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Looks like you missed the big celebrations this morning when the German team said goodbye to their fans in front of the brnadenburg gate with some 600'000 people there...compared to yesterday this was even bigger. Anyway looking forward to the final now - should also be a good game!

Talking of the end of the world cup, mixed feelings. Some people have said this World Cup hasn't lived up to expectations, they are wrong and right. Because of all the hype the tournament was getting before it started it was always going to be hard to produce a perfect competition, which it has been far from. However I think it has been one of the best world cups of the modern day, with some very exciting games and some world-class goals. Germany have made the tournament special in my view, they have some top draw stadia and their fans have really put on a show. So in some respects it has been a very good world cup. But if you look at what more some of the world-class players could have done, it could have been so much better. Players who were being tipped to be the star of the tournament flopped, such as Ronaldinho, Lampard, Van Nistlerooy and Ibrahimovic. So compared to previous tournaments I think we can just about class this as above average. Let's just hope we can have a thriller in the final between Italy and France, I tip Italy to win.

My family used to be enthusiastic campers. For a couple of years we had a REALLY old and decrepit "camper van". We just used to set off in a chosen direction and see where we ended up. One year we went off South-West, ended up in Cornwall and followed some brown signs - down a dirt lane - to a campsite.
When we got there (about 9pm), we found it was literally someone's back garden, with 2 Gleaming New mobile homes parked in it. A woman came out and, after looking at our scruffy, welded, converted Ford minibus, sniffily informed us there was no room!

We laughed all the way to Helston!

(Thanks for the BLOG lads, been a highlight of the whole thing for me)

Think we tried hard over the last weeks to make our guests feel comfortable in Germany. Maybe you should have simply asked the waitresses, if they can serv 'the several animals' alive ...

I also don't get the "several dead animal" thing. This country is full of organic food, vegetarian food and you probably get at least every type of European food even in smaller cities.

Johanna, those guys have been camping. There will have been bugs pesting them.
And no, Fletch isn´t putting it to us, that there are bugs in our country :)

AndreaR, Johanna - I'm not saying that I haven't liked the food here, or that there is no variety.

I'm just looking forward to visiting the Fish and Chip shop, the curry house down the road, eating one of my girlfriend's creations from the vegetables she has grown at here allotment. Little things like that.

The Curry house down the road I can understand - there are way too little Indian restaurants in Germany. But fish and chips??? ;-)

Honestly, everybody who has been away from his/her home country for more than 4 weeks knows what you are talking about: there are things that are missing you would never have dreamt about beforehand. After all, you had decades to get used to all the little stuff.

I am watching the game now and just stopped by to say to all of those who point C Ronaldo as a "diver": just take a look at some dives by French stars Henry (looks like he is a "woman" after all and that he learned how to dive after the Champions League final), Zidane(maybe the age???) and the new-comer Malouda(he wins the prize for tonight, great dive, 10 out of 10!!!) Anyway, it's one all and Italy is playing their best football so, hopefully, they'll send the French home the same as they arrived: old and empty handed! Retirement, anyone..?

Hi Fletch,

don't take my comment to seriously. Has been German humor!

After 4 weeks in a van it is probably the most natural thing that you want to go home. Hope you enjoyed this journey as much as i enjoyed this blog. And this one was serious, not humor!

Has this whole publicly-funded blag/blog been of interest to anyone else except your mates?

Germany really gave everything to be a good host to the world during these past 4 weeks. The Germans forgot about all these nasty and very old stereotypes between ourselves and some mainly European countries in order to realize a friendly get-together. Obviously we were not able to convince some English visitors with this great excitement, the fun everybody else had, the multicultural food offered, the humour we do have... Sometimes it helps to overcome arrogance and learn the language of the country you visit, so you can open up, understand the location as it really is and put aside your destructive, cynical thinking. It doesn't hurt to admit that somebody you don't like did a good job... Even if it is Germany.

Andrea, give me a break. I'm far from defending an English journalist just BECAUSE, but being German myself I don't understand your point. This is a blog and thus about personal experiences and a definite personal experience everyone will have who has been abroad for a while is that he/she will miss home for different, usually small reasons. That has nothing to do with not appreciating the foreign country, only with personal habits that can only be exercised at home. That's what Fletch wrote and that's just human. Isn't that understandable?

Disappointing Final. Best thing was the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ montage at the end.

Well - if Ricco understands good humour in a foreign language he knows the language and culture really well. In a language that you are not perfectly comfortable with you usually only laugh about the bad jokes.

I can understand very well that you are happy to get home.

Well, Markus... If you read several of this blog's articles, you wil see that it is not really about missing fish and chips. There is a lot of critizism for the sake of critizising. I just hoped that not only Germany would take this opportunity to get closer to others... But never mind. I don't think we have to keep on justifying ourselves. If in the end it was only a matter of food - then Fletch can come back, bring his doggy bag from home and write a delighted article...

NB: I am abroad a lot myself. And I would never judge a country over their food or by monitoring the possibility of living my habits from home. If I need that, I better not travel abroad. Sorry...

I have to disagree with Sam Dalton that this has been an above average world cup. For me, although there have been brief moments of brilliance (like Argentina's 24 touch goal) it has been the worst world cup I can remember (which admittedly is only 21 years) for unsporting/foul play and bad refereeing. Much has been made of the large number of cards brandished in this world cup, and many of them are the fault of poor refereeing. However, the players themselves should surely shoulder at least some of the blame.

The fight following the Germany/Argentina shootout was a dispicable low, with the Portugal/Holland match running it close. The eventual winners, Italy, have in large periods of the competition been dirty in their play and have also been the beneficiaries of numerous favourable refereeing errors against Ghana and Australia most notably. However, what strikes me most has been that, not only have two of Europe's best young hopes (Rooney and C. Ronaldo) both acted terribly - the former in one idiotic moment that seems to be part of his character and the latter consistently seeking to decieve/influence the referee - but also that two of Europe's great legends playing in their last world cups - Figo and Zidane - have disgraced themselves with headbutting incidents. Numerous sly bits of low level cheating have abounded, the prime example being Henry's dive although there are many others.

Enough of the players. There have been some glaringly atrocious refereeing decisions this world cup. Australia got knocked out with a penalty that should not have been given as the last kick of the game. Ghana (against Italy) should have had at least one obvious penalty awarded, arguably two. Against the USA Ghana went through on the dodgiest of penalty decisions. Togo also had some poor decisions given against them in their group. There has been little consistency in refereeing; one only needs to think of Figo's headbutt warrenting only a yellow card, but Zidane's warrenting a red to see that something is wrong. While Zidane's may have been more violent, any violent conduct is a red card.

It is a shame that Germany should put on what has widely be hailed as a superb effort on the organisational front to have it ruined by the ugly side of the beautiful game.

Italy were deserving winners, however Materazzi is a dodgy character. We don't know what was said to Zindane but it must hav been highly offensive.

Yeah Zidane should have been sent off but should be remembered as a great footballer. If someone had really, really offended you, no matter what the occasion, you would giv them a slap. Materazzi was not hurt, but although he was on the recieving end of a head-butt, I think he did the most damage.

Italy were deserving winners, however Materazzi is a dodgy character. We don't know what was said to Zindane but it must hav been highly offensive.

Yeah Zidane should have been sent off but should be remembered as a great footballer. If someone had really, really offended you, no matter what the occasion, you would giv them a slap. Materazzi was not hurt, but although he was on the recieving end of a head-butt, I think he did the most damage.

Andrea, I think you are too harsh. As you mentioned by yourself, really getting the humor needs a quite deep understanding of a language, and as long as it (the humor) doesn't work on the very low level, you simply miss it.
Not sure that I did interprete it 100% correctly, but i still have the feeling that Fletch simply wanted to express that he is homesick and that he tried to camouflage it with humor..

And by the way: Gratulazione Italia.Again.

But is your chest really broad enough for a fourth star ;-)

Andrea, I respect and appreciate what you wrote but do you want Fletch and Ricco to write what they honestly see, think, and feel or do you want them to write things so not to offend anyone? If the later is ones preference, than the Wonderful World of Disney is a great place to visit. I think overall, their blogs have been fair and for every one ‘criticism’ expressed (if you want to call them that), there have been two complements that have come our way.

You also write that Germans [in the last four weeks] have forgotten all about these nasty and very old stereotypes of mainly European neighbors. Do you mean for the duration of the World Cup or as a permanent development? I think it is fair to say that four weeks of World Cup exhilaration is not going to eliminate years of this most human of behavior in any of us. It is just going to be part of a larger and timely process though the World Cup will indeed go a long way in bringing neighbors closer. But unrealistic expectations will only lead to disappointment. We all still have ways to go but we’re on the right track

I feel sorry for Zidane. He has been a widely respected footballer, and should retire with dignity or should have ended this match in dignity - with or w/out the cup.

His red card however is inexcusable, even though he's the world's greatest footballer. If this act was done by Portugese or Italian chap (instead of Zidane), i'm sure alot of people would feel that the offender deserves death penalty' and such reasoning as "he was harsly provoked" would be brushed off as childish excuse for a player who knows better not to commit such act.

Alas, its the great Zidane that was the offender, which makes us struggle to come to terms with this harsh reality. No one and even the italians want this to happen i believe. To walk out of the match is such a shape is embarrassing. I can say that i'm sorry for Zidane and i hope the world should remember his for the good he has done for football.

After the Zidane incident that took place in the last evening WC final, a thought pooped into my mind: if even one of the greatest football players in the history acts like a hooligan at times(remember, he had already been sent off in 1998, in the match with Saudi Arabia) how do you expect one called Rooney to behave, keeping in mind that he doesn't even have half of Zidane's genious or experience? "Chapeau a toi Zizou" for the football you showed to the world throughout your career, but last night you let us all down!

Indignation comes easy. But more often than not we sit in judgement without understanding what the `wrong-doer' has gone through. What Zidane did at that moment would have been a justifiable action as far as he is concerned. And nothing else actually matters.

I saw the final world cup game.
After all, Itay won the game, but they won about psk. I think if Jidane were not to get the Red card, France would win the game. Jidane is a good player in this world and forever. France! Way to go! You were Winner.