Germany great place to gain respect for the beautiful game

My parents signed me up for a kindergarten league at age 5, and I hated it. It was basically mob soccer, and I hated getting muddy. That was the last time I ever played soccer. Watching it does nothing for me either; I have the unfortunate tendency to turn away from the game whenever something interesting happens, like the few times people actually manage to score. I don’t see the beauty in the purported beautiful game: No one ever scores, and watching people pass the ball around isn’t fun at all.

This summer, however, I went to Germany for Princeton-in-Munich and happened to be there during Euro 2008. Our dorm also happened to be right next to one of Munich’s famous beer gardens. If you’ve never been to Bavaria, a beer garden is basically a park where they serve great beer and traditional southern German food, like bratwurst and sauerkraut.

So, being the ignorant American that I am, I had only the vaguest idea that there was some kind of championship going on and did not realize how large the German — and European — obsession with soccer really is. When the first game came around, I didn’t know what to expect. The tournament is round-robin style in the beginning, and the Germans were placed in a group with Poland, Croatia and Austria.

It was the second week of our program when Germany played Poland in its first game. As one might imagine from a purely geographic standpoint, the Germany-Poland soccer rivalry is pretty huge. The Germans have loved to crush the Polish since the 1700s, and this extends to the soccer field as well.

I was ignorant and didn’t watch the game, but the day after Germany won, Munich went crazy. People came onto the subway swathed in German flags and clothing, and nothing could ruin their day. The victory over the Poles dominated the news. As I soon learned, nothing was more important than the EM-2008.

For a taste of German culture, I decided to go to a beer garden to watch the second game, against Croatia. Since we were in Berlin at the time, we went to find a place to watch the game in a group. Unfortunately, leaving one hour in advance was not early enough, and we couldn’t find a place to watch the game. I finally found a small cafe and sat down to watch the end of the game. The Germans lost, 2-1, and you could sense it in the national mood. Everyone was depressed after the game, and you could tell that they were worried.

It all came down to the last game in group play, against Austria. Win, and the Germans were in the elimination round, lose, and they would be sent home. By this time, we were back in Munich, so I went to the local beer garden to watch the game. They had a good setup there, with six big screens showing the game. And, of course, the beer was plentiful. Now this was cool: All of the Germans were biting their nails nervously as the game remained deadlocked, 0-0, for much of the 90 minutes. I was introduced to German soccer cheers, too. “Stand up if you’re a German!” and “Let’s go Germany, score a goal!” are two examples.

When the Germans scored the decisive goal (I of course was looking away), the place went crazy. This was when it first occurred to me that soccer might be more interesting than I originally thought.

Germany qualified for the elimination round and faced Portugal in the quarterfinals. The Portuguese were heavy favorites. Once again, all of Germany stopped to watch. While I did not see the game in the beer garden since it was the day before our exam, I have some vivid memories of the game’s aftermath.

After the game, thousands of Germans came streaming down the street past our dorm, yelling and cheering. This continued for 15 minutes — cars blaring their horns in celebration and people yelling — and the celebrations continued in the city until morning.

Unfortunately, we left two days after the game, so I missed the semifinals and finals, but I did learn a lot about the game of soccer. Toward the end of the summer, I finally began to see the beauty in a perfect soccer goal — though the 80 minutes of the game when they don’t score still bothers me — and I now appreciate the game more. While soccer is still not my favorite sport, I have newfound respect for the Europeans and their obsession.