Saturday, June 17, 2006
Meeting the Soca Warriors
England's 2nd Group B match took us south to the beautiful city of Nuremburg to play the tiny Caribbean Island of Trinidad & Tobago. Their fans, the Soca Warriors, certainly brightened up the city along with 50,000 or so England fans who were also in town, it provided a cracking few days.
Many of us have planned our trips to the games so we arrive the day before but obviously not everyone can do this. Unfortunatley, this cost a few hundred England Fans very dear. On the morning of the game, supporters arrived at Birmingham airport to catch their charter flights out to Nuremburg. At 6am, a TNT freight plane came in for landing and as it touched down, the landing gear collapsed. Thankfully, no-one was hurt but it meant that more than 70 flights were cancelled included flights that were due to take fans to Nuremburg. One of my friends was meant to be on one of these flights and it broke his 35 game run of attending England matches. With most flights to Germany from other airports already booked up, it was just impossible to make it to Nuremburg in time. To compound the sad situation even further, FIFA refused to allow the match tickets to be transferred to England fans who were having to pay up to 500 Euros to touts. FIFA are an absolute disgrace the way they disregard fans. They are far more interested in lining their own pockets. As the teams came out at the Frankenstadion, some children were carrying a banner which read "Fair Play Is My Game". Obviously a case of "Do as I say, not as I do". I'll have a bit more of a detailed rant at FIFA after the tournament is over but for now, there is too much else to write about.
I arrived quite early at Nuremburg and decided to hang around waiting for a friend who was due to land 30 minutes later. While I was there, I saw one someone with a sign saying "Franz Beckenbauer" so I was hoping to get a picture of the great man but he never appeared. I guess men of his stature don't need to go through the plebe section of the arrivals hall. Eventually my friend arrived and we checked into our hotel before heading off to the stadium. Its always good to know where you are heading and have a look around. On top of that, I also had some FIFA tickets to collect. The stadium is right next to the site where the Nuremburg rallies took place. It was quite an experience to stand at the same place where Hitler stood 70 years earlier ranting to 200,000 people although we didn't get a chance to go to the museum. We eventually found the ticket office but for some reason, they decided they weren't issuing FIFA tickets today....and I didn't think my opinion of FIFA could get any lower. Lets hope I can get them in Cologne next week instead.
After a few photos, we made our way back into town and over to the Hauptmarket where there numerous beer tents and TV screens had been set up. The big match of the day was Germany v Poland. Obviously there were a lot of home fans around. Defeat for Poland would mean their tournament was over and given the bad reputation of their fans, there weren't many of us who would be upset at their exit as meeting them in the last 16 was a real possibility. Although we were more interested in talking to other fans than watching the game, we saw bits of it and Germany ended up winning 1-0 and you saw the unusal site of England fans cheering a German win.
The 6pm kick-off gave us plenty of time to have a few drinks before the game. It was only a short trip over to the stadium. The weatherman had promised rain but it was scorching hot and there was little wind too cool us down. One of the supermarkets near the square ran out of water such was the demand. The Hauptmarket was packed with England and Trinidad fans. St Georges crosses hung from every possible location and it wasn't long before the Soca Warriors carnival atmosphere kicked off.
After a few hours in the baking sun, we made our way over to the stadium. We soon passed through the bag search although a number of people had problems with their flags and a number were confiscated. At any England game, you will see flags all round the stadium. Supporters arrived there hours before kick-off in order to get their flags in prime position. However, in Germany, a number of flags have been confiscated. In Frankfurt, some West Ham supporters had their flags confiscated as they had crossed hammers on them. The reason was it was confused for a facist symbol....anyway ever had a close look at the Lazio badge ??? FIFA have since admitted their error on this count and apparently, the supporters were given tickets for another match.
In Nuremburg, there were a number of stories of flags being confiscated as they were advertising something such as a pub name or website. This situation is getting ridiculous, the game is for the fans, not faceless corporations !!!! Other examples of FIFA stupidity were trying to confiscate flags larger than 1m, white plastic bowler hats with a red cross over them (they were thought to be army helmets) and trying to confiscate a QPR (Queens Park Rangers) flag as the stewards thought it may be political.
Before the match we saw Frank Lampard senior near us but didn't get the chance for a photo. Once again, we found the 2 madmen from Luton dressed up as knights and they kindly posed for a photo with that bloke from Village People (see the photo at the top). Once the in ground the atmosphere was better than in Frankfurt but still less than expected for a tournament match. There was one attempt at a Mexican wave which was quickly stopped. Yesterday, I also read that the Serbian fans also refused to take part in a Mexican wave - good lads !!!
The game itself was dreadful. T&T were very well organised and England seemed to struggle to break them down. We had a number of chances, Owen missed a couple but the worst offender was Crouch who put a free header and a volley wide from close range. The humid conditions didn't help the supporters patience but on 58 minutes, the volume in the stadium was lifted when The White Pele, Wayne Rooney made his return after his foot injury. Aaron Lennon also came on and eventually, England found the break through when Beckham put a stunning cross onto Crouch's head. The game was finally made safe in the last minute when Gerrard hit a left footed drive into the top corner.
So there we are. 2 awful performances but 6 points from the first 2 games which is the first time England have done that in any tournament since 1982. Next up is Sweden on Tuesday in Cologne. A 9pm kick-off coupled with a friends birthday means is going to be a very drunk affair. Just as well really as the game has 0-0 written all over it. The Swedes need a point, we need to avoid defeat to win the group. We have a negative manager and they are without star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovich.
// posted by Big Blue Marble @ 8:38 am 
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