Weltmeisterschaft 2006

It started slowly….
One day in April I went to Berlin and these statues had appeared. First, next to the Reichstag there was a giant aspirin. Then when I walked over by the new train station there were these giant soccer cleats.



The motive became clear. Berlin was preparing for the madness that would be gripping Deutschland June-July 9th. They wanted to show off German accomplishments for the many visitors that would be filling the streets.
When I moved to Hamburg, they had a slightly approach. They had placed these rather ugly neon blue soccer goals all over the city. The goals were a bit more captivating at night though.



So as June approached, everything started to look like soccer balls. Grills, hamburgers, brötchen, hair cuts, kiosks…. Everything was soccer balls. Any company sponsor tried to show their support whenever possible.



On June 9th, it was official. The Weltmeisterschaft 2006 had begun. Melinda and I managed to get a seat at the local beer garden to watch Deutschland v. Costa Rica. Even though it was only the first game, the Germans celebrated like Chapel Hill did when UNC won the NCAA championship.



Later in the week, me and Melinda wanted to watch the game, but we didn’t know where to go. So we decided to follow people dressed up for the game, and see where they were going. That’s how we discovered the Hamburg Fan Fest. Every city hosting a game has a Fan Fest. Every country in the tournament has a tent serving the traditional food of that country. I think the USA tent had popcorn…



Yay America!
The Fan Fest also included games, like Human Foosball.



And of course the Fan Fest has a gigantic television screen and stadium seating for all the people without tickets to the games. Here I saw Brazil v. Croatia.



So as the Weltmeisterschaft went on, Germany kept winning. And the people kept celebrating. I even got into German football spirit.



Germany’s most exciting, and maybe most celebrated win was after Germany v. Argentina. Look how happy everyone is!



The police did have to come tell the people to get out of the street.



Not so valiant as Tieneman Square, but soccer is important here…
A party invite brought me back to Berlin for the weekend as the final. I don’t think the atmosphere was quite as buzzy as if Germany were in the final, but I did get to see the giant soccer ball in front of the Brandenburger Tor.



I had to head back to Hamburg before the final started, but as I was walking to the train station to go home I found myself surrounded by fans funneling into the Berlin Fan Mile.



On the train back to Hamburg, the conductor made announcements as to the status of the game. The electronic signs in the Ubahn stations flashed the score every few seconds.
Soccer brings the world together.
2010! Let’s go!