cultured watching the game in a leafy grove, except for some very drunk Swiss fans who kept shouting out “LBW” when the Aussies did anything good! Fat boy Ronaldo engineered the first goal for Adriano before Fred knocked in the second. The Aussies did well I thought, Vidukas lob was only inches away from an equaliser. And with the Croats only drawing against Japan they only need a point to qualify for the Round of 16. Brasil meanwhile are just looking average, nothing special, but have already qualified as group winners. So far a 1-0 and a 2-0 win, exactly the same as England.

Later on that evening on my way back to the Train Station, i stumbled into a full blown samba party kicking off in ‘Marieplatz’, the main square. A group of samba drummers were in full flow, the beat ringing round in front of the Althes Rathaus, a huge Gothic building that looms over the plaza. Lots of dancing and flag waving, the famous Brasilian globe alongside the Southern Cross. It’s difficult to beat the samba rhythm for pure energetic dancing.

Finally I caught the ICE train back to Stuttgart around 1am. Thankfully I got a seat and managed to sleep a bit, i finally made it back to the campsite at three-thirty in the morning.

So the second phase of the groups is nearly over. We’re getting to the sharp end of the tournament now where teams will start crashing out, from tomorrow we’ll start losing them at a rate of four a day. Doesn’t look like there are gonna be too many shocks, except perhaps for the French, they’re really struggling again. The Italians have got to be careful as well, that group is still quite open.

Oh yeah, thanks for all the comments that everyones sending in, it´s good to know how things are back in Blighty and Barcelona as well. Keep ’em coming !

“Viva España!” is ringing full blast from the square now!

Like a flying express train the World Cup rolls inexorably onwards. Matches come and go, passed through like suburban stations. Switzerland v Togo … Ukraine v Saudi Arabia … Spain v Tunisia …. then on and on into the third phase matches. Groups decided now, teams fall by the wayside of the tracks … Germany v Ecuador … Costa Rica v Poland … Paraguay v T&T … England v Sweden. On the track ahead of us lie the decisive matches of the other 6 groups, and then into the big stuff, the cruel harsh world of the knockout stages. The track side scenery is the huff and puff of the media circus … Rooneys foot … Ballacks form … Ronaldo’s weight … Dutch Arguments … Swedish fights. And on the train with us are the fans, the people, colours and flags flying bright, the passion and enthusiasm giving fuel to the tournament.

Not sure where all that came from, but think it sums up the way this is flying past. Already we’ve had half the matches played, half the tournament is over. At the end of this Friday there’ll only be 16 games left to play. But of course this is when it starts to get really interesting. The optimism of the and sparring of the first two group games gone. Now everyone knows that at the end of these games there’s a result, two teams are through and two teams are out. OK, a few groups are already decided, but there’s still the question of who wins the group to be sorted out. Some interesting games coming up, especially in the Italian and French groups.

So anyhow, i want to get back to Stuttgart and the Spain v Tunisia game. This was an evening game, kicking off at 9pm, and as I was in the city it gave me a chance to see the atmosphere slowly building throughout the day. The large main square in Stuttgart, where they have the ‘FanFest’ is overlooked by a large “Nelsons Column” type monument, and surrounded by a couple of grand buildings. Early on things are pretty quiet at first with just a few shirts and a lonely flag, and the odd drumbeat and song creeping out. At midday things start to heat up, small groups of Spaniards start appearing in their distinctive red and yellow colours. Then a large crowd of Tunisians, flags flying and chanting, invade the main square. The fans are mixing happily, photos are being snapped both with their compatriots and their rivals, the royal arms of Spain side by side by the sickle and star of Tunisia. A couple of “Toreros” (Matadors) wandered past, accompanied by some señoritas in flamenco type dress.

Into mid afternoon now, and the square is a hubbub of noise and colour.. Those of you living in Spain know that it’s a Spanish trait to be pretty damn noisy. Well they certainly brought that to Stuttgart on Monday. Banging drums, singing and dancing. “Manolo del Bombo” the famous Valencian drummer joins the party with a horde of followers some shouting “España!” through a megaphone. But the Tunisians aren’t to be outdone, far from it. They’ve now got a huge group in the middle of the plaza. Big Drums are hammering out, and there’s a couple of mad looking geezers painted up in Red and White leading the chanting. They’re really up for this game. A couple of Barcelona shirts wander through the street? Catalans following Spain? More likely just Germans that don’t know better! All the Tunisians are wearing a shirt that says ‘5 – Jaziri’, must be their start player. Then on the table next to me, a couple with a young baby sit down. The Tunisian flag flies proudly from the pushchair, and the baby has the sickle and start painted on it’s forehead. Football fans start young!

Of course, you can’t have a world cup party without a couple of Mexicans, and sure enough in the middle of this red, yellow and white fiesta walk a couple of green shirts, flag waving high, standing out like a beacon. These lads get everywhere.

As kick off time draws near, suddenly the streets start to empty. Still plenty of noise, but not so many people now, as those with tickets start to make their way over to the Stadium for the game. I make the short walk from the square to the FanFest. This one has three big screens, we’re spoilt for choice! It’s not too crowded, and there’s plenty of time for a Bratwurst and a beer before aligning myself with the a more Spanish section of the crowd, today I’m definitely ‘Viva España’.

So the game kicks off to chants of “Vamos” and “Tunisia!Tunisia!”. Most people there, myself included, expect Spain to hammer the North Africans, especially after their demolition of Ukraine. But no ! Suddenly a Tunisian snapshot forces Casillas to parry and the same striker is on hand to knock in the rebound. 8 minutes and 1-0 Tunisia. The Tunisians are going crazy and dancing round the square, whilst around me there’s a distinct Spanish silence.

Spain try and get back into the game, but despite lots of pressure they’re not really creating any chances. Then from nowhere something happens, something that hasn’t happened in virtually the whole tournament, something that changes the whole mechanics of the situation, or at least watching the game in a big open space. Rain. Lots of Rain. Hammering down from nowhere. Fanfest turns into FanDrench. Most people there and try to brave it out, after all it’s only a few drops of rain, but as the halftime whistle blows the heavens really open, and it’s time to head for cover. I managed to find a covered bar, and end up talking to a couple of Mexicans (no surprises there!), who tell me they really want to meet Argentina in the Round of 16, ‘cos the Dutch have too many big players for them!

It’s been raining at the stadium too, and there’s TV shot of the crowd there all dressed up in plastic macs. I manage to find a well positioned tree to shelter under for the second half. There’s a surprising amount of Spanish fans still around as well. Back in Barcelona when it rains, everybody seems to hideaway, as if the rain will make them melt, but here everybody has stuck around to see Spain turn it around. Or will they? Again lots of pressure but no chances. The Tunisian fans are really celebrating now, they’re actually starting to believe they can pull this off. The rain finally starts to slack off around the midway point of the second half, and it’s time to head back to a position right in front of the big screen.

And suddenly the stars start to shine for Spain, a shot from the right forces the Tunisia keeper (whose had an excellent game), into a save and Raul is on hand applying an instinctive poachers touch to steer the ball into. 1-1 !! Then it’s all Spain and suddenly Torres is running at the keeper, a little touch round him and El Niño knocks the ball into the empty net. “Goooooooooolllllllllllll!”. 2-1 Spain, they’ve turned it around. And to cap it all a last minute penalty is given. Everybody knows Torres is going to score and sure enough he hammers the ball past the keeper. 3-1 it finishes. Not sure if Spain really deserve that, but in the end their persistence really paid off. The Tunisians are pretty gutted, but still very proud of their teams performance, and their red flags are still flying high.

But it’s the Spanish fiesta in full swing now, with “Viva España!” and “Sí, sí, sí, Nos Vamos a Berlin” flying round the arena, and then the best chant so far in the tournament, borrowed from the fans of Cadiz CF …

“Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, ole!,
Hemos venido a borracharnos …
El resultado nos da igual!”

Sung to the same tune as the English terrace chant” Time to go”, it basically means

“Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, ole!,
We’ve come here to get drunk …
We don’t care about the result!”

The translation doesn’t really do the song justice, but it’s really great when the whole crowds singing it.

A few Spanish tunes in front of the main stage, with “Camisa Negra”, going down particularly well, the Spanish flag waving throughout the crowd. Then suddenly that’s it, the German organisers have decided that enought is enough, it’s half past eleven, everybody’s had enough now, time to back home and to bed. For me home was a drenched piece of canvas, and bed being a soggy and wet sleeping mat. That’s the downside of buying a cheap and cheerful tent from Carrefour, it’s great in the good weather, but if it rains you’re in trouble !

I was really impressed with the Spanish fans. Living in Spain and following football, you really get the impression that the international game is a firm second to the clubs, and that people don’t really care what happens with the national team. So I didn’t really know what kind of atmosphere I’d find, whether there’d be many fans or not. But they were there in force, sporting flags and colours and classic Spanish costumes. And they probably made the most continuous noise I’ve heard, throughout the whole build up you could always here a Spanish drum or a ‘Viva España” somewhere. Also it was noticeable how family based the fan groups were, there were all ages, from young kids through to the grandparents. All up for Fiesta, just like it is in Spain. I enjoyed being part of it, especially as it’s a culture i relate to a lot now, having lived there for 4 years. I was wearing a Valencia shirt, and several people came up to shake my hand and shout “Amunt Valencia!”. A top day.

And then yesterday, Germany and England both made it through as group winners. I watched the Germany game in a Frankfurt Bar. It was a far cry from the intense atmosphere of the Dortmund, the bar was just full of city workers that wanted Germany to win, but weren’t gonna get too excited about it. Lots of applause and the odd shout when the goals went in but that was about it. On the streets though the German flag was flying everywhere. The Germans have really rediscovered a sense of patriotism in this world cup, in a very positive way. I’ll try and touch more on this in a later post, it’s very interesting watching all this out here at the moment.

After a few ‘Apple wines’ in a Biergarden, the local tipple here, off to the riverside ‘Main Arena’ to watch England v Sweden. Great first half I thought, Rooney looking pretty sharp and Joe Cole banging in a beauty. Pity about Owen going off, looks like he’s out of the tournament. But at least we have Crouchy, on the bench, best striker in the tournament by far 😉 Come on Crouchy ! Second half though and Sweden just took the game to us. It’s really quite worrying how we can suddenly go from controlling the game one half, to being almost outclassed during the second. The last minute Swedish equaliser made it a fair result i thought, and we’ve still managed to win the group. But imagine if we switch off like that against a team in the knockout stages, we’ll be back into the nightmare penalty scenario before we know it.

But from a personal point of view, England winning the group is perfect. If we get past Ecuador then I have tickets for the quarter final in Gelsenkirchen, which would be against one of Portugal, Mexico, Holland or Argentina. I’m starting to get excited. COME ON ENGLAND !

At the moment i’m back in base camp Langen, Frank’s place near Frankfurt. From now on i’ll be doing trips out from there, rahet than shooting round the coutry camping, though i’m sure they’ll still be a few more nights under canvas. This evening Argentina and Holland are in Frankfurt for the Group C decider. The Blue and white stripes and the Dutch orange were all over town yesterday. It’s amazing how the Dutch just stand out a mile in those bright colours, you can’t get away from them. And they were doing a great job of winding up our hosts yesterday, with a chant, in German, of “We are Dutch, we’re in Germany and we’re gonna win the World Cup!”. Should be a good atmosphere and hopefully a cracking game tonight.