We All Live In A ...

From: Jason

Berlin is bathed in yellow again, but now it's the hue of Sweden's flag, and nor Brazil's. There is a massive contingent of Swedes and downtown you can't walk five paces without running into one. Their game with Paraguay in Berlin tonight should go a long way to seeing which team will advance - assuming England takes care of T and T as expected - and with all the Swedish singing I've heard for two days in this city, I'm banking on a loud and festive atmosphere by kickoff.

Last night when I got back from Leipzig I went to the Fan Fest at the Potsdamer Platz downtown to join the masses for Germany/Poland on the big screens there. It was a mob scene of which I have never before seen. Some were estimating upwards of 800,000 jamming into the area, and by 9 pm, when I got there, the security lines alone were huge. The walk from the train station was surreal. It was a police state, with all streets and entrances to the highway closed, hordes of people walking to the Fan Fest all going down one big street, and everything else desolate. I turned off the main way for a while it was like one of those early scenes in "28 Days Later," when there's just trash in these huge abandoned downtown London streets, and lots of police vehicles. When I reached the park, I immediately realized there was no way I would ever find my friends, so, naturally, I looked for a bar. All the pubs I found were packed and you couldn't see the game, so I ended up watching with some street vendors, and a group of Mexicans and Scots on a tiny TV set up next to a sausage stand.

We had a good time, and that was quite a second half. We all agreed that Germany would end up winning it late, but we banked on Klose with his head from 3 yards out off a corner kick or set piece. We weren't dead on, but not far off, either. Germany played some great attacking football and Klinsi looks like a genius, now. It's pretty clear that Klinsi wants his left back, Lahm, flying up field in attack and that late sub, brining on David Odonkor, changed the game. My friends watching in the Fan Fest said everyone went nuts when the 22-year old came into the game; I guess he's becoming quite popular. The kid has amazing pace and served some great balls in from out wide. What a set-up on the goal, too. Germany with a late winner - some things never change. With even Italy and Germany pushing the attack, could world football be taking a most pleasant turn? ...