Great to be German

The Germans have no sense of humour, we were told; they are cold, arrogant, can’t take defeat and don’t know how to have a good time. And their football team sucks.

Wrong on all counts. After the ersatz football culture of Japan, this was a tournament where football finally came home, to a country mad about the sport. And Germany showed us they could be great hosts, play some great football and they didn’t switch off the lights when they left the party.

Every first-time visitor to Germany, and even those who’ve been here before, was surprised at the attitude of the general public: From the FIFA volunteers to fellow German journalists to the man on the street, everyone was on best behaviour. Even the police, who handled the English hordes with great tact.

There was some great football in the stadiums but the best place to watch was usually the fan zones, those areas in the city centre where they put up huge screens, set up food and beer stalls and invited the world to party.

And the world came along, by plane, by train, in thousands of camper vans; in Berlin, 700,000 people would gather in the fan mile; one million are expected for tonight’s final.

High Street, Germany, was happy at the high spending; even those who cut down on every other cost ended up spending on the beer!

The big surprise, of course, was how Germany celebrated itself, with the flags, the songs, the painted faces; it was great to be German, it was fine to be proud of the Fatherland. The Kaiser and the Chancellor led the way, the nation followed as the team gave them a dream to believe. Michael Ballack was regal, Miroslav Klose lethal, Lukas Podolski the tyro. And when the team eventually lost, there was no anger, not even too many tears, just thanks for having got that far.

... contd.