Categories: germany, postcards
Date: 17 July 2008 23:04:06
I am not a football fan by any stretch of the imagination but I was very interested to see one particular semi-final of Euro 2008.
Just before I set off on my trip, Germany had beaten Portugal 3 -2. Everywhere I went on my travels there were German flags hanging out of windows, from balconies, from cars - even off the back of bicycles. Germany's opponent in the semi-final was Turkey. As you will know, Germany has a considerable Turkish population and there were also Turkish flags - not as many - but quite a few.
C and I had planned to meet up with some of her friends to watch the match in a beer garden but they phoned as we were making our way there to say that it was absolutely full - so we went to a smaller Kneipe (pub) which didn't have a garden. On our way, we passed several Turkish restaurants and kebab shops where the clientele was getting ready for the big show-down.
Our Kneipe was serving a selection of Turkish and German dishes - keeping its options open - C ordered a Turkish dish, Sigara Börek whereas I had the Frankfurters. Everyone in the Kneipe (with the exception of myself) was German. I found myself supporting the German side although I thought the Turks were playing a much better game. One of our party said she was generally quite neutral about who won or lost but she hoped that Germany would win because many of her neighbours were Turkish - and every time they won a match she would not get any sleep for all the noisy celebrations.
The Turks scored first causing the supporters to groan and put their heads in their hands but the Germans equalised by the end of the first half. Then the Germans scored again only for the Turks to equalise. Right at the last minute, the Germans scored the all-important final goal to win the game. The most tense part of the game was the part played by Swiss TV which was broadcasting the match. The game went off the air three times! Not quite the Swiss precision one might expect...