This took me a total of 45 minutes, reaffirming my belief that there is always one ticket available for games.
This ticket cost me 200 Euros:
Unfortunately it was in the Italy section as the ticket says Federazione Italiana, and the name on the ticket is Giuoco Calcia. I guess I look like a Giuoco. Actually all the fears about your ticket needing to match your passport were overblown, it was never a problem.
The Aussies really showed up big time for this game. In the city and in the stadium I would estimate that there was at least a three to one Aussie to Italian fan. Now a lot of those fans could be displaced Americans like me or maybe Germans or English that just don't like Italy. But whatever the case, there were a ton of Aussies and the atmosphere before the game was incredible. Here are a couple pictures of downtown Kaiserslautern:
The Aussies had totally taken over this square. They were selling beer from four taps that I could see around this square. For the hour that I was here, I never once saw them turn off the tap. One cup would always be replaced by the next.
Now long time readers of this blog will remember that I thought that the US soccer fans came of age in this tournament. The same thing is true for the Aussies. This picture is of two Aussie fans with Hiddink 06 on their back. The front of the T-shirt has a shadow portrait of Hiddink's face. Now the impressive thing is that Hiddink is the coach of the Aussie team, not a player.
The city of Kaiserslautern has only about 100,000 residents. It is by far the smallest host city. But it is part of a bigger area called the Rheinland-Pfalz area. This is also the area where most of the German wine is produced. They are famous for Rieslings, but also make Pinot Noir and Sekt (champagne). The wine area set up this little wine garden in the middle of the warm up craziness. It was actually a pretty cool area set right next to this old church.
Being as the temperature was in the low 80's and muggy, I decided it would be a good idea to try the local Rieslings:
This guy was selling bracelets for 1 Euro each and while no one was purchasing, he would juggle. He was really good, I watched for a few minutes and not even a hint of dropping the ball.
Being a small city has it advantages for Kaiserslautern as the fan zone area was set up about one mile from the stadium. They called it the 'magic mile'. It was basically a one mile long party street with street vendors that everyone walked along to get to the stadium. They also had two fan fests set up in the city. The stadium is in the background on top of the hill.
Line up before kickoff. The anthems were cool again, but nothing like the USA game that gave me the goose bumps.
The Aussie official section, everyone has the jersey. Also, there was at least 2000 small blow up kangaroos. I was surrounded by Aussies in the official Italian section, again it was surprising how many Aussie supporters showed up. The lady next to me also paid 200 Euros for her ticket; she was Australian working in Riyadh that had flown up for the game.
Here is the rubbish PK that decided the game in the 93rd minute with a 1-0 escape for the Italians. The Italians really did not deserve this game at all. In person the PK foul looked like a dive, on the replay later it still looked like a dive. Tough result for Hiddink's crew.
This church is across the street from my hotel, the hotel that the Kaiserslautern tourist board found me is in the city of Landstuhl. Really close to Ramstein Air Force Base, a large American influence in this town. It was about a 20 minute drive from my parking spot in Kaiserslautern.
1 comment:
200 EUR for the ticket plus expenses...I will have fun spending the equivalent amount in something as meaninful as shoes...
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