A Nation Cries

Everyone in the country hugely anticipated the Germany v. Italy Semi-Final. It seemed like Germany was on its way to a fairy-tale ending to win the World Cup in its home country. However it didn’t end up that way.

I made my way down to the Fan Festival in the center of Berlin to take in the game. They had several large screen televisions to handle the anticipated 1 million spectators who were going to watch the game there.

It was a massive event. For every German I talked to, despite the amazing run of the national team, they were still not confident that Germany would win the World Cup. That was evident to me from the beginning of the game. I didn’t watch the first half of the match at all; instead I was watching the fans view the games on the big screen. In almost everyone’s eyes there was uncertainty about what would happen. I guess that is one of the beauties of soccer, you never really know exactly is going to happen.

The game appeared to be a classic encounter, with both nations going for the goal. However it was not until the 119th minute of overtime that Italy scored. The fans stood in shock. A quick second goal was scored before the end of the game and with it Germany’s dream run was over. The emotions of the German fans, which had been at a fever pitch the whole World Cup, finally boiled over.

German fans cried and hugged. One crazy Italian fan egged on the German fans before police came in to separate him. But mostly fans stood in shock, or slumped down on the ground in disbelief that their run for the cup was over.

I’ve actually never witnessed anything like that before where everyone around you was so completely despondent. It was a very powerful moment.

Of course, soccer is a game so after a few hours people were dealing with the events and moving on and laughing, but that moment will never truly leave anyone I am sure.

So today I head off to the other Semi-final match to be held in Munich. I plan to then spend the next few days taking advantage of my Germany rail pass to check out some more sights as well before it expires.