It turned out that Paul the Octopus was right. Photo (cc) flickr user craig Quimby

So the Deutschland dream is over. Buried in a wave of tiki-taka. Yeah, Spain was much superior to Germany and totally deserved their win, but how boring is it to watch them play? Pass, pass, pass. Then pass, pass, pass again. And again, for 73 minutes until they broke German hearts with a goal ‘made in Barcelona.’

It got ugly here in Berlin once the final whistle blew. Schland der Tränen. Everyone annoyed and crestfallen. Frustration at not getting hold of the ball, being unable to do anything worthwhile with it when they did, and the dawning of reality; things too good to be true usually are.

During the World Cup, even the rolls have football fever. Photo courtesy Snooker in Berlin

Well, I can finally admit it. I’m a changed person. The move to Germany has made me a “soccer” fan. Yes, Fußball has me. Last Friday night as the UK goalie scored a goal for the USA I giggled madly. Sunday night as the German National Team whooped Australia (come on, would you expect any less?) I had a grin on my face. Yes, I’m hooked.

I had a little gathering on the occasion of Germany’s first match game. Look closely at the colors of the food (pictured below). Black, red, gold! The colors of the German flag. Yes we went crazy! Blueberries and Buletten (basically a meatball) were representing black (well, they really weren’t black… in fact, I got some comments that they were lovely), strawberries and bell peppers were red, and apricots, pineapple and more peppers represented the gold/yellow.