Catching up...

Phew, it's been a hectic week here in Germany, with the 3 of us rushing around to a whole bunch of games and some very late nights.

We were in Hannover for the Mexico vs Angola, where it seemed that the whole of Mexico had turned up for the day. The streets of Hannover were thronging with literally 1000's of their green-jerseyed supporters, a heap of sombreros and even a Mariachi band. Funnily enough, we had lunch in a sort of Spanish/Mexican type bar, which was almost totally taken over by the Mexicans, the Angolans were very few and far between. Fiona did some shopping while Yates and I found the worlds smokiest bar to watch the Argentinians thrash Serbia-Montenegro 6-nil, and we even found time to visit a great local market hall for a pleasant glass of vino...!

On the way to the stadium for the 9 O'clock kick-off, it was a sea of green shirts, with some crazy Mexican fans offering huge sums of money (500 euro's/US$600/NZ$1,000) for our tickets, but we were not selling. The game itself was enjoyable to watch the Mexican shout how they were going to win the match easily only to see that staunch and brave Angolans hold on for a nil-nil draw. Although it was not a classic match it was great to see the Angolans get a well-deserved point, and also have a slim chance of even making it through to the next round if they could beat Iran by a few goals.

As this was a late match a long way from Frankfurt, we had booked some seats on a night train back home that was due to leave around midnight, and we rushed from the stadium to make it on time. Guess what...? Yup... the train was delayed... The normally so reliable German railway (DB) seemed to have some problems that night and we waited on a chilly platform for an extra two an a half hours. When the train arrived I found it quite comfortable and managed to grab some sleep during the 4-hour journey, but Yates and Fiona were not so lucky, so we were all looking a bit worse-for-wear when we trudged up the hill from the station and finally got o our apartment at 6:30am...

Once again we had another match later that day, but fortunately, it was in Frankfurt, and as it was only a short trip from our apartments which meant that we could at least get 5-6 hours sleep. Yates's American friend Jarl was due to show up later that day to join us for the Portugal v Iran game so we would be up earlier. Yates woke us with a phone call to let me know he had managed to score a ticket for the USA vs Italy game that evening, and that he and Jarl would be travelling to the stadium immediately after the Frankfurt game. Fiona and I decided to steal an extra hour or so of sleep and arranged to meet Yates & Jarl at the stadium. Portugal won quite easily 2-nil, and as Jarl and Yates rushed off to catch another train to the USA game, (this would be Yates's 3rd game in 26 hours...!), Fiona and I just chilled out at the stadium, had a drink or two and watched the crowds leave. When it was nice and quiet we headed back to our apartment, had a light bite for supper and sat down to watch the USA vs Italy game in the comfort our couch. It was an eventful game which finished 1-1, ( the USA deserved to win I think), with 3 red-card sending off, but at least it would give the USA a chance to qualify for the 2nd round if they could beat Ghana.

It had been a very busy couple of days, and we were looking forward to a few days off before our next long trip to Leipzig to see Angola try and beat Iran.