Svan heading home
- 11 Jul 06, 03:05 PM
BELGIUM - It seems strange to no longer be in Germany. It feels strange to write that sentence.
I guess my moment of realisation that the party was actually over came when the fireworks exploded over the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
This sensation was rammed home this morning when I looked at Bild newspaper. For the last four weeks the 'i' in the spelling on the cover has been replaced by the World Cup trophy. No longer.
Monday evening in Cologne was almost surreal in that I saw no football fans, no team shorts, scarves, flags, banners - the physical language that has defined our time in Germany.
Our camp site was quiet, devoid of the partying Dutchmen or Swedes or whoever else has been parked next to us during the tournament.
On Tuesday morning we went into Cologne and had a quick look around the - but in truth the real buzz came when we went shopping for last-minute World Cup tat.
Everything was cut price, they were almost giving the stuff away, and we loaded up big style.
Ricco’s Polski evening shirt - reduced from 19 euros to one - really is a hideous work of art.
As we crossed the border into Belgium I felt happy to be going home but sad to be leaving a country where so many great things happened while I was there.
To attend a is a privilege and something I will never forget (I doubt whether I will ever forget penalty shoot-out in Gelsenkirchen either but for a totally different set of reasons).
But to me what will live longest in the memory happened outside the stadiums and I think that in essence is what a World Cup is really all about - a huge party for people from all over the globe.
Some of it wasn’t great - a conversation with a supporter of one nation who suggested his team's improved performances was because there were no black people in the side stays with me for all the wrong reasons.
And inevitably with so many people from so many different places all here at the same time there have been some flash points.
But most of the aggression I saw happened in the various media centres when the time came to allocate tickets from a waiting list.
Some almighty scrambles broke out as people from different cultures reacted in radically different ways to the whole process. Tempers frayed as respectable human beings behaved unpleasantly. It was humanity in one of its lowest forms.
What I really enjoyed was bumping into people from all over the world and having a beer with them, talking about football, looking at their silly outfits and learning about the places they come from.
The tournament seemed to develop a momentum all of its own as fans traveled from place to place following their team.
The autobahns were full of camper vans and cars with flags fluttering from their windows. There was just a great buzz all over the country - helped immeasurable by the performance of the host nation.
I dread to think what effect it would have had on the mood of the nation - and in turn impacted on the tournament as a whole - if the German team had fallen flat on its face.
The group stages passed in a blur. It took Ricco and I some time to find our feet and there never seemed to be enough hours in the day, our early-morning plans continually sliding.
We really saw very few group games (and I’m talking TV here) and after 15 days or so I for one was starting to feel a bit jaded.
But that is where the energy of the World Cup comes in - it seems to lift you up and ensure you are able to carry on.
In the last week I felt like a mobile phone down to the last bar but at the same time knew that these are the sort of occasions you remember forever and must enjoy the maximum of your ability.
I like to think that I spent all the energy that I had for as one fan said to me when talking to me about something completely different “make sure you don’t die wondering”.
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You work for the 主播大秀 which covers the whole of the UK. Thanks for letting us other British people know that England's penalty shoot-out collapse, in a tournament where all their failings were cruelly exposed, will live long in your memory.
My world cup experience has been soured by the media's constant linking of anything to do with the WORLD cup to one small bit-part team in it.
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It was an honor to read the 主播大秀 Blog about the World Cup, see the World Cup on Univision TV [The US Latin TV Station], and to work as a citizen reporter for Univision during the World Cup. These are unforgettable moments.
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Sounds like you have memories and impressions to last a lifetime…and that’s what it is all about, isn’t it? Very few people experienced the World Cup as you and Martin have. In fact, one could argue that no one has. You should really take the time to write a book or at least a few essays.
The funny thing is that you’re now tired, burned-out, and so ready to go home. Yet after 5-7 days of down time, you’ll experience a sense of dull and are ready to do it all over again.
It’s been a pleasure to travel with you and Martin. Have a safe trip home.
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Hi Fletch and Ricco,
will you do a similar tour thru Switzerland and Austria in two years? Depending on how you plan your tour you might as well have to travel thru Germany again ;-)... Plus I can promise if you like the Germans you'll love the Austrians! I'm saying that being German myself.
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I really do despair.
I have listened to, and read, a huge amount of hot air over the Zidane incident. I am sorry, but for FIFA to launch an investigation into the circumstances, really takes that organisation well into the Twilight Zone.
Whilst the matter might well be sub-judice or whatever, let me give a quick summing up to the jury.
1. Zidane is God.
2. Zidane absolutely has never been sent off (apart from 13 other times, all of which never really happened, and were down to referee error)
3. Zidane would never headbutt another player in the chest and if it appeared that way that can only be down to misleading camera angles.
4. That nasty Italian man (who only plays for Inter, and since he has not appeared in an Adidas advert, is a nobody) really needs investigating just in case he said some naughty words or aimed a cheap shot at God.
So that's it then. The "tally" should be banned for life.
So while they are looking at this horrible injustice against the greatest player of his generation (sent off 14 times don't forget, paid ?100k per week plus, unable to take verbal abuse which I guess has never happened to him before) FIFA might also care to cast their eyes over: -
1. The spanish crowds monkey chants which merited I think a fine of 10,000 euro.
2. The antics of the entire argentina squad post penalty defeat to Germany.
3. Ditto Portugal in all their games.
4. Ditto the assembled ranks of the world diving club who, happily for the rest of us, decided to hold their freestyle championships in Germany at the same time as the footie)
5. The swift way in which the Italian FA have identified corruption and dealt with it. A problem like this in FIFA's hands and I just wonder if we would be talking relegation or any sort of sanction. Indeed, and i digress, I wonder if UEFA will have the balls to omit the miscreants from the Champions League, especially when one of the clubs is owned by Berlusconi (and a key player in the G14).
6. The spanish manager referring to Henry as a "black shit" and being fined severely (2 euro and don't let me hear you calling him black again).
7. Their own pre-tournament edict to referees which left every man jack of them petrified of making a mistake and booking everyone who so much as broke wind near an opponent).
The point I am labouring here is that FIFA, UEFA et al might take the time to focus on some of the more pressing matters destroying the game. The World Cup this year, and let's not get too teary eyed about it, was largely crap. The last 16, the so called business end of the tournament displayed the collective willpower and determination (I exclude germany generally, Italy in extra time v germany, and England for 20 minutes v Portugal) of Mavis Riley off Corrie. In short, it was dull, hesitant, unimaginative, dreary. Unworthy of the greatest show on earth. The diving and histrionics was no example to show to any child, or anyone aspiring to be a player. When I was a boy, we had the Cruyff turn to emulate. What do we have to remember here. The Henry dive? The Ronaldo wink? I have heard not one word from FIFA about their determination to deal with the cheats. I have heard plenty of pundits say its "not workable". How's that then? Ask anyone who watched the last five weeks to name 5 cheats, and i bet they could.
So in a world cup ruined by overpaid tossers doing their damndest to win, even if in the process they ruin the hopes of an opponent, we end up with by far the most justified of red cards subject to an internal investigation. As we used to say at school, sticks and stones etc etc. Maybe they don't have an equivalent in France. Or maybe such rules do not apply to the Footballing Aristocracy (that's those guys having fun in Pepsi adverts and such like, giant salaries and egos to match).
Zizou is indeed the greatest player of his generation. Maybe he will rise above the furore, apologise, and say nothing justifies what he did. Maybe Materazzi will publicly apologise for whatever he said. Maybe someone from FIFA will say that, in the next world cup, a panel will investigate every case of "simulation" and the player involved will be banned from the tournament.
I am sorry, but this has got me down. Where has the honour gone?
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BREAKING NEWS: Klinsmann stepped back
According to two German newspapers Jürgen Klinsmann decided to step back. Press Conference Wednesday, 11.30am CET
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Aside from the football, a german blogger somewhere on these blogs after the portugal game who posted something along the lines of " for you tommy ze war is over, but zis time zer vill be no escape because ve haf sabotaged ze motorcycles und you are condemned to four more years of vot might haf been!" I think it was marcus. So funny and maybe they are even winning in the humour stakes. Thank you that man!
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Well thank heavens that's over. Watching England play was like having a tooth drilled with no anaesethic waiting for the nerve to hit. I hope the new manager abandons Svens 9-0-1 formation as this was the second most disasterous decision next to choosing the goalkeeper. Surely there must be a better keeper in the country than Robinson. My Grandmother could do better.
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