Fussball fieber (part 1) - first live match

The German sounding title would have anyone with an IQ to suggest it means "Football Fever", and yes this delayed post is definitely...delayed! Having to organize a huge project during your first months, especially during World Cup season, is not a good way to enjoy your World Cup. But nevertheless, for the benefit of those who are footie hardcores like me...one has to share the experience of being the lucky few that lived in a country that was hosting the World Cup...so here it is, albeit a little delayed, my series of entries for the World Cup...

"Portuguese Tarts World Cup Experience"

... a summary of the thrills, spills, emotional highs and lows, drama, friendship, and the 'fever' usually associated with the World Cup....

The Fan in me

Lets begin with me as a football fan-atic. Of the many levels of 'fan-dom', i fall under the 'play the game (some say good), history buff, statistics loving, strategy analyst, know all' footie fan. I play it weekly, i watched it nearly daily, i read bout anything and everything about it, i even cried for not being selected for a school team before...guess thats fanatic enough! You see, theres lots to know about the beautiful game...like who coined the word 'beautiful game' (Pele for those not in the know), from 4-4-2 to ultra defensive, offside to did the ball cross the line dramas...etc. And its not like the oft cited cliche (usually those who are either ignorant or 'stupid' say it) of "a game where silly men chase a white ball"! I get terribly upset when i hear that...but now more of pittance because it usually comes with ignorance (some plain outright stupid)...because this "game" has more than 22 people (refs, subs, etc) who definitely arent "silly", they dont "run" after a ball, they strategically keep possesion in order to put the ball in the oppositions goal! And the "ball" is never white nowadays!

The so called 'fever'

That apart...seeing that i was in Germany nearly a month prior to the World Cup, it was sad to say that i hardly felt the "football fever", cept for a couple of trainees whom i know were footie soulmates (kudos to Kenyan Steve, despite the fact he supports Liverpool). I knew back home promotions, marketing and nearly everything was footie oriented, but here...it somehow felt muted. Maybe its the expectation that the country may not even perform well...i dont know...i was just not feeling it! Unlike in Japan / Korea, man the whole of Asia was feeling 'it'! The random man on the street, the bookies, students...everyone!

Marketing Campaigns

So i got myself engrossed in World Cup related ads (mostly nike and adidas) to get me in the swing of things! Now this football business...industry experts dont really know how to put a figure of how big this industry is...anything related to football...cuz its simply HUGE! The obvious example can be seen through sport, electronic, automobiles...nearly all industry brands competing with one another...each having their own 'stars' endorsing their product.

The ones which most footie fans look forward too are ones which Nike and adidas produced commercials. With a stable of who's who in the football world endorsing either brands, its a footie fans dream having to direct an ad involving all the stars. So far, till i left, we re only bombarded by the nike ad campaigns (usually the innovator of creative football /sports commercials), led by my all time idol...Eric Cantona, promoting Joga Bonito (play beautiful, or something like that), and having the Worlds Number 1 player at the moment, Ronaldinho in most of its ads. It brought the whole football commercial campaign one level higher...it sort of created a movement...that football is all about playing beautifully! And damn...there goes adidas...lets see what they ve got in store for us.

And boy was i not dissapointed! It brought back the old school way of how we, as kids use to divide our teams. With their theme of +10 (it means YOU and your team of +10), the ad had 2 Spanish speaking kids doing a "one, two jus" (Malaysian version of scissors, paper, stone) to choose their players. "Zidane", and on comes the French talisman, "Gerrard", on comes the inspirational Englishman, "Robben", "Viera", "Beckham","Raul"...etc. The classic moment was when one of the kids mum, Jose...screamed "Jose...get back home", he took the ball and the game had to stop...with the rest of the footballers flabbergasted! The first time i saw that...i was completely bowled away...! Now...for both companies...i give them 2 thumbs up for superb, creative and innovative marketing campaigns!

First football game...LIVE!

I like the idea of having small towns hosting the participating teams in the World Cup. It has been like this ever since, and it just make great economical sense, bringing in tourism to the smaller cities that are not hosting any games. Bonn had the priviledge of being the host city to the Japanese team, it was no wonder the town was abuzz with everything Japanese; sushis restaurants more promoted, blue and white flags of the "Samurai Blue" and most significantly, turning a museum into a huge Japanese media center! It was this place which i visited with a HK trainee couple, Sean and Sam, that i realised there was a friendly between Germany and Japan! As the price was merely 25euros (and since AIESEC pay half of German 'cultural' related events), our chinese genes simply said this was a must watch, must see, must experience CHEAP match!! We bought our tickets right away...and got pretty excited about it!

The museum that was transformed to a Japanese Media center



Portuguese Tart trying his Japanese look


The game was in Leverkusen, bout an hour from Bonn, and i am sure it was a welcome home of sorts for Germany's top player, Michael Ballack as he used to play there! Now, this is important...i have never, ever, ever a fan of Germany simply because they play boring, organised football! So obviously i was going to this match, hoping for an upset! The trainees were always surprised by my "No way am i supporting Germany" attitude, despite me earning a living here. But hey...football is football...

Germany vs Japan


Crazy Ultraman fans! In LeverkusenStadium

At the beginning of the game

Venue, Leverkusen Stadium, home stadium of Bayer Leverkusen


Atmosphere was fantastic, German fans and Japanese fans screaming the lungs out, the view of the stadium from my seat, the green grass...man if you re a footie fan, this sort of environment gets the hair at the back of your neck stand! The euphoria was fantastic!

As i got the tickets in the Japan media center, i naturally was in the Japan side of the stadium! Not a bad view either...plus soaking in the atmosphere from the Japs perspective...simply awesome! (notice i didnt mention anything on Jap chicks...cuz plainly put it...there was NONE!)

And they got near hysterical when Japan scored the first goal!! I was livid...seeing the host suffer a defeat...definitely a great moment! On the hour mark...2-0, confirmed HYSTERIA!!! What a feeling!!

But in the end...lack of height and stamina proved their downfall, as Germany scraped back 2 late late goals through set pieces! Man...no matter how Japan outplayed the host...they were still a little "short" of height!

Game was not that fantastic, although it does have its fair share of spills and thrills! Germans were more cautious whilst the Japs were typical kamikaze in their game plan...although finishing was very questionable!
Like all live games, the only thing lacking were live commentary...but the atmosphere and the euphoria definitely made up for it.

Half time show (yawnnn)

Japan scores the 2nd goal...!!

Ballack vs Nakata




Nippon!!

Germany fans!




Final results... 2- 2. Lucky Germans!

But all in all, it was a great start heading towards the World Cup! There will be heaps more excitement to come!