Germany 2006
By Max Griessbach Junior Midfielder
Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)
This summer I was able to participate in one of the most celebrated sporting events in the world, the FIFA World Cup. It started with 32 national teams and ended with one team as champion of the world. Unlike the “World” Series of baseball or “World” Super bowl championship, the prestige of this tournament is acknowledged in every nation in the world. Every soccer player dreams that some day he will represent his country and play among the soccer greats. I entered the lottery in Germany to get tickets for three games. I didn’t know which ones I would see but I played the odds and won tickets for the contest between the winner from Group A and runner up of Group B, the Quarter Finals, and the match for Third Place.
As soon as I arrived in the Berlin airport I felt the excitement. There were hundreds of people dressed in their national colors and jersey’s speaking every language you could imagine and then some. The first game I saw was at the “Fan Mile” in Berlin.  In all the major cities, tournament organizers had set up large “Fan Fest” areas for fans to watch every match.  Though Germans were in the majority, every team had a fan in the crowd. The Fan Fests were set up like carnivals with Ferris wheels, volleyball and soccer courts, sand sculpture competitions and “Bier Gartens” with every kind of sausage plus funnel cake, fries, and dozens of kinds of beer. But the most impressive were the 35 foot screens set up every eight hundred yards down the mile. Over a million people showed up for the semi-final game – Germany vs. Italy at the Fan Mile in Berlin. Even in Paris, where I watched the final match, the entire city turned out to watch.
The entire tournament was incredibly well organized. Teams played in stadiums across Germany; many of which were refurbished especially for the World Cup. These stadiums were huge and completely filled. The most impressive was the Berlin stadium, which dated back to the Hitler era and held 78,000 spectators. Germans were proud to be hosting the games; for the first time since the Second World War, there were German flags waving from houses and businesses in every city. The organizers took security very seriously. There were fences around the perimeters of the Fan Mile/Fests and there were police in green uniforms and riot gear and vans at all entrances. On entering a stadium, fans were searched twice. The security doubled after the end of each game. But except for a couple of exceptions, fans were peaceful and happily celebrated with fans from other countries.
The technical brilliance of the players was awe inspiring; each player’s touch seemed flawless. I can only remember one missed trap throughout the entire World Cup. But it was the player’s attitude which makes the world’s best players and a winning team. Every player there had world class technical skill but it is the team with the most passion that wins. Brazil was the odds on winner but they did not have enough drive to win. One of the best players in the world, Renaldo, just stayed up top waiting for the ball and could not bring home the trophy.  As for the US team, they started out disorganized –less than the sum of the parts -- without passion. But towards the end they started to get it together and the fans began to understand how far they had come may have a chance in four years. The teams that got into the final games had the will and earned the right to get there. I was also struck by the sense of camaraderie among the players from different countries. At this level of play, the players know each other from their league games and – outside of a couple memorable encounters, there is a sense of mutual respect.
I saw three live games: the Round of 16- Spain versus France, the Quarterfinal- Germany versus Argentina; and the Third Place Match- Germany versus Portugal. Actually being at the games was totally different than watching on TV. On TV, it looked like players had more time to make the plays. In person, I could really appreciate the incredible level of technical skill. When I walked into the stadium for my first live game in the city of Hanover, I got chills from the atmosphere. Spain was up 1-0 from a penalty kick. Then France scored just before halftime. The most impressive and memorable play was Zidan’s goal near the end of the game. It was a three on two breakaway. The ball started on the right side and moved across to the left to Zidan, who cut it back and finished it. He was composed and completely in control. The French fans were crazy with excitement, chanting back and forth after each French goal. The team was so appreciative of the support that they went up to talk to the fans after the game. I knew than that France could be a contender for the final.
The Germany- Argentina game was held in the Berlin stadium, which gave it a sense of history. It was the most suspenseful of the games I saw. It went into double overtime and then into a penalty shoot out. The Germans had the advantage of the home crowd and every time the opponents had possession of the ball the crowd would boo and hiss. The stands were a sea of black, red and gold as German fans held their breath, unable to sit down. For the entire game Germany fought back, making attack after attack. After each attack I could feel the suspense building.  Germany finally scored the tying goal in the 87th minute and I could feel the tension break in the crowd and the surge of relief and celebration.
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During the third place game in Stuttgart, the German fans were delighted to find their team playing for third place against Portugal and were ecstatic at the 3-1 win.  It was a good solution: they were not Number One, but they would not be losers in the final game.  It was a good feeling to be third and know it ahead of time.  Fans stayed hours after the game -- celebrating the coming end of the World Cup with music trumpeting from loud speakers and fireworks bursting above the stadium.  Germans across the country celebrated with singing and dancing in the streets. People honked car horns and waved flags as if Germany had won the final. Â
A plane ticket to and from Germany $ 800, tickets for 3 games $350, an experience of seeing one of the greatest tournaments in the world -- priceless.
