World Cup 2006

We Left Brentwood at 2am to get to Dover for a 4am ferry. Was too excited to sleep the night before, so decided upon sleeping on the ferry. 10 minutes of sleep later we were off the ferry and preparing for the straight drive from Calais to Cologne in time for the 8pm kick off, England v Sweden. Google Maps told us the quickest route was more or less a straight drive through France, Belgium and into Germany, passing Brussels seemed to be the only potential sticking point. Our hire car was a Renault people carrier. We got to Cologne for around 4pm, 3 of us rotating driving/sleeping duties. 3 hours of drinking in the hot German sun next to the Rhine, taking in the earlier kick off, Germany v Ecuador game and we were ready for our game. We were nervous about this game as our next tickets were for the second round and not necessarily an England game. All we needed was a point from this game, which we eventually garnered in a tense, typically English, 2-2 draw, Joe Cole & Steve Gerrard scoring for the three lions, Allback & Larsson replying for Sweden. Germany's victory against Ecuador meant our tickets were for the second round game in Stuttgart, England v Ecuador.

As we arrived late in Cologne, and prioritised drinking over finding a hotel, we ended up camping in a makeshift campsite with hundreds of other England fans on a patch of grass by the Rhine. Lucky we packed those tents. After hours of driving, football and drinking we got some well-earned sleep in our masterfully constructed tents.

Woke up around midday with our tents flat on top of us. The previous night Deano had drawn the short straw with the old one man tent, and had managed to role himself out onto the grass and was covered in dew. We got dressed, washed our teeth with one small bottle of warm water, and watching the streams of England fans leaving for the next town, we decided it'd be a good time to find a hotel room and stay for a couple of nights in Cologne before taking on the drive down to Bavarian Stuttgart. Found a hotel overlooking the Rhine a huge terraced area that fans flock to during the day. Booked in for 2 nights, and went out to find place to watch the football and drink merrily alongside fans from around the world. The mood was a lot less tense with the English fans moved on, along with the massive police presence, and a slow trickle of French fans arriving for the next game in Cologne, Togo v France. Saw Lee Sharpe in Cologne and had a chat about last night's performance. I'd had a few and i think prised him a bit too much for his footballing ability and impressive (mediocre) footballing career. Watched Portugal beat Mexico and a dull Argentina-Holland goalless draw before retiring to the comfort of our hotel.  

We decided to leave Cologne early and get to Stuttgart for the Australia v Crotia game. The mood was dying in Cologne as the last of the English fans had departed, and, as anticipated, the French fans brought with them little to no atmosphere, so we sought the excitement again and we knew it'd be in Stuttgart. We left early to make the 6 hour drive down to Bavaria with nothing but road-signs to aid us. We parked up and walked into town. Stuttgart was a hive of activity- Aussies, Croats and pockets of English fans drunk merrily together on the terraces and patios of Stuttgart. English fans weren't allowed in the fan parks, so they all perched on the steps (the large building at the top of the fan park in this picture) where you could still see the big screens, German waiters brought you jugs of beer, and we were free to sing songs through the day. We worked our way through a few jugs and as we began to get sunburnt, decided it was a good time to visit the Tourist Information Centre and look for accommodation. We were offered 2 rooms in a hotel 'just outside Stuttgart' in a place called Backnang. No problem as we had a car, and in Backnang we tasted real Bavarian Germany. We settled into our hotel and found a local bar where we could sit and watch Australia v Croatia. A few locals and Brazillian fans were our company, and we sat down to watch the most embarrasing performance by a referee (Graham Poll, books a player 3 times) that's ever been witnessed, and got berated from both the Germans and Brazillians in our bar. Definitely the most random place i've ever been teased since that time at the church in 1988, and i don't want to go back there.

 

Last day of group games today and Stuttgart is reasonably empty for a host World Cup town. We hit the town early doors and England fans (those brave enough to show their face after Poll's performance last night) were already starting festivities and growing in numbers. They were typically found outisde the bars and restaurants rather than in the fan parks, partly for the cheap beer, and partly becuase of the police presence on the entrance to the fan parks. It was a general rule of thumb that England fans weren't allowed in but we were dressed in our inconspicuous civillian gear, and Deano even had a vaguely German looking top. We got in to watch some of the most tedious games of the 2006 World Cup. Spain edged Saudi arabia 1-0, and Ukraine edged Tunisia 1-0. The expensive watered down Bud was going down a treat and we left the park sun-burnt and in search of our Canadian mates that were due to sit with us for the Ecuador game. We found them doing their best to join in with the English contingent with their chants of 'Go Beckham' and 'Come on the super lions'. The majority of fans close by were laughing at, not with them, and we did our best to build bridges with the fans and educate our Canadian friends as to what they were actually singing. Regardless to say we were pretty ruined after sitting in the burning sun for near on 8 hours drinking expensive rubbish beer, and we slowly made our way back to the train station. Deano and I lost everyone else and managed to get on the wrong train headed for Austria. We got out at a very small station close to the border and forked out 150 Euros each for a cab back to Stuttgart. 6am we got back to our hotel in Backnang, tired, sunburnt, beginning to feel hung-over and now skint.

Day 5 and it was Germany's second round Knock-out match against Sweden. Had Sweden have beaten us in the 2-2 draw 3 days ago, this would have been England v Germany. Thankfully it wasnt as the Germans outclassed Sweden in all departments and won 2-0. Lukas Podolski grabbing a brace. The other game of the day was Argentina v Mexico which was due to kick off later that day. Neither game was in Stuttgart but there were literally millions in the town centre. The Germans completely filled the fan parks, and every bar, restaurant and club that had the game on. One man sat watching it on his laptop and 50 people stood behind him. We wondered around gormlessly looking for a screen. We found a tiny screen in Subway Sandwich which we shared with 3 or 4 hundred other fans. English contigent was growing, and fuelled by alcohol and the German mass, they kicked off for the first time this summer. Riot police smashed the tables and chairs up and carted off the fans in buses to where ever they stick unruly fans. We left the game and Subway at half-time and headed for a bar without a tv, which was empty apart from some like-minded England fans, and drank the day away, planning our next move for the later Argentina game. We met our Canadian mates again and drank into the night watching the entertaining second game which Argentian won after extra time with a great goal from Maxi Rodriguez. The Argies were beginning to look the favourites. Playing some classy football, scoring goals of quality and quantity, and importantly, not really conceding. Tomorrow was the big one for us. England v Ecuador.

Met up with the Canadians early and we made our way to the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion, which was more impressive than i originally thought. The traffic of people around the stadium and stations was, as ever, organised with the efficiency only the Germans are capable of. My thoughts cast back to when England wanted this tournamount. Our showpiece Wembley isnt ready and our public transport can barely deal with daily commuters let alone the extra couple of million fans that would have descended upon our land green and pleasant. We got to our seats, purchased some more expensive small beers accompanied by the cups you also had to purchase, and sat and watched quite a dire game of football. Typically of England under Sven, we refused to throw caution to the wind agaisnt a very weak Ecuador side.  David Beckham came to our rescue with a goal direct from a free-kick and we scraped through 1-0. On the bright-side, Rooney returned to the starting line up, and we were in the Quarter-finals. This was without looking particulalry impressive in any of the 4 games so far. It was Portugal v Holland tonight and England would be playing the winner of this game in a week's time. We settled down and watched in a bar back in the centre, with broadening smiles as both teams saw over 7 bookings, 4 players sent off, suspensions, injuries... England surely would have the upper hand no matter who it was. Portugal went through with a 22nd minute Maniche goal. We retired early as we knew we had to drive hard all day to make our Ferry from Calais, and we had no maps for the return leg and no idea how long it would take, just a kind of inkling to head back the way we came.