I’ve been there. That’s right, four years ago I was traveling for work and ended up in Germany and The Netherlands during the World Cup. In 2006, Germany was actually hosting the tournament, so there were people from all nationalities roaming around the country, drinking and partying for close to a month.
Germany finished third that year, which wasn’t good enough for my German friends. It was sort of like making it to the NBA semi-finals when you hoped to win it all. Interestingly enough, one of their best players was a guy named Podolski, the son of a Polish family that had migrated to Germany sometime after WWII.
I have to tell you, it was an awesome experience. Being of German descent, I felt myself pulling for the home team. I was visiting our office in Germany, which meant I got to experience the games along side some of my German co-workers. It was exhilarating, exciting, and the drama was amazing. It was also interesting to hear them complaining about their national team in much the same way that we complain about the Indians, Browns, and Cavs. Yes, some of the complaints were in English, the rest in German.
Then I drove to The Netherlands for a few days. As I was driving back to Germany on a Saturday morning (on the Autobahn in a brand new rental Audi A6 that just flew — I mean cars were getting out of my way as they saw me approaching in their mirror - it was awesome).
Anyway, the traffic suddenly stopped. The traffic signs were announcing something, but the electronic signs were in German (obviously) so I had no idea what was causing the delay.
Well, the two lane autobahn was actually blocked off and the German border patrol (a rather ominous looking group of police, I must say) were forcing all traffic to slowly move through a rest area - motioning some cars off the road for further inspection. They certainly gave me the once over as I calmly drove through the check point, trying not to look guilty, wondering the entire time what was going on.
Only later that day did I discover that The Netherlands was playing their World Cup match in Germany that day. The border patrol was looking for Dutch soccer hooligans trying to cross the border into Germany. I was caught in the middle. I guess a 50 something white guy driving an Audi didn’t match their profiling for that day. There were several cars pulled over. I wonder if they ever made it to the game.
As I recall, a bunch of Dutch guys got through the border patrol that day wearing clothes proudly displaying the logo of one of the major sporting goods companies. I’m sure this stuff was supplied by the company, I can’t remember which one. However, the logo they were displaying wasn’t the one and only official World Cup sponsor.
So, even though they had gotten past the border patrol, they weren’t allowed to enter the stadium wearing that logo. So, rather than miss their team play — they just stripped down to their underwear and went in to watch the game — leaving the unauthorized logo clothing in the garbage. Hilarious - but, it just shows their passion for the game.
So, these are some of my memories of the World Cup. Will I watch it this year? Absolutely. Will I be rooting for Germany? Once the USA gets eliminated, yes I will.
It seems weak when you don’t live and breath soccer like they do in Europe. However, when you are there, it is an unbelievable experience. I know I won’t soon forget.
So, take a moment to Holla for the USA, Holla for Deutchland too.
Dad
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