Thanks For Being Our Guests

With Italy beating France 5-3 in the World Cup final at Berlin Olympiastadion on Sunday, July 9th, the soccer tournament found a happy ending - apart from the inglorious retirement of Zidane, who was issued a red card after headbutting Materazzi, but was selected best player of the tournament nevertheless, since the voting took place at half-time in the final, before this sad incident happened. The day before, on Saturday, Germany's team won the third place match in Stuttgart, beating Portugal 3-1, with 2 and a half goals for Germany shot by Bastian Schweinsteiger from free kicks (his second shot was directed into the net by unlucky Portugal player Petit). The past four weeks have been nothing short of a surprise not only for the German fans, but obviously also for the rest of the world. But let's go through that one after another.

Before the World Cup had started, Germany's coach Jürgen Klinsmann found himself under heavy attack from critics and fellow sportsmen. His new methods of training, as well as his choice of players for the World Cup team and his travels abroad had had many upset and the predictions for Germany's chances in the tournament were not good ones. But during the World Cup, Klinsmann was able to convince all critics by just letting the success stories speak. The team was in fact in very good shape and played very well, making it into the third place match and finally reaching the 3rd place overall, after being beaten by Italy in the semi-final 0-2.

But most importantly, Klinsmann managed to create a strong collective feeling among German fans. From those who had predicted the worst to happen, over the usual fans, to even non-soccer-fans, nobody could escape the sporty patriotism that developed in the Country. Never had there be a time where German flags would be waved in the streets, attached to what felt like every second car in the towns (the most I saw was five flags on a single car). Germany was rolled over by a flood of enthusiasm and pride about his well-acting national soccer team that spread out to visitors who came to see the World Cup in this country.

From media all over the world, the resonance about the World Cup was a very positive one. The World Cup was well-organized, the atmosphere was friendly and people liked to stay in Germany, that's the essence of comments from all over the world. It seems like Germany's reputation around the world has changed suddenly, caused by the success of the tournament here as well as the image that the German population created in the past weeks.

In England, Alastair Campbell, ex-consultant of premier Tony Blair, stated that “The shadow of Hitler in finally gone. For the first time in their lives, Germans are proud to be German”. Quite interesting in this respect, the British newspaper “Daily Mail” couldn't resist printing a picture of Hitler and stating that the Olympiastadion in Berlin was erected by the Nazi.

The Swiss newspaper “Blick” wrote that “The plug has been pulled in just the right moment. Before the Germans' patriotism would go over the top, but late enough for them to regain their self-confidence.” In a documental about the Wold Cup shown in Italy via the broadcast station RAI 2, the journalist said that “The Germans risk being almost likeable - and this is nearly more important for them than winning the tournament.” The Dutch newspaper “Telegraaf” wrote “Finally, the national self-confidence may be shown in front of the whole world. Thoroughness and tidiness move into the refrigerator, Germany became a cheerfully celebrating nation”. Ah, what about the refrigerator?

Well, the nation celebrating was nowhere more clear than at the “fan-fests”, which are a novelty to the World Cup. In the major cities all across the country, large sceens were installed at public places where people could gather and watch the games for free. Millions celebrated peacefully and cheerful together with people from all over the world. The image of fans from all countries celebrating together is one of those images that went around the world and countered previous fears of xenophobic scenes.

All in all, it seems like the World Cup has pushed this country forward both ethically and economically. And if the atmosphere even caught on people who usually don't care much about soccer (like me), it must have been very strong indeed. My only fault I think was not going to the fan-fest at least once. A chance like this may not return so quickly. But then, fan-fests are said to become a standard feature organized by the FIFA in future World Cups. And the feeling of this world cup is already extending to the next one: After Germany lost the chance to place first, a song about the World-Cup, written by German rockband “Sportfreunde Stiller” (and a bad song it is to be honest) called “'54 '74' 90 '2006” (the years in which Germany won - and should win (2006) - the World Cup) was quickly renamed into “'54 '74' 90 '2010”. South Africa, here we come.

(Facts and quotes in part taken from http://www.n24.de)

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Comments

hope the daily photos wont slowly become weekly photos and then monthly photos... that would suck. :-)

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