It is less than 1 hour to the opening kickoff of the World Cup 2006 and after a long 4-year buildup it is finally Partytime in Deutschland. I have already reserved my favorite Stammtisch (VIP table at the local pub), work is finished for the day, and all I can think about is that first long pull from a cool and refreshing German pilsner at 1800 hours tonight. The opening game is between the host nation Germany and Costa Rica and being from the “Colonies” myself I am definitely rootin’ for the boys from the Americas. There could be trouble at the local pub tonight surrounded by all of those fanatic, nervous German fans, but I’m ready. Remember the Alamo, Mexico!
As you can imagine the Stimmung (mood) is one of very high excitement all over the country and it is great to see the German people castoff their typical terrible habit of complaining about every damn thing under the sun and give some real meaning to the phrase Willkommen in Deutschland (Welcome to Germany). I must say that the German people have outdone themselves in working so hard to make this World Cup event a success and enjoyable for everyone, so the world will be looking forward to the next four weeks of Football Fever with excellent and fair play on the field and off.
The hometown team (U.S.A. Men’s National Team) faces the formidable Czech Republic on Monday night (6/12/06) and then they play the Italian team (6/17/06) followed by a match with Ghana (6/22/06). It’s an uphill battle for my favorite team but I figure if Bruce Arena can lead the U.S. Boyz to victory in the very tough Group E then it will be a breeze all the way to the quarterfinals and perhaps on to the (God forbid) championship match. The U.S. Men’s National Team is often the butt of jokes and teasing over here in Europe (and amongst my African buddies) but I remain a diehard fan and will fight for them in the pub and on the streets (Bring 'em on!) while they take care of business on the football pitch. The U.S. Team by the way is rated Number 5 out of the 32 teams qualified for the World Cup this year. As the great Brazilian champion footballer Pelé was saying the other night, “Anything is possible at the World Cup!” More about this great sporting event later, I think that my lovely little Geman Pils may be getting a bit too warm down at the Kneipe (pub).
Good Luck at the World Cup 2006 to all of my readers who are avid football fans. May the best team win and hoping that you have a great time at the biggest party on the planet whether you are here in Germany or at home in the World with family and friends.
Der Spiegel World Cup 2006 Special (English)
Der Spiegel’s World Cup 2006 Germany Survival Bible (English)
German government official World Cup 2006 website (multilingual)
U.S. Soccer official website, blog, and daily podcasts (Americanisch)
BBC News World Cup 2006 Special (The Queen's English)
Technorati tags: World Cup 2006 world cup soccer Football Global Voices
Mandela, Mobutu & Me
5 years ago
1 comment:
O.K., so my guys lost against Germany yesterday 4-2. I was greatly outnumbered by the German fans down at my local and everyone game me funny looks when I cheered for goals made by Costa Rica.
But, the highlight of the evening was the excellent win by Ecuador over Poland (2-0). The dark horse team from the Andes is "in the house" and there is no doubt that these guys have come to play some serious ball. Can they stop Germany and Brazil??? Absolutely, and I'll put cold, hard cash on it too!
Tor! Tor! Tor! Ecuador! Yessir!
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