World Cup - FrankFurt

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World Cup
Europe » Germany » Frankfurt By Lnelson
June 13th 2006
I got to exprience a world cup soccer game on June 13th, 2006 in Frankfurt Germany. The game was Togo VS Korea at 3p local time.

Me and my friend arrived that day the game started and first figured out how to get to the game via public transit. As on the ticket it advised that you had free public transit all day on the subways/public transit all day. The problem was trying to figure out the public transit which was all in German.

Before the game we went to the main train station down town Frankfurt and it was a zoo with pubs, the train station, food places on the street and many tacky tourist shops in this area. On main thing that was noticeable was that they had flag a few shops just filled with flags with all the teams that were in the world cup and around the world. I was in enquing on what the Togo Flag looked like and barterted with the sales person who gave me the flag at half price. Then Melaine did the same thing but with the "Korea" flag. After a getting some lunch at the McDonalds in Germany (same as in North America, just written in german and some different menu options but basically the same) we went to the game via the sub way.

When we got off the subway you could see the stadium it was huge. We walked under a tunnel with the tracks above us. The had a design on the walls which was little squares along the wall with Germanys world cup history in pattern with words and pictures. As this location where the game was held in 2006, also was an stadium from the world cup in Germany back when they had it before. As we got to the other side of the tracks we were starting to see little groups of fans, mostly the Koreans but the off Togo fan here and there.

The crowds were crazy going from the subway to the game were rediculas as the stop to the stadium was a 5 to 10 min walk. Along the way to the stadium (a stone road) they had lots of illegal venders selling country flags, shirts and memorbelia. On the ticket it said to enter in on specific sides designed by colours of the arena and had arrows pointing to the right direction for each coulor. These walks were long to get to the right side.

Once you found your coulor entrance you had to go through some strict secruity they checked all your bags and patted everyone down and using medal detactors. The lines were long and once you got past this you were still not at the entrance to the stadium still a bit of a walk. As you got closer to teh stadium it was just the excitement was getting there. There was a point where they had an official vendor and the official place where you present your ticket to get in to the stadium.

From just out side of the arena you started seeing official vendors for the world cup merchandise which was expensive but only found there.

We got there early so we could absorbe all of what was going on. My section of the stands was quite mixed fans of looked like different countries and fan types. But by far majority of the crowd was all red cheering on for the Koreans. From the moment they got to there seats to left there seats were allways standing chanting, dancing, playing traditional music all the way though.

For Togo they had some small patches here and there of fans but not very many. They were not chanting like the Koreans but very excited to be there. After all this was there first world cup, plus with it being a poor country not as many people could come out to Germany.

On the screen before the game they showed fans, the teams arriving, famous/well known people of Togo vs Korea. Plus lots of interviews with various people. They didnt have very many famous people but Togo/Korea dont have per say as many famous/well known people in there countries.

As we were waiting for the game to start the crowd had a few times the wave going on. It was crazy they went around minimum 3 times each time and were strong too.

Before the telecasts the teams were warming up in the warm up uniforms and seemed to have there regular warm up routine down quote well. Just like any other team does with groups/drills etc...

For the opening part they introduced the players who were starting, they walked out together with young kids and stood of the national antheim of both teams. The captians shock hands and traded crests.

During the game there was such a feel of energy in the stadium. The way Korean fans to Togo fans went on was a vast differnencee. Koreans were dominated in the crowd about 90% the were always chanting. The togo fans about 5% were always cheering "Go Togo, Go Togo" and it was clear. The other 5% were mixed fans of other countries. I was personaly an England fan. But for this game I was going for Togo (already had the flag why not) and had a blast.

During the game the final score was 2 - 1 korea winning. All the goals were scored on my end which was the blue section behind the net.

It was a large crowd to get out and the Koreans were dancing and singing outside all dressed in traditional Koren shirts and using interments. They had crowds watching them. They were doing some Korean Dance, playing drums right at the bottom of the stairs. When people were heading down the stairs it was mosty red and white. Funniest costume is that the the Koreans have a thing where they are the devils

This was an amazing experience.

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