A guy was wearing Ronaldinho's teeth

It's true. A Brazilian on the Neustrasse, just near the Miriemplatz city square that is the centrepoint of the festivities here in Munich, had rigged up a set of Ronaldinho's teeth, as a tribute to the great man. Another supporter made hat puppets, a wire crown supporting a cardboard cup-bearing Ronaldo , who with a pull of a string raised his arms and the cardboard Jules Rimet.

Everywhere there was yellow, yellow, yellow. Estimates ranged from 30,000 Australians in town, to 60,000. The Brazilians were there in smaller numbers, but given about 50,000 Germans, Italians and Swedes had donned the famous yellow and green for the day, they probably had our measure. I made about 20 attempts to interview beautifiul Brazilian women from Brazil, only to find out that the Portuguese I was having trouble understanding was actually German I was having trouble understanding, and that the girls were from the suburbs of Munchen.

We got lost on the way to the game. The Japan v Croatia game was a lure to stay in town as long as possible, and it almost cost me dearly. My transport analysis was follow the throng, surely everyone is going to the game, which fell apart when it turned out that everyone was going to the Live Site. Two train changes later, and the crisis was allayed, but not before a buddy system had been set up with the half dozen dimwits who'd done exactly the same thing.

By the time we'd shuffled through the gates, the players were out and warming up. We sang a round of 'Super Timmy Cahill' to warm up, and then the 6.00pm German sun flashed its orb at us, and there was no more warming up that had to be done. In my fairly stinky, polyester Von's Inn green and gold shirt, I baked through the first half. The Aussies also withstood some heat, and in the stands, we dared to hope. A result? Certainly Brazil was attacking, but never with too much venom. I allowed myself to believe. We relieved some tension by singing 'One Tonne Ronaldo' to the tune of 'Guantanamera'.

It's wrong to blame the second half disappointment squarely on the referee, which is why I'm going to say that FIFA was also involved, and fixed the game to ensure a Brazilian progression. (this is not a serious allegation (yes it is!) Of course it isn't) Twenty nine fouls awarded agaisnt the Socceroos, 9 in our favour, and even accepting that Brazil had most of the ball in the first half (and therefore received most of the protection from the ref) how did Viduka and Bresciano continaully give away free kicks while actually in possession of the ball?

By the way, the referee's name is Markus Merk. It's quite a silly combination of words, but not as good as my two favourite Muncih underground station names - Shatzbogan and Boing.

Boing is a ripper.

Australian supporters did boing back somewhat in the long night that followed the match. Whistles, horns and drums maintained the samba beat in town, and everyone Ole Ole'd their way into the early hours. The Brazilian fans were happy because they'd won 2-nil. The Aussie fans were happy because we'd only lost 2-nil against the greatest of all football powers.

And to the guy with Ronaldo hat contraption - from what we saw yesterday, cardboard world cups might be as good as it gets for the reigning champions.

PS I have a hangover, and yet only had three beers. The perils of the one litre unit.