Great Escapes

For the last 2 days, I have been in Berlin, watching England, Germnay and Sweden produce some last minute heroics to avoid embarrassing defeats.

For the Sweden versus Paraguay game, I was actually in the very back row of the Olympic Stadium, the one built by Hitler for the 1936 olympics that glows with the Christians v Lions neo-classicist lines of Ancient Rome. To watch the Swedish supporters, who dominated the crowd (maybe as high as 90%) was to appreciate how we Australians must have seemed a few days earlier. Seventy five minutes gone, and that sick realisation that the sand is pouring through the hour glass at unprecedented speed - a rate perhaps only matched by the stopwatch countdown on a long post in an expensive internet cafe. Fortunately for the very lound and very passionate Swedes, Lundberg found the net, and likelihood is that they will go through.

For great escapes, however, it will hardly rate with the best the city of Berlin has seen. Yesterday I completed a walking tour of the city, and saw various sites - from Hitler's bunker (a carpark) to Checkpoint Charlie to the Reichstag ( where 17,000 Russsian troops died on a frontal assault in 1945 (more than Allied deaths at the Normandy landing).

Above the city, a balloon hung in the air with the words Die Welt imprinted upon it, and a map of the world. Our tour guide Joe told us about the incredible risks people took to cross the Berlin Wall between 1960 and 1989, with the most memorable being balloon related - the tale of a family of 27 who bought small squares of cloth over a period of 4 years (large squares would have aroused suspicion in the Stasi), and then one morning, when the weather was just right, sailed into the Berlin sky in a home made hot air balloon, with all 27 family members contained in the basket. Fortunately, the winds were blowing from the right direction, and the family made a successful escape.

Tonight, I'm in Munchen (As an Aussie on the bus sang 'No ... Sleep ... Till Munchen! ') and off to a thousand person strong samba party with the Brazil and Australian supporter groups.

Bring on tomorrow. Bring on a miracle.

PS A good number of us now believe a miracle can happen, just because we have Guus, and nothing bad has happened to us since he beccamse our leader. This is of course the simpleton belief structure that has undone many a rank and file believer, but Guus seems so kindly and so charismatic, and I can't imagine it going wrong.

And to answer your questions

- yes of course Vince Grella can handle Ronaldhinio, he handled the far more perilous Dandenong line as a kid
- yes of coures Craig Moore can handle Ronaldo. He must tempt the great Brazilian with food
- yes of course we will beat Italy in the round of 16, not that we're getting ahead of ourselves at all.

Bring on tomorrow.