On The Spot


 
Follow PWC columnist Paul Marcuccitti's World Cup diary as he travels around Germany.

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Zinedine's glory



June 27th, 2006

    I had a bit of trouble getting out of bed this morning. I know what you're thinking - but it's not just because of the deep disappointment brought on by Australia's World Cup elimination. It really has more to do with a loss of adrenalin.

    It's been 25 days since I left home and, while I've enjoyed this experience immensely, it feels like I've been in Europe longer because I've put myself through a punishing schedule - 11 international football matches (including two friendlies), 8 venues (from Rotterdam to Munich), sightseeing in between, and thousands of kilometres on trains, trams and buses (and there has been a lot of hot weather). You can see the wear on my shoes from all the walking I've done.

    When your adrenalin is high, you don't feel exhausted. But that has changed now. There are two reasons: the Socceroos are out of the tournament; and the World Cup is nearly over.

    I know there are still 12 days to go but we've now reached that point after the round of 16 where the World Cup finals will have their first rest days. If you include the silly match for 3rd place (hmmm, shall I watch it this year?), there are just 8 games left.

    I may have a ticket to one of the quarter-finals but it's still unconfirmed; my flight back to Australia leaves Frankfurt on 6 July (though I can change it without paying any extra); and I have no hotel bookings after tonight.

    Unfortunately I have trouble relaxing because I get bored quite easily. So I eventually got going and had a quick look around Ludwigshafen's main shopping area. I then took the six-minute train ride to Mannheim which has a nice shopping area and a beautiful (and large) park surrounded by historic buildings just a few hundred metres from the main train station.

    The park is also Mannheim's World Cup zone and, as I was looking for somewhere to watch Brazil v Ghana, a young lady told me that I could see the game at a nearby theatre.

    Well this was a winning move. This theatre included a large hall with a massive screen to watch the match on. Hundreds of people were able to watch the game comfortably there and plenty of fans of both teams added to the entertainment.

    I was tempted to hang around for Spain v France but I needed to have an early night and I watched the game back in my hotel room.

    At every World Cup, you get a dunce that picks the Spaniards to win the tournament and this year it was me. I don't support the view that they can't win the World Cup just because they have a history of underachievement. (France also had a history of underachievement until eight years ago.) Spain has some fine goal scorers - always important for a potential world champion - and the team seemed quite united.

    But this evening Spain ran into a French team that produced its best World Cup performance since 1998. Sure, I would have preferred to see Spain's tournament continue but this World Cup is richer for seeing Zindine Zidane enjoy at least one more moment of glory. He'll have at least one more match too.

    From being a team that looked like it was going to repeat the 2002 experience of not being able to buy a goal, suddenly France looks like a competent outfit. We've seen this happen before of course with the Italian team of 1982 being the classic example. I still doubt that the French will regain the World Cup on 9 July, but their decorated team - which was thought to be over the hill - might just have one or two more shots in the locker.

    I'm leaving Ludwigshafen tomorrow but I have no idea where I'll be tomorrow night. I won't guarantee a diary entry for 28 June in case I'm still moving.

    In the meantime, try to cope with the withdrawal symptoms that days without World Cup football might produce.

What are we going to do after 9 July?



 
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