It’s the Final of the Euro 2008 championship as Spain faces Germany in Austria tonight.
The Bosnian taxi driver in Goteborg talked about it the entire 15-minute ride to my destination: “The Spaniards,” he said, in heavily accented English, “have passion, but the Germans are robotic when they play. I am for Spain.”
The bellhop at the hotel says this is definitely a German victory and the three men sitting to my right during breakfast were all saying that nobody can take the title from Germany, while the restaurant manager, a transplanted Chilean, could not help himself and interrupted: “Spain will surprise everyone, and it will probably be a 2-1 win for them.”
Such is the passion that is so visible and audible everywhere in the continent, both on and off the ground.
I boarded the Lufthansa flight for the 70-minute flight from Goteborg to Frankfurt, and when the meal was served it included a small foldaway pocket guide to follow the games, and, indeed, the pudding was shaped like a football, and the dinner roll baked just to look like one too.
Euro 2008 dominates the home pages and the front pages. The Super Bowl equivalent for Europeans is here, and, as I have learned, whether one follows football or not, there is NO way to escape the fever that engulfs Europeans as they stare at the sun, sip Camparis with orange juice in the outdoor cafes, and wear shirts and caps to let everyone know who they are cheering for.
Unlike the American Super Bowl, there is no entertaining half time show here, so it is all about the sport. More tomorrow!
OF SPECIAL INTEREST: According to CNN’s sports reporter Pedro Pinto, “Euro 2008 has been an excellent tournament and I predict a title decider that will not disappoint. It will definitely be better than the finals of the last World Cup or Euro 2004.” And, of greater interest: “Each German player will reportedly earn 250,000 euros for lifting the trophy; Spain’s players can look forward to receiving a check worth 214,000 euros to go with a winner’s medal.”
http://inthefield.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/28/why-the-euro-final-will-be-a-classic/
WHERE IS MARIO? Arriving in Maspalomas, Canary Islands today. Tonight? Watching the game, right on Spanish soil, in the company of my friend Frank, an ex football player for the Luxembourg National team, who is cheering for Germany, and whose son, Maurice, has just been recruited to train and to play for a professional German team. Interesting night ahead.