Archive: Steven in Germany
Hey Hey Pele
You cannot stop Pele - as hundreds of gasping defenders learned over two decades. You can only hope to ignore him - which is quite the challenge during the World Cup. Soccer's most revered player has never met a marketing opportunity he couldn't use to promote himself or his causes, and with the sport's biggest tournament upon us, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, 65, is at it again....
By Steve Goff | June 26, 2006; 11:41 AM ET | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Fond Farewell to the 'Boys'
From Steven Goff: The Hamburg edition of Bild, a salty and scurrilous German tabloid, said goodbye to the U.S. team in yesterday's editions with a half-page spread featuring photos of Oguchi Onyewu and Eddie Pope strolling the Reeperbahn, and Claudio Reyna, Eddie Lewis and Carlos Bocanegra at a party. The headline, in English, was "Bye, bye, Boys!" -- a fond farewell from one of the many German media outlets that seemed to appreciate the access they were granted to Coach Bruce Arena and the players. xxxx The Germany-Sweden match was taking place in Munich, but you never would have known it from the scene in Berlin's sparkling new train station a few hours before kickoff. German fans by the tens of thousands poured out of trains, crossing paths with Mexican and Argentine supporters waiting for connections to Leipzig, and headed across the Spree River toward the giant video screens near...
By Jon DeNunzio | June 24, 2006; 06:51 PM ET | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Testing Their English
From Steven Goff: Following the Ecuador-Poland match in Gelsenkirchen, I found my way back to the train station at 1 a.m. for the long ride to Hamburg. When I entered my six-seat cabin, two yellow-and-blue clad Ecuadoran fans had already settled down. I knew they spoke Spanish but I figured it was worth testing their English. So in a very carefully chosen tone, I asked them if they had come all the way from South America for the World Cup. The older gentleman responded in almost perfect English, "No, I'm from Minnesota. This is my son. He's from Vegas." He proceeded to explain that almost every Ecuadoran fan traveling with the team was an immigrant. "Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Iowa. Some from Spain and Italy. One guy I met lives in Belgium," he said. "We live in other places now, but we still love Ecuador."...
By Jon DeNunzio | June 10, 2006; 08:49 AM ET | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
What's a Brat Worth?
From Steven Goff: When I told family and friends I would be spending nearly six weeks in Germany, the typical response was, "That's a lot of bratwurst!" To the contrary, I have found Hamburg's culinary options as diverse as its population. Imagine an Englishman telling a friend who is about to embark on holiday to America, "Look here, lad, don't eat too many cheeseburgers and Cheetos."...
By Jon DeNunzio | June 7, 2006; 01:30 PM ET | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
