‘It’s just that, that summer was the culmination and release of a decade of stares (since Germany lost in France 98).’
France 98…I was 11 and actually don’t remember much until the final itself given the host nation beat Brazil. The 2002 WC, that was when I started to watch football matches on TV given the time difference between here in Singapore and over in Japan and South Korea is very convenient (both Japan and South Korea share the same timezone, an hour ahead of Singapore). Which is why I did mentioned here I remembered the Germany-Brazil final given I did watched it. And the ball which hit the crossbar (it was only later on I found out Oliver Neuville had that goal attempt being denied) in which that moment stood out for me when I was watching (I don’t know why, that moment had been in my head since). Actually, when I heard my classmates mentioned that the following day in class, I sat up in the classroom and had to listen to what they were talking.

I soon forgotten about the Mannschaft. I know. I didn’t watched much of Euro 2004 (it was only later on I learned that Germany was out in the group stages) then the World Cup came along. Okay, I know back then Greece was the surprise winner because it was all over in the newspapers. And usually I don’t watch matches which are being broadcast in the wee hours of the morning (the European timezones can be a little crazy for people like me living in Singapore because of the time differences as I have to adjust my sleeping pattern if there’s a match I so have to watch) but, the semi-final between Germany and Italy was the first time I watched a match in the wee hours of the morning.

When it ended, I never headed for bed. There was like an hour or so left before it’s 6am here and I just sat in the living room thinking and trying to collect my thoughts together and listening to the radio at the same time. I still remembered I was listening to one of those morning programmes and one of the radio DJs was asking his colleague who was in Dortmund watching the action and asked for his report on the sentiments from the ground. His colleague said something about the home fans couldn’t believe it, crying and so on (or so this was what I remembered listening to the radio report). I remembered reading reports the following day in the papers that the fans were saying something like ‘We’re going to Berlin’ but then, boom. It was all up in smoke. It made me even want to cry even more. That was when it finally hit me that I had always like the German national team all along. To think it took me a long time to realise it.

Oh, later that day in the afternoon, my brother talked about the match (he was hoping for Italy to go through, that’s why) and that was when I started to get emotional towards him. I remembered I almost raised my voice at him. It was then the fact finally sunk in for me that Germany is not going to be in the final after all and I had to learn to move on. I had never felt so much attachment towards a team before on this level. For a few days or so, I don’t even feel like reading especially the sports section in the papers. Whenever I picked up the papers and came across the sports section during those times, my emotionals get the better of me again.

And when I was watching the third-place playoff against Portugal, I already had the sneaky feeling Juergen Klinsmann will step aside after the end of the whole tournament. I was right…and almost wanted to cry again. Okay, post-Klinsmann era…the national team is still doing fine and I give where credit’s due. I had always knew Klinsmann will come back into football coaching again but still, I remembered I was caught off-guard when it was announced he will be the new Bayern Munich coach this July. I almost wanted to scream with excitement and run around the house like a mad woman when the news is for real. Yeah, I’m a fan of the man. I cannot wait to see what’s going to happen when he’s at Bayern.

‘I have almost always had to defend why I liked the German team, now I am glad to see finally it’s acceptable.’
You are lucky, Nick. I get teased for it (by my brother). Even my father accepted the fact that his daughter supports the German national team and he once told one of my relatives about it given we were talking about football then. I thought nobody knew…my father did. But then again, I am the daughter of a football-crazy father and I can never hide that away from him.

When Ayala scored that goal I was pretty much ready to cry. It was eerily silent until Klose scored the miracle equalizer (after good work from Odonkor). After the final whistle blew a joyous roar ran through down the street. I felt I personally had won something, because all the worries and fears I had were gone in that moment.

When I later walked to the town center with my friends, I remembered the tram service was shut down. The timing ticker scrolled… Ausbruch ** Deutschland ist in die Halbfinale ** The center was mobbed with black-red-gold. Having lived in and traveled around Germany through the years I have never seen anything quite like it. That is, never had I seen such sustained and outward expressions of Germans supporting Germany. (It’s completely foreign concept to just about anyone with a nation.)

So yes, it has taken a while for Germany to repair its image abroad, but the WC brought out the best in Germany and the world has embraced it since. (Even English fans cheered for Germany.) It perhaps may take even longer for Germans to let go some of the guilt of the past, but I think football has opened the door. Zwanziger was right to say the victory in 54 was like but different from the event in 06. It’s a different kind of miracle. A physical nation was reformed in the minds of Germans then, and now an emotional one (a joyous and happy one in the eyes of the world) has been finally set on the path to a new normalcy. Germany lost yet won. Gewinnen kann jeder. Everybody can win… but a defeat today might mean something brighter tomorrow.

I hope I am not being too sappy! It’s just that, that summer was the culmination and release of a decade of stares (since Germany lost in France 98). I have almost always had to defend why I liked the German team, now I am glad to see finally it’s acceptable.

‘Winning against Argentina shut my town down to a standstill…’
Whoa, Nick! Now you reminded me of my own memory of the match against Argentina. I was watching with my father then (we are like the only two in the house who can talk about football like there’s no tomorrow…even my mother gave up on me ). Initially I was devastated when Argentina took the lead. I almost wanted to give up watching before my father was calling out from the living room. I was in my bedroom then and had to run out to see what’s going on and Germany had equalised. It gave me hope until the penalty shoot-outs came about. Even then I had to look away before it was confirmed Germany were through to the semi-finals.

Whenever I think about it since, I wished I had half of the courage to believe given my father had believed from the start that Argentina’s WC journey will end there and then. I still remembered very well the newspapers I read didn’t give Germany a lot of chance ahead of the match (to imagine the day after the match, I see one big photo of Juergen Klinsmann jumping being splashed in the sports section of the newspaper I read…it was his reaction to the penalty shoot-out win). It was then I learned why football has always been an emotional sport. That match proved it for me.

‘The WC has really and deservedly improved Germany’s image worldwide.’
Yup. I should know, the newspapers here back then were amazed as Germany being the host nation and how they are very gracious. But the fact that I can never get to watch the Bundesliga after the WC ended here at where I live in Singapore…argh. At the end of the day, the Premier League still dominate the scene here (maybe partly due to the former British colonial legacy, I mean among the first few things I learned about the history of my country back in school was that Britain were once our colonial masters and it’s a fact I cannot escape from) and that is one thing I cannot argue much about. At least I still get to see the Germany international matches here whenever the international week roll around (usually like out of 10 matches, I will get to see eight). I am easily contented.

Maybe it’s an irony that Germany lost in the WC, but then at least they win over some sceptics in terms of how the world once viewed them. I was once a History student myself and so in a way back then during the WC reading about the Germans were not afraid to be patriotic helped me to put a lot of what I had learned about Germany’s unpleasant past from the History textbook into perspective.

‘(Even though you have CNN and other irresponsible English-language news sources constantly bringing up things not related to sport or Germany today.)’
Yeah. Hear hear.

Personally I have followed Germany since 1998 (I was a bit young then) and let’s say the recent successes have been a long time coming! In fact I no longer get extremely nervous when Germany play because thankfully it’s safe to say they have returned to winning ways.

I was their also during the World Cup and from the beginning I knew the team had the potential to win the trophy. (Everyone around me seemed less than optimistic :-/ ) When Germany beat Poland in the final minutes in the group stages every German fan breathed a collective sigh of relief. Winning against Argentina shut my town down to a standstill…

In the end Germany lost, but perhaps it was better that way? Germany deserved to win for sure, but losing proved what gracious hosts Germans were even more! The WC has really and deservedly improved Germany’s image worldwide. (Even though you have CNN and other irresponsible English-language news sources constantly bringing up things not related to sport or Germany today.)

The world cup has brought the Mannschaft and some Bundesliga teams some great fans no doubt. They are a great bunch of very talented players and it’s fantastic to watch them improve on their skills.

And it’s good to know that you are the same Diana at the Bayern Offside. I write that as well

The WC was definitely an unforgettable time. It still makes my heart hurt a little bit when I see the tattoo that Toni got after that, but you have to move forward. Toni has definitely been an asset to Bayern.

I am just always inspired by the amount of heart that the Mannschaft plays with. They never come with less than 110% and I love that about them.

I was in a state of denial for a few days actually. When everyone else praised how well Italy are over Germany, I refused to take it all in. I remembered very well when the first goal struck (I didn’t say this in my earlier comment), I was like saying this in my head ‘Come on!’. I was sitting on the edge of the sofa then. When it was all over, I refused to accept it. I refused to read the papers analysing how it all go wrong for Germany and right for Italy.

‘But I tell you, as big of a sports fan as I am, nothing has been as captivating as that WC.’
Yes. The first WC I remembered was in 1994 in the US…but I was still a young schoolgirl and don’t remember anything significant. France hosted it four years later and all I remembered was Zidane. The 2002 version, in a way, that was when I first took notice of the Mannschaft especially when they were in the final against Brazil. I did watched the final then (at the Bayern Offside, I said the 2002 WC was when I first know of Oliver Kahn and so it will be a pity he’s hanging up his gloves at the end of the current Bundesliga season). And I should know, given back then my classmates were talking about the match the following day in class. Brazil were the favourites to win it but I went for Germany who were the underdogs then. I always have a habit of going for the underdog in a match if I don’t have a favourite team.

But then it was only when the WC went to Germany two years ago when it all happened. In a way I’m also ‘grateful’ that it was held in Germany given I secretly suspect if not, I don’t think I will be following the Bundesliga after the WC ended. Oh by the way Angela, I think it was the match against Sweden where Podolski did his slide, not Switzerland. I remembered seeing photos of it.

And when my father mentioned that I support the German national team to one of my relatives last year (we were talking about football among ourselves then), I realised that my enthusiasm on the Mannschaft is not lost in the family. But I’m the only one in the family following how the Mannschaft is doing. To look back on the WC that was, I didn’t realised the Mannschaft had captivated me without me knowing it. There’s the group stages (but I remembered it was Lahm who scored the opening goal of the tournament given he did it quite early), when they were playing against Sweden, then there was Argentina (I remembered I don’t even dare to watch the penalty shootouts but I remembered I was happy when they were through) and finally during the semi-final against Italy…it really hit me.

The rest is history, as they say.

People are often surprised that I follow European teams and even more surprised when they find out that I follow German teams. They don’t understand how it all happened. I guess because soccer isn’t all that big here yet. It’s gaining momentum, but it’s nothing like it is in Europe. But I tell you, as big of a sports fan as I am, nothing has been as captivating as that WC.

From me initially just casually remarking that I rather watch the German national team than Brazil (I actually don’t know why I say that, to think of it)…to actually realising I was very sad when they were being knocked out in the semi-finals by Italy. I was watching the match at home on pay-TV then. I still remembered when the first goal struck towards the dying minutes in the added extra-time, I was shocked. I refused to believe it after the final whistle had been blown. It took me hours to sink in to the fact that they will not be in the final and I almost cried as a result (it was even the first time this happened to me when it comes to sporting events). It was then I realised, the Mannschaft had captivated me.

I know people had always said this match (Germany-Italy) is like the most exciting one in the World Cup but for a period of time, I refused to listen. Now if people talked about it again, I just brushed it aside.

‘Here’s to another 100 years of hope, excitement and heart.’
Agreed.