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Remarkable stories
July 8th, 2006
Flying from Europe to Australia isn't a lot of fun. I boarded a plane in
Frankfurt on Thursday night, flew to Singapore, and then waited for
several hours for a flight to Adelaide. By the time I arrived in my home
city, it was Saturday morning.
Nevertheless, it's rewarding when you arrive (even for someone who loves
travelling overseas as much as I do). You'd expect me to say that, but
sitting next to me was a Canadian woman who was travelling to Australia
for the second time. She was holidaying the first time she visited; now
she's decided to make Australia her home.
It's no utopia of course - every nation has its problems. One of our
biggest drawbacks is that football fans often have to watch matches at
ridiculous times. The World Cup Final kicks off at 8.00 pm in Germany and
that means 2.00 am in Perth, 3.30 am in Adelaide, and 4.00 am in Sydney
and Melbourne.
On the train from Ludwigshafen to Kaiserslautern for the Italy-Australia
match (was that really less than two weeks ago?) I sat next to an Italian
fan who doesn't live far from the city in Italy that my father was born
in.
Many Italians have relatives down under (or know people that do) so he
asked me what Australia was like. After waffling for a few minutes, I
said, as modestly as I could, that nearly all of the Italians that
migrated after World War II stayed - even though many could have easily
returned to Italy after it completed its post-war recovery.
The fans that my father travelled to Germany with all grew up in Italy and
migrated to Australia as adults. They have gone to several World Cups to
support the Italian team and bought a package of tickets to follow Italy
through the knockout phase of this tournament. They cheered for the
Socceroos in their second round match against Italy and then switched back
to supporting the nation of their birth after it eliminated the Aussies.
Yet, when I went to the Germany v Italy semi-final with them, I was
(pleasantly) surprised to see them all wearing T-shirts with the
Australian flag and the words "We were cheated" printed below it. Nobody
is selling these shirts - they got them printed themselves.
Apologies for the patriotic rant, but these things must surely tell you
something.
There was a familiarity about watching the 3rd place match in the
morning's early hours - that's what World Cups are usually like for
viewers in this part of the world.
I kept thinking about how I'd been part of the crowd when Germany played
its most recent international against Italy and now I could hardly be much
further away from the World Cup's host nation. It doesn't quite seem real.
Now I criticise the 3rd place match a lot and every four years we debate
whether it's really worth having. With Germany playing, however, it was a
last chance to see a team that had pleased so much throughout the
tournament.
Bastian Schweinsteiger's goals alone were worth any sleep deprivation. I
was also pleased to see more Klinsmann celebrations and to hear the crowd
chanting the manager's name again. I hope he stays in the job as much as
Germany does.
A German victory in this World Cup would have been a remarkable story. The
team looked clueless in pre-tournament friendlies and Klinsmann was on the
receiving end of a torrent of criticism.
But he backed his younger players - built their self-belief - and
installed an attractive attacking style. By the time the team secured a
place in the second round, its optimism was infecting the nation.
Germany's transformation from clinical but unloved winners to popular
underdogs has been remarkable.
Fortunately, France and Italy also give us remarkable stories.
Italy came to the tournament with a strong team - so many of its players
are in their late 20s, usually the peak of a footballer's career.
Nevertheless, Italian football has been rocked by a match fixing scandal
involving clubs that many of the national team's members play for. Then
former international Gianluca Pessotto nearly lost his life and some of
the players left Germany to visit him in hospital. Yet these things seem
to have made the team stronger. While the match fixing problems won't
disappear, they would make World Cup joy even sweeter.
France's story doesn't have such a dark background. But, come on, did we
really give these guys a chance? Of course we didn't. Too many of them
were over the hill; they seemed unable to win or even score in qualifying;
and they still couldn't buy a goal in their early matches in Germany.
Suddenly, against Spain, the French came alive. Then the Brazilians
(remember them - the invincible team?) were eliminated as France's old
boys continued to surprise the world.
Both teams have been criticised during the tournament. France copped it
during the group stage and the Italians copped it after their match
against Australia.
My predictions have been so bad that I'm not even going to try to guess
the outcome of this match. I just hope it isn't another disappointment as
some recent World Cup Finals have been.
But whatever happens, one of these teams will complete a remarkable ride
in glory.
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