It´s been a manic, stressful and bloody expensive past week but we´ve been witness to one of the greatest sporting spectacles ever. Would´ve been even more spectacular if we had´ve put away the 50 chances we had against Brazil at the end of the game. We arrived in Munich still without accomodation and I almost made us miss the plane stuffing around with returning the car at Faro airport, Fi has resumed talking to me finally. Everything was pretty much booked and what was available was going at astronomical prices (I won´t convert to $AU for your sanity). Luckily (some may say) we found a camping ground and decided that 2 of us would fit into a one man tent. This turned out not to be a great idea. Munich, having had it´s hottest weather in years decided to absolutely piss down on both nights we camped. This tent, bought for 15 quid at Argos was not made for rain. The first night we got soaked as the rain drenched the sides of the tent we were cramped against. We didn´t have space for our backpacks and had to lock them next to the toilets. Then we woke up constantly to the sounds of other campers, birds and some guy next to us who snored the house down. We were in a great mood for game day! The second night I said ´F$$K THIS´and decided to sleep outside under a roof awning while Fi got the tent. Even if I had a really bad sleep, at least the mosquitoes and ants had a great time.
But enough about our disasterous encounters with accomodation (actually more later) - the main event was the Brazil v Australia game. We walked around on the morning of the game desperately trying to find some merchandise to support our team, but everything was sold out, the main square, Marienplatz, was choc full of Aussies and Brazilians competing to be the loudest. The Brazilians had their drums and horns, we had bravado. At one point one of the Aussies climbed the main tower in the square and hung a big Australian flag in the bell tower. The crowd went crazy. There were lots of guys dressed up as Kangaroos and a sea of gold and yellow. We eventually made our way to the ground at about 4pm, the tube was packed and felt like rush hour in London. Scalpers were everywhere - one Aussie was offering his sister for a night in exchange for a ticket. The stadium looks amazing and as we approached there was a great carnival atmosphere and to our relief a merchandise store where we grabbed a couple of flags and a team shirt. We made our way to our seats and soaked it all up. One of the great parts was when they did the crowd warm-ups, blasting out summer anthems and even a few aussie hits and showing video of different parts of the crowd having a dance - the Aussies went mental when Men at Work, ACDC and Midnight Oil were played in sequence.
The players came out for the warm up and were reacting to the noise of the Aussies with claps and taking photos of us. I watched Ronaldhino play tricks for 20 minutes. Then it was time. Already the Australians were being far louder than the Brazilians, it was an amazing atmosphere singing all the chants. The game was great too - we killed the Brazilians for possession and opportunities. The Brazil forwards were shut down and the midfield was working great. Half time came and the Aussies were really proud - and then I missed the goal. I queued up for a couple of beers for Fi and I and after a while heard a massive roar - Brazil had scored after the break just as I got to the front of the queue. Great! The next 45 minutes was fantastic as Australia piled on pressure, Kewell missed some golden chances (the Australian crowd was in disbelief when he skied the ball over a vacant goal) and made a couple of freakish chances as well. They played so well, the midfield and attack combined brilliantly and Brazil didn´t deserve to go 2-0 let alone win the match. The referee was a disgrace and the Aussies let him know it, we got massacred with ridiculous free kicks and cards. On another day we could´ve beaten the champs 3-1. Thousands of us sat around after the game pondering what could have been. The chants on the train summed it up beautifully - ´Stand up if you think the ref was shit´ and ´Brazil are shit and you know it´. The infuriating thing was the Brazilians thought they had beaten us convincingly, so far from the truth. I am caught up in World Cup nationalism when I say this, but I hope they get trounced by Argentina. That night the Aussies were again out in force at the local beer halls, more chanting, more hooliganism - some are calling us the Americans because of our behaviour and cockiness - which is partly true but also down to the larrikin culture.
We spent the following day mourning our loss further and checked out some more of Munich. The Englischer Garten is one of the best parks i´ve ever been too, huge space with cool rivers you can float down in the summer. The fat naked German men lining the river weren´t so spectactular. We went to the Hofbrohaus for a pint (Fi had a coke - softie!). We also spent a bit of time at Fan Fest - huge screens located in the Olympic Stadium where all the nations come together to watch all the games, watched the German and English games.
We are now in Stuttgart and the atmosphere is building up for today´s game. I´m considering selling my ticket if I can get a lot of money for it, to try and recuperate some costs. It´s threatening to kill the rest of my planned holiday! But I know if I do so it will be the greatest match of all time and the Aussies will win. What a conundrum. We had accomodation last night but tonight is a different story. We can´t find anything reasonably priced nearby so the plan is to store the luggage at the rail station and party until 5am when we need to catch our train to get to Karlsruhe airport. Time to head off for 20 hours of partying - Go Aussies!
