Racing towards Gelsenkirchen
- 1 Jul 06, 10:05 AM
A SERVICE STATION - I drive until the (not so) early hours to get us within striking distance of Gelsenkirchen- and England's quarter-final tie with Portugal.
Ricco and I went to the match between Italy and Ukraine in Hamburg on Friday night.
As we were leaving the stadium a helicopter sprung into life and took off from a training field next to the ground.
I strongly suspect that Franz Beckenbauer was on board and reckon he will have got home - wherever that is - before we reached the carpark where Svan was waiting.
Thankfully, we had a very clean run in terms of getting on the autobahn and the patch-up job on Svan seems to be holding fine.
But I have to say that on a motorway without speed limits or lighting, driving in the dark is a very tricky experience.
You look to pull out to overtake a lorry and, given that there are often only two lanes in each direction, try to make sure there is nothing travelling in the outside one at supersonic speed.
Easier said than done given that Svan likes to overtake at a very leisurely pace.
One time last night I pulled out and suddenly discovered a car had appeared from nowhere and was now well and truly up my backside, flashing away.
After overtaking I quickly returned to the inside lane but must have done so too close to the lorry behind because he starting flashing his lights and banging his horn again and again and again.
Man, he was really not happy.
Anyway, we are now less than 100 kilometres from Gelsenkirchen and hope to find a campsite within the Dortmund area.
I'm not quite sure how much space remains anywhere in the general area given the number of England fans said to be heading to Gelsenkirchen so it is very much a case of fingers crossed.
I cannot remember being this excited about a football match in ages.
I mean, we've been here before under Sven but surely this time, more than any other time, he'll get it right?
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Sounds like another dull day at the 'office'
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Were gonna beat portugal no problem, no ronaldo, no deco, no costinha, and it surely wont be 3rd time lucky for phil scolari
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My fingers are tingling with anticipation too, and there's still 6 hours till kick-off. Penalties would kill me I tink.
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Here is a , from www.essen.de (bottom of the page).
Some of them are by the ; maybe you are lucky to find a spot there?
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Perhaps the lorry driver's signaling wasn't about your narrow cutting in. He must have recognized your beat-up RV and gave you a "thank you" for your entertaining blog.
I can't wait for the Germany vs. England clash in Berlin. Come on England (!!) and follow our team to Berlin.
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i think england will surely win all hopes on england!
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I just cant wait for the kick off !!!
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I think the lorry driver knew you were English and that's why You got such harsh treatment :)
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Hi Paul, sounds like you*re driving like a Dutchman. Their driving is the main reason for us not liking them too much ;-)
Beckenbauer's world cup home is in Frankfurt, with all the officials of the DFB (German FA). Privately, since he got married a few weeks ago, his home town is now Salzburg in Austria.
GOOD LUCK ENGLAND! Today let's send home all Portugese speaking countries!!!
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Hey Andreas, do you have any problem with portuguese speaking countries?Because, if you do,well...then we are very sorry, because today you (England) will be sent home.I confess that it will be an exciting game and it will be hard to beat the English...but we can face them!:)
And by the way, Brazil will beat France easily!There's no doubt of that..
Ppl take care, and let's hope Portugal wins today's match ;P
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We must realise our team did not play the best football today and are not renowned for being the best at penalties. During the main part of the match Portugal played excellent football. Why do our players see the need to cry on the pitch because they lost a football match, even if it was a World Cup game? Do other sportsmen and women in other sports do that when they lose a match? After all, it is a game, nobody died, and there are so many more important things in this life to worry about. I have enjoyed this world cup but really do not think that England have played as well as other teams... so we are out... I can't think too many people are that surprised. Let's move on, and find other ways to channel our energies...
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