World Cup blog: Week 3

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Sunday

Young mothers, babes thrown over their shoulders or tucked up in prams, jostle for position with advertising wannabes outside the Weltempanger pub in the trendy Berlin neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg.

Amid a lot of "air kissing" a big-screen viewing of the second round clash between Germany and Sweden has dragged hundreds of people down on to the streets.

More than 1 million are reported to have swamped the Tiergarten fan-mile for the beginning of the knockout phase of the World Cup and even here in a quarter more known for its "alternative lifestylers" and "creatives", football is now seen an acceptable excuse for a block party.

The Weltempanger (which loosely translates as "world receiver") has been given permission to close off one corner of the Arkona Platz and about 400 locals have descended from their apartments, foldout stools in hand, to catch the action.

Blue smoke from a BBQ drifts across the screen and the tap-beer kegs require regular changing.

Cheap rents and a central location attracted thousands of students and young-ish folks to this former suburb of East Berlin shortly after the Wall came down -- now it boasts the highest birthrate in the city if not the country as a whole.

Prenzlauer Berg folk are not your typical sports crowd, the German national anthem is largely ignored, chancellor Merkel's appearance on screen is met with guffaws and football chants attract only a subdued following.

But even so Lucas Podolski's "dopplepack" of goals is met with roars of approval - the World Cup is simply infectious. I've lost count of how many times I've had to attempt to explain the offside rule in my broken German as people who have had previously little interest in football find themselves following the tournament with a fervour usually the territory of diehard fans.

Long after the result of the match is clear, dozens of people mill around catching up with friends - a nice spin-off from the footie.

Perhaps more surprising is that when we return at 9pm for the match between Argentina and Mexico (the first real classic match of this tournament perhaps. The second Argentine goal was simply unbelievable), the crowd is almost as large.

When I offer my sympathies to a staff member who seems to have been standing at the beer kegs all day she replies: "It's been like this for two weeks!"

It's been one big party and some are already wondering what the hangover is going to be like when the tournament ends.
- - posted 1am by Robin Martin

Saturday

Weaving through Berlin traffic on the back of a Honda 250cc scrambler sure beats using the metro and certainly gets the heart rate going -especially after a sleepless overnight train journey.

And what better way to take in the capital's landmarks.

We cruise past the Victory Column at the massive Tiergarten roundabout, pass near the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor and stop briefly at the controversial Holocaust Memorial -- and all this on a return trip to the Olympiastadion.

This massive colosseum-like arena is more than enough compensation for a drab match between Ukraine and Tunisia.

I kept expecting Russell Crowe to emerge from the catacombs to slay some lion or perhaps to challenge "Kaiser" (Franz Beckenbauer) to come down from his comfortable VIP seat and do battle on the playing field.

With a capacity of 72,000 for the World Cup the Olympiastadion is by some way the largest stadium encountered so far on this tour.

It is difficult not to be impressed by the architectural achievement which has been enhanced through a $500 million facelift for the tournament.

Built for the 1936 Olympics it was supposed to showcase Aryan superiority for young Adolf but Jesse Owens through a spanner in the works.

Jesse Owens Allee that borders one side of the arena pays tribute to the black US athlete who stole the limelight on the track.

Hundreds of thousands of Berliners and their guest are expected to gather at the Tiergarten fan-mile for the second round knockout match between Germany and Sweden.

It's going to be bedlam out there. Can't wait.

Paulo, yeah I made it to Bremen. World Cup fever there is enjoyed around the BBQ.

Portugal you reckon. I don't know.

At the moment it's hard to look past Argentina though if the Germans tap into the home advantage and beat them in a likely quarter-final clash the home side might go all the way.

Spain have looked good and could meet Brazil in another mouthwatering quarter-final.

It's certainly going to be interesting as the tournament goes into the knockout stages.
- - Posted 11.30am by Robin Martin


Friday

Well, what can I say it seems that the option of an overnight train to Berlin is an excellent option after all I'd never be able to get to sleep after the rollercoaster ride those Aussies have just put me through.

At the Stuttgart railway station at an hour when most decent folk should be tucked away in bed (in your case with an electric blanky) an Aussie brass band is playing while all around me long-faced Croatians are drowning their sorrows following their clash in Group F.

What a match!

The Kiwi contingent (of three) in the press tribune left whatever kind of neutrality we had at the door and lived the match as if true-blue Aussies - hey second round tickets were depending on them going through (you'll remember they are Oceania's representatives here).

After going behind to a fabulous freekick from Darijo Srna (one of three Aussies in the Croatian squad if you ask me) the Socceroos chased the game playing some fabulous football, letting the ball run using Harry Kewell as a link man.

Mark Viduka - some like to say he's Croatian too - was threatening but was a bit too cute before a handball allowed Craig Moore to equalise from the penalty spot.

Game on!

The Aussies were qualified at this stage and their fans raised themselves to compete against the ultra-nationalistic Croats in the opposite corner of the stadium.

In the second half Croatia upped the ante probably realising it was a straight battle between them and the Aussies as Japan fell behind to Brazil.

They were rewarded when Nico Kovac put the ball past Australia?s goalkeeper Zeljiko Kalac who had apparently replaced Mark Schwarzer because he could deal with crosses.

He was a disaster, at one stage virtually throwing the ball in his own net and flapping at this particular shot as it found its way to goal.

The Aussies threw everything forward ala their earlier clash with Japan and when Kewell got on the end of a Viduka flick on and smashed the ball home from close range they had their reward.

Bedlam (on the press benches too)!

The Aussies were through if they could hold onto the draw, remember.

The cards were flying everywhere and English referee did his best to write himself into history by showing Josip Simunic the yellow card three times and the red once - me thinks he won't be invited to referee one of the knock out matches.

They held on, "I come from a land down under" rang out on the PA and the cue had been given for another green and gold party.

For the Aussies their reward is a clash against Italy in Kaiserlautern - a happy hunting ground already against Japan.

The only question that remains to be answered is how many of their fans had booked the extra leave.
- - Posted 11.35am by Robin Martin

Guten Tag. England v Ecuador... Little-known fact. Ecuador is the birthplace of one Mrs Bobbit the Emasculator. Do you think England have the tools to reach a last-eight showdown with Holland or Portugal?
Danke schoen.
- posted 9.55am by Paul

aloha bro ...hope its all good over there ...maybe the team to watch that no one is talking about is portugal ? ....it's hot here , but watching each game in the am ....did you get to Bremen?
- Posted 9.55am by Paulo


Wednesday

Cologne is the home of the German carnival and its residents have a well-deserved reputation for partying and being great hosts which is just as well when you have tens of thousands of English and Swedish football fans coming to visit.

Sven Goran's boys were in town to decide who would finish top of Group B and avoid a probable clash with Germany if they won their earlier match against Ecuador and finished top of Group A.

(Which of course we all now know they did, meaning Germany will meet Sweden and England plays Ecuador in the first of the knockout rounds.)

The fact that Germany played on the same day as England and Sweden meant that there were in fact three (main at least) fan blocks moving through town.

The English occupied the steps in front of the dramatic Cologne Cathedral - the attraction of the Sun's Page Three girls might have had something to do with that - and also dominated the bars of the old city and the banks of the Rhine.

The Swedes had mostly stuck to their base in a park on the banks of the Rhine although there were healthy numbers of them about town. (The English also had a camp on the opposite side of the river where the games ran on big screens with commentary in their native tongue - good thinking Fifa.)

The Germans crammed into the Fan Centre for the earlier kickoff and the Carnival mile on the Zulpicherstrasse was closed to traffic to accommodate the thousands of locals who chose to watch the match in their traditional party district - Cologne's favourite son Podolski even managed to score.

The England v Sweden match was just fantastic and one of the best of the tournament so far with the Swedes twice coming from behind to draw 2-2.

The results all round seemed to satisfy most folks on the day meaning many a Kolnsch (the local drop) could be enjoyed but everything had remained friendly at least until this post was written.

Now it's off to Weinheim again to prepare to the big clash between the Aussies and Croatia to see if that mob from across the ditch can really qualify the knockout rounds.
--- Posted 1.30pm by Robin Martin

Lets face it Germany just isn't the place to be if you're vegetarian by persuasion.

Every meal here seems to come with a healthy serving of red meat whether it's the various forms of ham, salami or even raw mincemeat served with bread rolls for breakfast or the ubiquitous sausage.

Not wanting to take the Mad Butcher to task but the humble Kiwi banger pales by comparison to its German cousin - something masquerading as meat shoved on to a piece of white bread with burnt onion and tomato sauce just is not going to cut it here.

When tackling the tricky question of what kind of "wurst" to order one first has to get comfortable with the local terminology.

A bockwurst is a sausage that has been cooked in boiling water.

A bratwurst has been grilled or barbequed if you like. Every town seems to have a bratwurst that takes its name but I'm told they are essentially the same

Rindfleisch is beef but beef sausages and even steaks are rare.

I'm told this simply because beef is so expensive here and therefore they don't sell well outside of restaurants.

Schweinfleisch is pork and from what I can make out most sausages and the BBQ steaks are pork.

Experience has taught me the frankfurter is a rather sad looking form of bockwurst but when in Rome, eh.

The krakauer bratwurst - my personal favourite - is a spicier pork sausage that has a little more bite to it and comes originally from Poland. Most staff at the many wurst imbisse (takeaway joints) will tell you that the Polish krakauer is even better.

Most wurst come with a healthy serving of mustard (senf) and tomato sauce if desired and in the case of the most popular bratwurst of them all (the currywurst) a sprinkling of curry powder. A strange idea that one if you ask me.

Fifa apparently wanted to ban wurst from the stadiums for the duration of the Cup and subject fans to a diet of McDonald's but in a victory for the common man the German authorities refused to surrender this cultural icon to commercial interests (although they did lose the fight over local beer).

Well that's given me an appetite.

Go the England!
- - posted 11am by Robin Martin

Monday

Munich has been awash in a sea of green and gold for the past 48 hours but then what else would you expect when Australia and Brazil meet at the World Cup, eh?

The Aussies may have had to wear their away colours of blue for the clash but that didn't seem to matter to the thousands of their countrymen and women who stuck with the traditional colours meaning you could barely tell the supporters of each side apart - unless you got up close of course, those Brazilians do after all have particular a style all of their own.

And while the Aussies may have gone down 0-2 on the pitch I can report that our antipodean cousins gave a good account of themselves on the terraces so to speak (everyone gets a seat these days if you know what I mean).

Their supporters are becoming more and more unified in their backing of the team with various chants and renditions of Aussie classics such as Waltzing Matilda being joined by huge blocks in the stands.

Described as the biggest moment in Australian football history the result of the match has set up another classic when the Socceroos meet Croatia later in the week essentiallyfor a place in the second round.

As you'd expect the football party went on into the night with the Brazilians being in the mood to dance just slightly more than their rivals.

I chose to find a seat at one of the beer gardens at the Odeonplatz and catch the Korea v France match.

Hundreds of locals and visitors from a multitude of countries gathered in front of a big screen in what has become typical all over Germany since the Cup began.

The combination of summer temperatures and a shortage of match tickets has made an evening amongst friends catching up with the football an attractive option for many and who can blame them.

In for a bit off a culture shock now as I head to Cologne for the England v Sweden match.
--- Posted 12.30pm by Robin Martin

Spare a thought for Munich locals Michael Sicklinger and Marie-Theres Wissing who found themselves at the centre of a huge Aussie bash at the Lowenbraukeller in Stiglmaierplatz the night before Australia's clash with Brazil.

The couple, who are to marry in October, had come to the Lowenbraukeller to check out the band they plan to hire for the big day but instead found themselves enjoying a few steins with the folks from Down Under.

Squashed in with hundreds of the 2500 fans travelling with the Australian Football Federation's tour they hadn't managed to catch the band at all by the time I left them but they had definitely made a lot of new friends.

Between beers, football on the big screen and tucking into huge servings of pork, sauerkraut and potato salad Barvarian style the crowd was supposedly to be entertained by the folks from the Footy Show although I could find no evidence of old Reg.

Not there was any lack of characters.

A personal favourite was Strapper, a Brisbane lad clad head-to-toe in a kangaroo suit he had made with his own loving hands.

"Don't come too close, mate. I've been wearing this for three days and I'm getting pretty high," he warned.

Not that he was too worried about his personal hygiene as he planned to head into the Marienplatz to mingle with the Brazil fans.

The man was certainly in demand for photos and you could see him being very popular with the rival supporters.

There was plenty of talk of football too of course.

Trent Hansen, a player with Rochedale Rovers in Brisbane, was unsure how the Aussies would go against the might of Brazil while Matthew Noakes, a Queenslander on his OE, was backing the Socceroos to cause an upset but admitted he wouldn't want to put his house on it.

Taking my cue from Strapper I headed into the Marienplatz where the "real" World Cup party is happening in front of the impressively floodlit Alte Rathaus or old town hall if you like.

Thousands of predominantly young Aussies and Brazilians were gathered there, drinking, dancing and enjoying sultry summer temperatures at about midnight!

There were other fans too of course even a bunch of Scots in kilts.

"Someone said there was a party and we weren?t invited but we thought we'd come anyhow," replied one when asked what were they doing there.

The Brazilians are a curious bunch, friendly sure but arrogant in the extreme about their team especially considering their first-up struggle against Croatia.

I couldn't find one Brazil fan who tipped anything less than a 3-0 win for their side over Australia but a bit of confidence never did anyone any harm, right.
--- posted 7.15am by Robin Martin