|
In the spotlight
July 3rd, 2006
After a few days in the Netherlands, I have just returned to Germany and,
as much as I enjoyed my Dutch holiday, I'm starting to wonder if I should
have stayed in the World Cup's host nation.
I've written about how I could have had a ticket for the England v
Portugal quarter-final but it was lost in the mail and I also would have
had a ticket if Australia reached the last eight.
Today, however, I learned that, had I gone to Hamburg, I could have picked
up a ticket for Italy v Ukraine at cost price. I'm amazed.
I had thought that the only tickets available for quarter-finals would be
in the hands of touts who would be charging inflated prices.
But on the train to Dusseldorf, my base for the next couple of days, an
American fan told me that, in Hamburg, people couldn't offload tickets
quickly enough and that there were many empty seats inside the stadium. He
had bought a ticket at face value himself having gone to Hamburg without
one.
I've also just met up with my father and the group of fans he's travelling
with and he told me the same thing - there were plenty of tickets
available (though he already had one for that match).
Had I thought that there was even a small chance of picking up a ticket in
Hamburg without having to pay a ridiculous amount for it, I would have
travelled north and tried my luck. Maybe I was just destined not to attend
a quarter-final.
Nevertheless, from a tourist's perspective, today has been a good day.
Yesterday was a good day too - a restful one for a change. I met up with
Planet World Cup colleague Ruud Doevendans again and spent most of the day
enjoying his family's hospitality and talking about football. (Is there
anything else to talk about at the moment?)
Ruud showed me his amazing collection of football videos and DVDs (which
is listed on this site) and it includes every World Cup finals match
played in the last 40 years. One of the first titles I saw was "Ireland v
Egypt 1990" and I joked that he probably never watched that one again. If
you're one of the fortunate people that never saw this match, believe me,
it is probably the worst game in the tournament's history.
Now, before I talk about what happened today, let me tell you a quick
story. It has absolutely nothing to do with football so, if you only want
to read World Cup talk, advance to the third-last paragraph.
In 2000, I holidayed in Great Britain and hired a car. I had planned to
stop at a place called Holy Island on my way from Newcastle to Edinburgh.
Holy Island isn't exactly a tourist magnet but it does have interesting
ruins and was the site of Viking raids many years ago.
One of the most interesting things about Holy Island is how you get there.
You have to drive on a road across the sea. But there's no bridge. The
road is at sea level and crossing at high tide is not possible as the road
becomes flooded. So to get to the island, you need to know what times you
can drive across - without having your car washed away.
On this trip, I was a day behind schedule because I'd spent an extra day
in York. (Fabulous city. I didn't want to leave.) This meant that I had to
miss Holy Island and a few other places of interest in England's
north-east.
But as I drove past Holy Island in fading light (it was the middle of
winter), I had a sudden impulse and decided to go for it - without knowing
the safe crossing times. It seemed like low tide so why not?
It was getting darker and darker as I drove across and there were no other
cars on this road. Then I suddenly realised that I must have lost my mind.
I was in a hire car, on my own, and, if the tide rolled in...
I turned carefully (seriously, you wouldn't risk putting a tire over the
road's edge) and then broke the land speed record getting back. I then
chose the much more sensible option of having a quiet dinner in
Berwick-on-Tweed before driving to Edinburgh.
Although turning back was the right thing to do, missing out on Holy
Island bugged me for five years. Last year, I was back in Britain, I
carried a print out of the safe crossing times, and I went to Holy Island.
Again, it's not exactly a major tourist attraction but, after the 2000
experience, I absolutely had to get there.
Four weeks ago, I tried to visit Kinderdijk, the Dutch windmill Mecca. As
I described in Gesloten, my diary entry for that day, I didn't make it.
Well today was my last in the Netherlands and I decided that I wasn't
going to fly home without getting there. I managed to do some souvenir
shopping in Amsterdam this morning; catch a train to Utrecht; and catch a
bus from Utrecht to Kinderdijk and its beautiful windmills. Though I was
only there for two hours, that's really all you need.
Instead of returning to Amsterdam via Utrecht, I caught another bus in the
same direction and jumped off at Rotterdam Lombardijen train station where
I had my famous meetings with the lady that yelled at me from the
apartment block and the two old ladies that helped me find the right bus
stop. I kept recalling it all and I just couldn't stop laughing.
You can reach Amsterdam Centraal station directly from Rotterdam
Lombardijen and I returned to the Dutch capital in time to board the day's
last train to Germany. As soon as I reached Dusseldorf, I found my hotel
and then had a late dinner with my father and his friends. A nice day's
work.
Tomorrow, Germany plays Italy in Dortmund - which isn't far from here.
Everyone in my father's group has a ticket and I'm going to go to the game
and just see what's around. I don't expect to have any luck but I can at
least sample the atmosphere.
It should be a good match. Both teams are better than they were four years
ago (even though Germany reached the Final in Japan) and the Italians
might open up a bit. I doubt that they'll want to go to penalties.
The spotlight really falls on two teams on a World Cup semi-final day
because in the semis you have only one match per day - for the first time
in the tournament. They are wonderful occasions and sometimes they produce
great matches. Let's hope that tomorrow is no exception.
|
[HOME]
BACKGROUND
Info on how
the World Cup was founded and about the trophy as well. |
THE
WORLD CUPS
Detailed info
on every match in every tournament. |
COLUMNISTS
Interesting columns about the past, present and future of the World Cup. |
THE
NATIONS
Every nation
with appearances in the World Cup. Detailed info on every country. |
LEGENDS
Player profiles
of many of the most influential players in history. |
A-Z STORIES
An A-Z collection
of strange and different stories in World Cup history. |
STATISTICS
A big collection
of various statistics and records. |
MASCOTS
Every mascot
since it was introduced in 1966. |
QUIZ
Test your
knowledge about the WC. Three different levels. No prizes, just for fun. |
TOP
10 RANKINGS
Rankings of
lots of stuff. For instance Best Goals, Best Players and Best Matches. |
LINKS
Our collection
of links to other soccer sites with World Cup connection. |
LINK
TO
Some banners
and buttons for you to link to us if you want. |
ABOUT
US
A little information
on who keeps this site available. |
|
