I arrive Friday late afternoon. We drink coffee at his house and ride the train to the city. My card is not working so I have no money. We drink beer on the train, many people do. Often there are little stores conveniently located to sell one a bottle of beer. Not many cans here. We walk around and have what appears to be lebanese food, similar to a doner. Which is not too different than gyros bot more cabbage and sometimes different bread.

I predict Germany will be the winner of the world cup this year. And here is my proof. Word on the street is that Brazil is favored and I accept that. But is their probability better than 50% to win? I think not. Thus, we must say that a team other than Brazil should win. Looking at the field, Germany seems to be the strongest and carry the greatest odds.

Heads up, I’m just posting these as I have time and in whatever order I feel like. If you’re hoping for up-to-the-minute scores, check out FIFA’s website. Lunched with Nina’s family, had the white asparagus so popular here for the first time. It was really good and made my piss smell different that regular asparagus. Then off to Lasser’s for sone BBQ with some friends and to watch Germany play Ecuador.

Okay…they’re late, but these are my predictions from this round on. 1/8 —— Germany v Sweden – Germany Argentina v Mex – Argentina Eng v Ecu – Eng Por v Hol – Hol Bra v Ghana – Brazil Ita v Aus – Italy Spa v Fra – Spain Ukr v Switz – Switerland 1/4 ——— Ger v Arg – Germany Bra v Spa – Brazil Switz v Ita – Switzerland

On the way to the Fan Fest downtown Hamburg I saw a woman jogging in a turquoise Ramones T-shirt. Something was about to happen. Tobi started singing ‘yellow — yellow — yellowred’ and I joined it. Just a made-up song for the game, early in the second half. But that described it. Four red cards, all of them double yellows, and I felt mostly ridiculous. In fact, there were a couple red cards I felt would be deserved, but they didn’t get raised.

so, you may have noticed by now that I’m not talking about German beer that much. Well, it’s there and it’s good and there’s a lot of it. Not necessarily in me at the moment but passing through. Lots of Pilseners. Beck’s Gold has been really popular with the circles I’m running with, as well as Radlers which are some sort of lemon/beer mix. I enjoyed a nice Koenig Pilsener last night when I got back from Berlin in time to watch the extra time in the Argentina/Mexico game.

Today I was mistaken for a Swede for the first time. Watching them play England, I’d noticed the mullet was more popular on their side. Still sporting it. After watching the early games (Mexico v Portugal and Angola v Iran) with Tobi, Flo and I cruised down to the Hamburg Fan Fest. Much larger than the ones at Cologne and Hannover, there was a great festival atmosphere with food offered from each of the 32 countries.

Came across two bloggers tracking the World Cup as well, I’m sure there are more so as I come across them, I will update this. Bunco Parade and A Pretty Move. Jack Bog is keeping up on it too, and having a pool for the next rounds (link is on the sidebar). Update1: I like 11 devils too and I’m excited to hear what Zach’s secret mission is. And Shawn Levy’s blog.

Monday, second game ticket. Probably the last, Ukraine vs. Saudi Arabia. In their first game against Tunisia the Saudis played remarkably well. They are certainly capable of applying pressure up front and occasionally pull together some really pretty soccer. This was true against the Ukraine as well, nearly scoring on several occasions. Unfortunately, the defense, quite porous against Tunisia and rarely winning in the air, remained weak. A keeper error placed the ball in a dangerous area, which Ukraine capitalized on.