World Cup blog: Week 2

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Sunday

It seems the ambulance section of the Fire Service in Frankfurt is to close its detox station because of a lack of demand.

The anticipated number of supporters expected to have overindulged in the amber gold just hasn't eventuated.

Even more surprising is that England played in the Frankfurt stadium!

In other strange news, Germans overwhelmed by the newfound acceptance of demonstrating patriotism for their country have apparently been duped into buying Belgian flags which have the same black, gold and red colours just organised in a different order.

It kind of puts outsiders' concerns about rising German nationalism into perspective when many folk don't even recognise there own national flag, eh.

Well for me another day means another train journey - this time from Bremen to Munich.

For those unfamiliar with German geography that is essentially a trip from one end of the country to the other.

Not that this 600km or so trek from the Protestant north to the Catholic south will be too uncomfortable, travelling on the Inter-City service the journey will take only a little over five hours.

The Inter-City trains reach speeds of well over 200km/h and run so smoothly that you can rest your cup of coffee on the fold-out trays with no fear of spilling the contents onto your one remaining clean pair of pants.

We've just reached Hannover where some of the stragglers from the Mexico v Angola match have joined us.

Before the encounter the Mexican fans, who created a quite fantastic atmosphere in the stadium, had been confident of a comfortable victory.

Juan Ruiz and his pals from Huatabampo in the Sonova province were tipping a 4-0 outcome, the same result predicted by Raul Rodriguez and his mates from Queretaro.

"Mexico should score even more goals but they enjoy partying too much so four would do," Raul explains.

Even Angolan fan Domingas Lamberga was bracing herself for a 2 to 3 nil loss.

"It's our first time at the World Cup, we're just happy to be here," she adds.

As it was, Angola secured the first points for a black African side at this tournament with a 0-0 draw and the way the 4000 fans from the nation which has only recently emerge from years of civil war celebrated you could be excused thinking they had won the final itself.
- - - posted 5:25am by Robin Martin


Friday

So readers are you superstitious? Do you believe in the power of lucky charms? Do you have to put the left shoe on before the right or follow some other such ritual?

Sport is littered with stories of superstitious players who would only wear a certain number on their back or had to listen to the same song on their Walkman every time before entering the playing arena.

And here in the nzherald.co.nz World Cup blog we would like to add to that fine tradition.

Our story has to do with the Brazil striker Kaka, scorer of his side's winning goal against Croatia in Berlin on June 14 (NZ time).

It turns out that after arriving at the stadium the AC Milan playmaker realised he had left his wedding ring at the team's hotel and was anguishing about having to take the field without it safely in his custody.

Our source? Former Aucklander Luka Hinse who is now resident in Berlin - was working as a chauffeur for the Brazil management team on the day.

"Staff at the hotel had already found the ring and the guy who was looking after the team in Berlin asked me to quickly go and pick it up," the former Grey Lynn resident said.

What followed was a dash across on of Europe's largest cities.

"I got the ring easily enough and got back to the stadium just minutes before kickoff."

Luka, who has been driving around VIPs throughout the tournament so far, said he was escorted directly into the Brazil changing room and personally handed over the wedding ring to Kaka.

The rest, as they say, is history?

For his endeavours with the side Luka had already been gifted a Brazil shirt with the number 10 on the back and one wonders what he might get if they go on to defend their title.
- - - posted 10.00pm by Robin Martin


Good blog, nice to have something different from: bodger in form, 2nil, injured spleen, etc... Just wondering if you can post any wide shots of the venues and people, towns, cities etc.
- - - posted 2.25pm by Guy

Hey Guy, thanks for the comments on the blog. I've attached two wide shots. One is of a wee flag waving exercise at the opening ceremony and the other from the Paraguay v Sweden match just recently. Hope they satisfy your wide-angle curiosity.
- - - posted 10.00pm by Robin Martin


Wednesday

Well, what do you know, sometimes football isn't as much fun as you'd like to think.

The best thing about watching a veteran France XI stroll their way to a 0-0 draw with Switzerland in Stuttgart was spotting Mick McCarthy loitering at a stadium exit shortly after the match.

Asked what he thought of the match the famously straightforward former Republic of Ireland coach - you'll remember he had a personality clash with that laidback character Roy Keane at the last Cup - didn't exactly hold back.

"France were shite. I wouldn't fancy their chances based on that," said the man who Sunderland somewhat reluctantly let go from the manager's post, before politely asking your lowly correspondent his opinion.

I won't bore you with my answer after all who am I, if not an over 35s kicker simply enjoying his midlife crisis, but McCarthy's tips were not that unusual. Although, that said, he didn't mention Brazil.

"Argentina, Holland . . . England. I expect England to improve on their performance against Paraguay.''

And then just as he was about to elaborate on the Limey's chances, he is here working as a BBC pundit after all, his cellphone rings.

"Excuse me, mate. I've got to go find the missus."

Yeah, right! Afraid of accidentally giving a scoop to the nzherald.co.nz's World Cup blog more like.
- - - posted 10.35am by Robin Martin


Tuesday

OK, I know it is bordering on treason to support the Aussies in any shape or form but after their come from behind win over Japan I should be allowed some licence, right'

After that match (for those who have been in space and haven't heard - a 3-1 win where the Aussie goals all came in the last five or so minutes) I'm right behind them and after all they are Oceania's representatives at this tournament.

Down on the Kaiserslautern fan-mile what had started as a bi-cultural football festival on the during the late morning quickly descended into a good old-fashioned Australian bash after the match, inclusive of the binge drinking (but who can blame them, eh').

Earlier thousands of Japanese supporters and Australian fans had mingled downtown in this city of just 100,000. It was easily the best pre-match atmosphere I've experienced so far.

One group of well-rehearsed Japanese greeted their rivals for the day with chants of "gidday, mate", "no worries" and the rather nerve-jangling "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, oi, oi".

No Australians were witnessed replying in Japanese but Waltzing Matilda rang out along the fan-mile late into the night and the German love of AC/DC was falsely interpreted as special welcome for the visiting fans (ah, if they only knew of the local obsession with dated heavy metal music).

By this time the Japanese fans had almost vanished. Often family groups or guys with girlfriends they had obviously gone to mourn their team's missed opportunity in more subdued surroundings.

Meanwhile gold-clad hordes from Down Under, complete with their inflatable kangaroos, partied on.

The Australian fans have been described as the biggest peacetime invasion of Europe since the Anzacs, or at least since the OE became virtually compulsory in our part of the world.

John from Perth (whose Greek surname I will not insult by trying to spell here) reckoned 50,000 Australians were expected in Germany, only 3000 of which had bought tickets officially.

And if you found the handful of empty seats in the Betzenberg Stadium a bit disconcerting, firstly blame the touts, and then consider this:

* My host at Kaiserslautern Arndt Kiessling is a heart surgeon who found World Cup tickets so hard to come by that he volunteered to work in the stadium.

* There were 1000 volunteers in action at Kaiserslautern and Arndt in his "security" role was one of only 150 who were actually lucky enough to catch the game.

* In his other role he then got up at 6am to prepare to operate on some poor unfortunate soul -- but don't worry he was very well behaved the evening before as one would expect, eh.

Special thanks must go out to Arndt and his wife Uli - absolutely wonderful hosts.
- - - posted 8.35am by Robin Martin


While you're off swanning around courtesy of my Herald subscription, the mighty Western Springs (over 35s) beat top of the table South Auckland Rangers 2-1. We were especially strong down the lefthand side of the park, please stay longer.
- - - posted 8.40am by Dave W

Ah David, if only it was your Herald subscription that was paying for this trip - self-funded, mate. Good to here the boys are putting it together finally. I've always thought that left-side of midfield was a bit dodgy. I'll be working hard to win my place back I can see that already. Go the Springs!
- - - posted by Robin Martin 9.25am


Hi Rob sounds like you are having a ball. Are you able to get some interviews with the fans?? Are you able to take any wacky photos. Watch out for those Englishmen when their team starts to lose!! Ciao from Ian. Roll on Italia!!!
- - - posted 10.40am by Ian Donachie

Hi there, Ian. Yeah, wacky quotes from the fans - well, I could give you hundreds from the English but most couldn't be put up on a family blog like this one now could they. But I did get amongst the media ruck and speak to John Aloisi after the Aussie opening match. A very easy going chap he described the win as one of the greatest days in in Australian footballing history: "I don't know if it was the greatest ever, but our first win at the World Cup, our first goals ... I just love scoring goals and I was just lucky enough to get on the field and now I'm one of only two Australians to have scored at the World Cup. Asked if coach Guus Hiddink was a genius after throwing on all his offensive craft Aloisi said: "He'd certainly say he was ... well two of us scored." And, on fellow goal scorer Tim Cahill: "Well what can you say he scored two goal and the second was a beaut ... and a great pass that lead to it too." The striker giving himself a little pat on the back for the assist. Ian, you can find more pics by following the "more pics" link, they're organised week after week rather than in one shot. Happy searching. See ya, Robin
- - - posted 8.40am Wednesday by Robin Martin


Monday

It was Sunday morning in Deutschland and church bells were ringing out around Weinheim somewhat like the metaphorical ones in the back of my head after England's opening group match.

They did however signal a day of rest and it was a message I was definitely taking on board - I'm not going anywhere near a football stadium today!

After a round trip down to Munich for the opening match with a stopover to catch England v Paraguay in Frankfurt on the return leg, I feel like I'm Marcus Lush in some Germanic episode from his trainspotters' television series Off The Rails.

Not that I'm complaining mind. The rail system here is after all what is making this trip possible and true to German stereotypes the trains run on time. The dreaded "leaves on the track" scenario so fondly remembered from London is not an issue here.

But back to the match: what an atmosphere! The England fans who made up the vast majority of the sold out Waldpark Stadium crowd, really know how to make a noise. They even had some support from cricket internationals Freddy Flintoff and Steve Harmison who had earlier been drinking in town with the hoi polloi.

No need for hit music or cheerleaders to fire up the stadium during breaks in play, when the England football supporters are around. (Sorry, rugby fans. Never mind I'm sure the All Blacks gave the Irish a good pounding).

When they break into God Save The Queen or better still the New Order hit from 1986 Football's Coming Home, the rafters of the fantastic Frankfurt stadium literally shook. Pity the game was such a disappointment.

A fluky 1-0 win didn't exactly set the fans alight but they still know the value of a first-up win at the World Cup.

As Rowena Everson, originally from Canterbury in Kent, but now based in Singapore put it: "They started well but lacked direction and got frustrated. It was really disappointing when they took off Joe Cole and put a more defensive player - Owen Hargreaves - on."

The veteran of the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup was happy enough to take the win and remembered: "Brazil didn't start that well last time and I'm just hoping we'll get better from here." And well she might based on that performance.

Oh well, temperatures near 30C are forecast again to day so I might go and find a swimming pool.
- - - posted 10.00am by Robin Martin