World Cup 2010 (1)

I've never been much of a soccer fan. During college, I'd watch matches for socializing purposes and the beer that came along with 90 minutes staring at a white ball and 22 guys chasing it. Off site was one of the thousand secrets surrounding the sport. My friends would get out the salt and pepper shakers, supported by the tomato-sauce bottle, to cast light on the mystery of offside. The highlight for me was the T-shirt exchange between the two teams at the end of the match. Regardless the final scoring.

This all changed with the 2004 European Soccer Championship. I lived in Cambodia then and a weird spark of patriotism made me get up during early morning hours (time difference can be merciless), hop on my motorbike and drive to one of the few sport bars with a soccer channel subscription.

Needless to say, the 2006 World Cup in Germany was a blast! I used to live in Munich then. From work I'd go straight to one of the public viewing places (usually a beer garden) with colleagues and friends to watch the matches. The main streets in the city were usually blocked for traffic. We walked our oversized German flags through the streets, cheered with the police forces trying to keep the partying crowd in control, and got back to work the next day tired and exhausted (or not all...).

Seeing the German flag flying from cars, windows and backpacks is what really stuck with me that year. Germany is not a symbolic country proud of its roots. It takes a trip to the Berlin to see the black, red and golden flag flying on top of the Reichstag. During the World Cup though, flags flew everywhere! And, they vanished shortly after. Maybe out of embarrassment over Germany's 3rd place overall...

This year the game is on again! And, again, I find myself getting up at 2:30 in the morning to cheer for Germany! If the German team scores four-nil, as shown against Australia, I don't even call getting up that early a sacrifice, it's my pleasure! If our boys lose against Serbia I'm happy that we are still in the early stages of the tournament. Nothing is lost... Yet.

And, while the cameras show an aerial view of the stadiums in Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontain and Port Elizabeth, I'm reminiscing the great time I had living in South Africa!