Tragedy! When Germany scored the first goal early in last night's match against the Czech Republic, I was hoping that the pessimists around our office would be proved wrong -- but they turned out to be right, as the Czechs eventually came back to win the match 2-1, thereby crushing Germany's hopes for advancing any further in EM 2004. In last night's other match, Holland walked over Latvia (who Germany 'tied' last week 0-0) 3-0, so the Czech Republic and Holland will be the teams from our group that advance to the next round.
There were no big outdoor parties in our neighborhood like there were for Germany's first game, but you could still feel how much the city was concentrating on this match. Our apartment doesn't face any apartment buildings or nightspots -- just an office building and a parking lot -- but I had the windows open as I watched the match, and as Germany scored that first goal, you could hear a roooooar made up of many voices drift in from outside. I took Scout out for a walk around the half, and the neighborhood was totally abandoned -- nobody else walking, nobody driving. It felt like being in one of those last-man-on-Earth science fiction stories. American sports fans wish that they could be this intense.
Posted by Kevin at June 24, 2004 10:55 AM