12 Jun 2006(Mon)

Bonn, June 9, 2006 -- Can you hear it, outside the Internet cafe where I am working?

It´s crazy!

It´s mad!

It´s the perfect start to the 2006 World Cup!

Cars are whizzing by, sounding their horns and flying the German flag out of the window.

Families are walking home in the late evening sunshine after watching the Germany-Costa Rica game on TV in a restaurant or street cafe, the children with their faces painted red, yellow and black.

Groups of young men and women are walking down the street, waving giant flags and stopping the traffic.

Not everyone is happy, though, because the police sirens are sounding out loud, as the police cars chase the speeding revellers down the street.

The celebration route takes the drivers over the Kennedy Bridge, at the end of which stands the Bonn Hilton, home of the Japanese national team. Now, for sure, the Japanese players will feel they are at the 2006 World Cup!

Today, Friday, I visited the England training session at Frankfurt, rather than attending the Japan session, as I wanted to feel the positive vibes surrounding the England team for the first time. I was not disappointed.

Heading back from Frankfurt to Bonn, a group of Germans from the Black Forest invited me to join them at the bar of the train, and have a few glasses of refreshing German beer after a hot day at the stadium.

2-1 to Germany very early on, 3-1 to Germany, 4-2 to Germany….the passengers on the train from Frankfurt to Bonn, via Mainz, were kept in touch with the match, and everyone was in high spirits at the end.

So, on arriving at Bonn, suitably refreshed, it was then that the hysteria in this conservative town really hit me.

No other sport can unite a nation like football. I read once, recently in fact, that only war could prompt a similar, impassioned spirit as football, especially when the host team is performing to expectations at the World Cup.

Yes, the perfect start to what is surely going to be a magical World Cup…and with England and Japan still waiting to start.

ends