Last Goodbye From Berlin

From: Jason

I've tried to savor the final days of the World Cup with my friends in Berlin, all the while incredibly eager to return to my family back home. I knew Sunday would be a long, long day at the stadium here, so we saved our last all-nighter for Friday, making our way from West Berlin to Mitte and then on deeper to the East. Mortiz and his friend, Elisa, showed my buddy Don and I a great time, bouncing from café's to bars to finally a few early-to-mid morning drinks back at a friend's house. By the end of the night we felt like locals.

We hit a spot in Mitte that featured German rock and dance tracks. It was in an old building and was so crammed with people and humidity that our glasses instantly fogged up upon arrival (no A/C). But it was great. It was a welcoming vibe, our friends we're translating the songs and teaching us the words and everyone was jumping up and down as one. We hit a few outdoor cafes before, and a really cool spot after that - I wish I could remember the name - then Elisa made us some crazy Donner quesadillas, gave us some sangria from a box (at that point it tasted pretty good) and sometime around 7 or 8 I think some of us fell asleep. We met so many cool people and they could not have been more receptive to the arrival of two American strangers on their night out.

That night pretty much summed up the warm feelings from my five weeks in Germany. As corny as it sounds, it really was "A time to make friends," and without all of the cool people I met from Scotland and Australia and England and Ecuador and Holland and Canada and Mexico and Coast Rica and everywhere else, this would not have been nearly the same experience. The Germans, and Mortiz's family in particular, were world class, and there were too many random acts of kindness from the scores of volunteers in this country - and mere strangers on the street - to note. Thanks to all of them, and to all of you who have checked in on this blog and even taken the time to write yourselves. It was a blast writing the daily entries, and I'll miss it.

Okay, back to the weekend chronology. Needless to say, there was a fair bit of sleeping done Saturday afternoon, I finally bought a second bag to hold all of the stuff I purchased for friends and family back home, got packed up, and watched the Germany-Portugal game at Moritz's bar across the street. Great to see both teams running up and down the pitch, trying to create, and the two goals from Schweinstieger were top notch. Figo's delicious cross to Gomes was a great way for him to go out as well and the goalkeeper known as MSOK picked up a win in what he later announced was his final appearance for his country.

The Germans celebrated with their fans in Stuttgart for at least 45 minutes, everyone staying on the pitch to salute the crowd. I can't imagine the scene had Germany won first place instead of third. Back in Berlin, the streets were more noisy than usual - cars honking, people screaming and waving flags - but nothing close to what it was like when Germany beat Argentina in the quarters, for instance. Again, I made my friends pay close attention to the post-game interviews, particularly those involving Klinsi, the next coach of the USA (fingers crossed).

I came up with a chant that did not go over real well at Oscar, the bar - "Klinsi, Klinsi, come back home to the USA!" - and during the match there were constant shots of signs from fans begging him to stay. During the post-game ceremonies, you could clearly see Der Kaiser imploring Jurgen Klinsmann to stay as German head coach, and Chancellor Angela Merkel (or "Angie," as Moritz loving calls her) did the same when presenting the players and coaches with medals. After the game Klinsi said the usual stuff about having to talk it over with his family - his American wife is losing what little popularity she might have had in Germany by the day - and Beckenbauer said that he thought there was a good chance Klinsi would stay with Germany. I, however, refuse to believe any of that.

Today around noon the German team arrived back in Berlin, their base throughout the tournament, and were again met by hundred of thousands of people at the Fan Mile downtown. The players kicked balls to the fans, wore t-shirts thanking them for their overwhelming support, and people chanted for Klinsi to stay. It was actually pretty moving, and I still could not help thinking what a scene it would have been in this city were the Germans playing Sunday night rather than Saturday.

I met Moritz for breakfast for probably the last time, since it will be very late over here by the time I get done covering the Italy-France final, and we sat in this beautiful café with a garden and fountain. It's a spot that was once reserved for the best minds in town - the Intellectual Café - yet still they let me in. Savored a shrimp sandwich on toast - my last great meal in Germany - then headed to the stadium. Despite what is supposed to be impenetrable security for the final, and with streets and highways closed all around the Olympic Stadium, we ended up driving literally right up to the media entrance, right at the stadium.

Actually, we were allowed to cruise right through security twice, leaving Moritz and I amused but also a bit fearful about how easily the police relented. First, Moritz drove up to a blockade, showed my media pass, did a little chatting, and ended up getting allowed to drive right through. Then, when I told him the actual media entrance was on the other side of the stadium, we pulled back out, drove a ways, then approach another security stand. Again, a few minutes of talking and the barricade was pulled aside and we drove right up. Moritz parked for about five minutes as we chatted directly outside the media entrance, no one said anything about a car being there or approached us, and I headed inside. It was great not to have to walk and lug my computer bag all over the place, but a bit disconcerting nonetheless.

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This really was the World Cup of the defensive midfielder, wasn't it? I thought about my Best XI and, in the spirit of this the "Lone Striker" Cup, could really only name Klose as a forward. I needed room for all of the stalwart defenders, as, since the quarters or so, the tournament has gone that way. Some have criticized me for writing too much about the coaches or tactics in this World Cup, and not enough about the players, but French legend Michel Platini, next to Maradona the greatest player in his prime I have seen in my 32 years on the planet, had this to say to FIFA.com: "I've said elsewhere that it's the coaches' World Cup, and I could also have called it the World Cup of tactics. To some extent, that's a trend that has carried over from other competitions. Things have changed, because 20 years ago it was the players' World Cup. There was more freedom then, whereas now everything is dominated by tactics ... I'm not saying the football is poor, it just depends more than ever on what the coaches come up with. And in this tournament, you have to admit the formations have been rather defensive. In terms of the football on offer, I don't think Germany 2006 will go down in the annals. But, having said that, in terms of the organization and atmosphere, there's no comparison."

With that in mind I went with this lineup:

Klose

Maniche - Pirlo - Gattuso - Frings
Vieira

Grosso - Cannavaro - Thuram - Lahm

Buffon

I know that I lack a true right-sided midfielder, and fretted over whether to go with Maniche or Cristiano Ronaldo, but Ronadlo's flopping really killed it for me. He is too good a player for all of that, although I do think he was robbed not getting the Best Young Player Award. To me, Germany was always at its best with Frings running the show, not Ballack, and as much as I love Zidane, to me he had two very special games - especially against Brazil - but barring a spectacle today I went with others over him. I could be convinced to go with a more attack-minded player than Gattuso, however, since he missed some of the early stages and was not his best at first coming back from injury.

In the back, Zambrotta was very hard to leave off, but I think Lahm was outstanding in every game, and can play the left or right. Grosso essentially won two games for Italy in the dying seconds - albeit one on a very questionable penalty - so I went with him as the Italian outside back. Willy Sagnol has been tremendous as well, and I could be convinced to give him the nod as well. In goal, Ricardo and Lehmann were very close to getting my selection, but I have a feeling Buffon will go through the entire tourney giving up just that own goal to the USA, and he really is a commanding presence back there.

I'm going with Klose for the Golden Boot and Cannavaro for the Golden Ball. It's not sexy to go with a central defender, but I think the proof of his worth has come in every match, especially with Nesta missing nearly the entire World Cup as his partner.

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My friend William Bonnez, one of the first to let me know I had misinterpreted a gesture from France Coach Raymond Domenech in the semifinals, sent me an update on his quest to get that hand gesture - one of reeling an old-time camera - into some dictionaries. He wrote to several publishing houses when he tried to find mention of the gesture in dictionaries, and now there's hope it will be included in later editions. I'll let William's email do the talking from this dispatch to an editor at Harrap Shorter: "After the match Portugal-France, I was reading yesterday in the Washington Post the soccer World Cup blog of Jason La Canfora. I noticed he got confused by a gesture made by the French coach about the theatrical diving to the ground of the Portuguese player Ronaldo after a minor contact with a French player. What Mr. La Canfora took for reeling off a fish was simply Raymond Domenech gesturing the hand-cranking a movie camera. The coach wanted to indicate that Ronaldo 'faisait du cinéma' (to act as in a movie), a very common expression, understood by all in France, especially in a sporting context. I was very surprised today when I checked my Harrap's Shorter French-English Dictionary, 7 th edition, and found no translation of this expression. No sign either of the equally common expression 'en faire tout un cinéma' (to make a big deal of it). I thought you might want to address these omissions in a future edition." She responded to William: "Many thanks for your comments. We will certainly keep them on file so that the next edition can be amended." How about that? Our little blog making a real cultural impression ...

Been forgetting to write about this for the longest time, and figured it was now or never. Nike has basically taken over the ground floor of the KaDeWe, one of the largest department stores in the world on the Ku'damm in Berlin. They have ads for their star players draped all across the front of the store, and guess who is wearing a No. 11 jersey for the US and cracking a ball in the ad right next to the front door? You guessed it, our very own Freddy Adu. Pretty cool ... I've hear some Germans say they're supporting the French today, because they don't want to see the Italians wearing fours on their jerseys for the next four years, which would put them one ahead of Deutschland. The French with a second star - that they can handle ... I hope my lungs have not endured any long-term injury from all of the second-hand smoke these last five weeks. You really can't avoid it and so many of the idiot journalists here insist on chain smoking through games even though they are told constantly that it should be non-smoking only in the press box. Probably my least favorite part of the entire trip, now that I think about it ... Well, I guess that's it. Still have a few hours to kill before the match, but I also have a ton of expenses to catch up on - man, is that going to be messy - and some research to do before the big match. Again, thanks to all of you for making this so much fun. Wish you all could be here.
Lauren and Chloe, leave the front door open and the washing machine empty. I'm finally coming home.
Cheers.

By Jason La Canfora |  July 9, 2006; 10:00 AM ET
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