It was a brilliant night. Once I was in the stadium it didn't matter they all decided to stay home... just that feeling ... that buzzing excitement shortly before the game starts... I could live off that.
Thought I post a few pics ... I can't remember there ever being flags above the designated entrances... but I like it ... also note that there was hardly anything to keep the fans apart...
but suddenly security freaked out, coz some idiots stirred up a fight outside. That made me feel a bit uneasy first, but then I thought... I can speak their (security guys) language, I'm gonna be okay ... in Rome I'd have a problem.
It was a good game for my B-team ... Schland was looking not so good. But hey, everyone can have an off-day. I was glad JT could make up for that mistake of his... which in a way was comedy gold... just good it didn't happen in an important game.
Thing is, from where I sat I could hardly make out who was who. My eyes were hurting badly from doing that Computer Course and not sleeping enough (which is my own fault), so the number on JT's shirt appeared to be a 66 for most of the time... blurry vision.
I can't remember there being helicopters around for the World Cup, but then it was 2 years ago. Sometimes there are media-copters... this time it was police, I guess ... and I swear they had the helicopter directly pointed to look at me almost throughout the entire game ...
as the game went on I was starting to get a bit paranoid ...
seriously... it was freaky! TC-freakish...
Anyway, the game left me very happy and I've been feeding off that feeling ever since ... it will be a while till I'll see them again.
Leaving the stadium, I was in a state of utter amusement ... being German myself and on the other side of the human fence while everyone else was kinda stuck behind it was weird.
I had a LOT of space to walk around, almost all the other englandfans had already left, while my poor 62.000 or more countrymen were not so lucky...
meanwhile the journos tried to get a few interviews ... "it's for GMTV" ...
and here we have it... more space ... and a wall made of police vans which magically arranged themselves during the game to keep the fans apart afterwards...
I never felt this protected before ... nevermind the fact that I was basically being protected from my next door neighbours... it was a very bizarre experience! but soon I realised it had its advantages ... the police-van-later-transformed-into-policemen-chain/fence/wall led me right to the best platform to get away from the stadium ... the one where the normal service runs ... the extra trains are such a pain ... so while thousands of angry Germans (I heard them ... they weren't too happy) were huddled together, hardly able to move or get on a train, I walked around rather freely... though I gotta say the police presence outside the station (including horseys) was a bit scary too...
well, that was until I walked into the station building and looked to my left, where this comical moment had me giggling...
they looked like robots who were programmed to not let anyone walk through those doors.
I was home around midnight ... which I suppose must have been a record for a late game ... usually it takes ages.
The trip back home was .. well interesting. I've been to many England games now, but this was the first time I got really squashed and had trouble breathing... which wasn't made easier by the people, who were doing the squashing, jumping, hitting the glass windows and singing that stupid "ten german bombers" song at a Germany fan who had sneaked on the train ... and yeah they were carrying beer in plastic cups and smoked on the train ... while I could barely move. I smiled though... their prison tattoos warned me not to do anything else ... but at least a cute guy from Hull was frequently asking me whether I was alright. Surprisingly they didn't freak when they realised I was German and supporting England... they actually invited me to celebrate with them. But they weren't hot so I declined ... sadly the guy from Hull didn't ask. Once they got off the train at the Zoo, I was insulted by 3 boys from the South who for no particular reason were total asses towards me. My faked northern accent didn't amuse them either... nevertheless they also asked me to join them for a celebration... what made them think I would want to after they were so rude? Some people!
And by the way you three stupid rich boys, a german girl can support english football without having an english boyfriend... because girls can have own opinions too. (Not that I would mind having an english boyfriend ... or a boyfriend at all. I'm not bitter...)
Thumbs up to the two guys from Southampton who were pretty sweet and the people I spoke to at the stadium!
Anyway... what a night ... and it left me with this little treasure of JT and Poldi professing their love for eachother in that bloke-ish romantic gesture of the almost-head-butt...
awwwwwwwwww!
So what did the MEDIA say?
First I wanna thank the Times for teaching me my new favourite word ... I guess someone was using Thesaurus when they described Stuart Downing as LUGUBRIOUS.
How can it be I never heard that word before ... it's brilliant! Maybe it's because there are around
47 other words to say someone has a tendency to be dark-minded... and I have to say I kinda like FUNEREALLY too.
Okay then (to use a phrase half-tattooed on Wayne Rooney's body...) ... MEDIAWATCH
The TimesJoachim Löw, the Germany coach, prowled the touchline wearing a black coat that made him look like an extra in Pirates of the Caribbean.
What a lovely description of Jogi ... hehe... a pirate! Where was his parrot, though?
The athletics track kept supporters away from the action...
it did!
And try a bit harder next time, Germany, won’t you? There are girlfriends of footballers out there in that rain-sodden jungle clearing, you know, and, because of you, we have gone a whole day without news of their wellbeing.
hehe... the writer was very amused by ITV's predicament of footie vs. I'm a Celeb... well the footie won and news of Nicola's Boobies' first Birthday had to be delayed... wasn't it brilliant, how she burst into the bush telegraph to tell the world about it and how the creepy cop Brian was just saying something about an "older lover" ... though The Sun says he said "elderly mother" ... maybe my brain is making me hear things. Fabulous, nonetheless!
Tabloid Headline of the Day
goes to the Daily Mirror for: WIN-GER-LAND
Quote of the Day (The Guardian)
"It was a case of, 'You kick it, I'll kick it, you'll kick it, I'll kick it, oh the German has kicked it,'"
said Capello with a smile.
well, he summed that up perfectly!
and the Guardian is seeing great things to come, I suppose...
This Germany team, (...), had been in the final of Euro 2008, a tournament for which England did not qualify. BC - Before Capello.
seriously? BC?
Daily Telegraph
The Telegraph was hearing things, that I didn't hear, but then the acoustics in the stadium can be rather fickle...
Terry made immediate amends with a late header, leaving England’s huge support singing in the rain. “Let’s all have a disco,’’ they chorused.
(...) There was plenty to get them on their feet.
Well, first of all, we NEVER sat down! Which I quite enjoyed! Makes the whole experience so much more exciting and lively! And then to be honest, it was raining (and thx to that big hole in the pretty roof the opposition fans usually get soaked) and we were all just shuffling 20 seats to the right to avoid the worst of it ... which was "cosy" and it must have looked funny.
But the Telegraph puts it right by describing that 1:1 moment like this...
Both keeper and centre-half cringed.
CRINGE! It was cringe-worthy, wasn't it?
The Independent
... might be pushing it a bit with this conclusion...
Add to Fabio Capello's list of achievements this latest triumph: he has built an England team more German than the Germans.
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Yeah, it's still making me happy that night ... not so much because of the result, more because of being there in the stadium with my fellow englandfans watching England play. That stadium moment is just so big... I needed that to get some energy to get me through the next few lugubrious months. Well, they won't be too lugubrious, but I just like saying it ... lugubrious ... lugubrious! It's the new yogalates!
Have to go now and catch up on the jungle show ... I've missed the last 4 days (it's Tuesday ... I started working on this post on Friday), because I spent all my time watching Brotherhood. Damn you, Jason Isaacs, for those
mesmerizing eyes and thuggish smile. Can't wait to watch The State Within ...
a British Ambassador... he looks so fine in a suit. And yeah he is Lucius Malfoy ... but let's not go
there...
which is so wrong and so brilliant in so many ways! and let's be honest, so are these...
