World Cup Day 27

Tuesday, 08/07/2014

Semifinal
Germany vs. Brazil in Minerão Stadium, Belo Horizonte

Gui woke me up at 8:45 in the morning asking if I wanted to make a documentary for Globo about how German fans prepare for the match. The time this would start was 9:30 so unfortunately it was impossible for me, especially since I woke up with a sore throat the third morning in a row. The pain was really bad and I wondered why it didn’t get better at all even though I had been taking anti-inflammatory medicine for 2 days now (after having taking antibiotics for 6 days).
We still got up and got ready as we had to pick up match tickets in 2 different places.
The plan was to dress in my soccer player outfit today but Gui said, it would be much cooler to wear a Dirndl so I wore the other Dirndl I hadn’t worn before. Then I went to the stadium with 3 Brazilians. Yellow everywhere. Hmm, it would be good to see some Germans. “Germans, where aaareee yoouu??? I need some Black-red-gold support!” I gave some interviews and took a looot of pictures.

I was looking forward to see Dante play, too. And even though I was always routing for both, Brazil and Germany, today I wanted Germany to win, of course. We had been waiting to be World Champions so many years, always so close. So now was the time to set the hopes high again.

My sector in the stadium (cat. 2) had some Germans but still I went to the agitated German fan block, as at every match, right after both National Anthems had been played. By chance I met 2 Brazilians I got to know in South Africa. What a coincidence.

There were many more Brazilians than Germans of course and they were singing louder than we were. But we were a good fan stand today singing loudly, too, especially after the first two goals.
After 1:0 for Germany the Brazilians were still singing, after 2:0 they got quieter and sat down. When Germany scored the third goal, the only ones you could hear singing and cheering were the Germans.

Goosebumps, tears in my eyes, incredulity – A mix of all of the above, especially in the 6 minutes when Germany scored 4 goals. “What the heck is going on here?” (Was ist denn hier los?) all German fans in the fan sector were asking themselves. I was taping a video of the Germans cheering after one goal and then by chance was filming the next goal already, too. Craziness!

Sure, we were happy to be winning, but we all have a big carinho (fondness) for Brazil and didn’t want to see them defeated like that. We know how it is to get kicked out of the World Cup in our own country. The expectations are high, but I think in Brazil they were even higher. “A copa das copas” – the World Cup of the World Cups.
I’ve been in Brazil so many times by now but I still remember my enthusiasm of the first time I touched Brazilian soil. So enthused that I started to learn Portuguese and later came back many times.
So I understand how all the German soccer fans feel who came here to support our team and experienced Brazil for the first time. They sing “Eeuu sou brasileiro com muito orgulho com muito amooor” with all conviction, wear Brazilian soccer shirts and interact with locals. The same as for the fans stands for the German National Team who keep on showing how much they appreciate being able to live that experience of participating in this World Cup in Brazil
Watch their amazing video:

and also sent messages to the Brazilian players and fans.

Watch video:

Vamos Brasil

During half time break, Brazilians came to us and said: „Please, take it slow in the second half“

I didn’t see anyone crying though because I was in the middle of the German fan section and the Brazilians sitting left and right of us didn’t cry. Some Brazilians came to the German fan block to celebrate with us, trying to learn the German fan songs. There was just one guy after the match finished, standing in the middle of the German fans, crying. We took a picture with him because we felt sorry for him, being totally desperate and sad.

He was then interviewed by some TV station.

After Germany scored 7 goals the Brazilians stood up and applauded us. What a moment. Unbelievable.

Altogether both Germans and Brazilians were very respectful and fair. Unbelievable how well the Brazilian (the ones I saw) handled their dropping out of the World Cup.

I was so incredulous and shocked yet happy of what was going on so don’t mind my teary eyes and selection of words in the video (and my horrible Verona Pooth voice and off-key chanting). Exceptional circumstances!!!

German fans sang many songs and cheers such as “Miro Klose, Fußballgott” to “Ihr seid nur ein Karnevalsverein, Karnevalsverein” (just once though) and the compulsive „Finaaaleee oh oh“.

The coolest party animal is probably Kevin Großkreutz, after the match he came back to “party” with the fans and sang Humba Humba Tätäräää with us.

The atmosphere and party in the stadium were amazing. We stayed until FIFA kicked us out. The problem was always, finding a place afterwards where all Germans would party together. Apparently everyone went to Savassi, a place in the city centre. But since we all took a bus and then a taxi, I ended up with one other German in the middle of only Brazilians partying, desperately looking for other Germans because we wanted to continue the amazing atmosphere we found in the stadium. In the following hours, we found about 7 or 8 other Germans (where did all the others go to!?). So it was more of a standing around of many many Brazilians and some Germans in the streets. Well… we’ve had the stadion experience and being in Brazil is always good.

Watch video: