EM Fever

Go Deutschland!

E-M 2008 is over. Spain 1: Germany 0

A relatively boring and lackadaisical game. Germany just played poorly again, I think. I wish Turkey had made it into the final- they had more passion.

We came back to the old apartment to watch it, because we don't have a real TV in the new apartment yet and we wanted to enjoy the scen on Ku'damm if Germany won. We will still go out and take a look, but I doubt that it will be very exciting.

(I also needed to use the telephone and internet- looks like I won't have one until July 7th).

Ger 3:Tur 2

This is pretty darn exciting... darn. In the last two minutes, Germany scored another goal to make it 3:2.

Owell. I'll go out and watch the crowd from the balcony. We are coming back to watch Germany in the finals: our lease isn't up until Monday and we want to take advantage of both the location and the very large TV which came with the apartment;).

It was an exciting game, with the first pair of goals scored in the first quarter and the last in the last few minutes. I was pulling for Turkey to pull out another miracle in the last minute, as they did twice before, but it was not to be.

Wow. Victory to Defeat in 15 seconds. Croatia 1:Turkei 1, then after Elfmeterschiessen 1:3

We went to Kreuzberg to eat dinner at our favorite, Everest and to watch the game. I was hoping that Turkei would win so that I could see if they got really excited in Kreuzberg. The regular play ended 0:0 and we needed to race back home to let the babysitter go while the game went into overtime. When we got back to the apartment, it was still 0:0 and the babysitter stayed and watched with us.
First Croatia scored in the last minute, then Turkei scored with 15 seconds to go, plunging Croatia from the heights to the depths., Then came the Elfmeterschiessen, which I have never seen. That has each team shooting at the opposing goal from the 11 meter line. Croatia fumbled its first shot, made the second and fumbled the third. Turkey made every shot and that was the end.
The TV is showing the celebration, which is about 100 yards from here, but it is amazingly (comparatively) quiet now that Ku'dam has been mostly closed to vehicular traffic. My dream game will be Germany vs. Turkey. I think we will wake the kids up after that to go out and see the celebration. It's next Wednesday and the in-laws will be here helping us to move. i don't think we will turn over this apartment (and its huge TV) until the E-M is over.
added: It's pretty cool out there, 1000's ofpeople, men, women, childre, all walking up and down Ku'damm. The German says that this is the "unofficial" fan mile, where fans can go to display pride after a game. In several cities there are official areas.

Portugal 2- Germany 3

This was much more interesting. If Germany had played as badly as they did against the Austrians, they would have lost, so they perked up. The coach is still out of the game because he was carded last game and that was amusing. Portugal put up a good show.

I'm also happy because they have closed Kurfuerstendamm off to motor traffic and that makes it much more liveable: it's just masses of people and bikes marching down the street waving flags and yelling and some miscellaneous firecrackers going off instead of stopped traffic all leaning on their horns. It's so funny hearing them singing through the windows and walls. Fussball definitely is a nationalistic pastime and it is interesting to watch that from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't think of sport in that way.

edit: Now the fireworks are going off.

ITA 2: FRA 0 NL 2: ROM 0

At least this time they showed us the goals from the NL game. Still a disappointment compared to the first game that I watched: Turkey has energy! I have higher hopes for Thursday.

Note: there was almost no noise on the streets tonight. I guess that Italian and Dutch fans are both few and not very loud here.

Austria 0 - Germany 1

A relatively boring game. I can't believe the German's are out-obnoxiousing the Turks on the street outside (horns, yelling, fireworks and walking while yelling, with huge flags) after such a lack lustre game.

Turkei 3 vs Czech 2

I can see myself becoming a fan. This game was pretty exciting, with the Turks getting two quick goals after being behind, with the Czech goalie dropping the ball in one of those. And the Turkish goalie being carded out of the game, leaving their goal undefended, with a regular player looking pretty terrified of being substitue goalie. And Vulkan is hot!
The honking is even loader than last time. If they keep winning, it might be interesting to see what the streets of Kreuzberg look look after a game.
Actually, they just showed what it looks like 3 blocks from me and the shoving looks pretty intense: like a mosh pit. Cool

Is it my imagination...

or are Fussball players way better looking than football, baseball or basketball players? Do they do it on purpose so that, with 2 games a night, women have something to look at?

Germany 1 vs Croatia 2

I thought tonight would be quiet, with Germany losing, but I was wrong.There are still firecrackers and car horns going off.
And still at 20:10. I asked the German if the people honking were the pro-Croations or the anti-Germans and he says there are enough pro-Croatians to do this.