Of course I don't really care who wins the Euro 2008 European Cup (the US once again did not make it in) but it's fun to pretend to watch, and at least drink a beer in the warm evenings with everyone else. We watched this game at a very crowded beer-garden style bar in Kreuzberg by the Spree. The crowd turned out to be mostly pro-Germany and I guess I was kind of hoping for a Turkey upset.
Turkey scored first in something like the 20th minute and Germany soon evened things at 1-1 with a goal from the dyed-blonde Schweinsteiger (which I'm pretty sure means 'pig rider' although it doesn't seem to phase anyone here). Then in the second half each team scored another goal on what seemed to be mistakes by the goalkeepers. It looked like the game was heading to overtime (I went to buy another drink) but in the last minute of regular time the guy from the advertisements in the U-bahn scored a goal and won the game. It was all very exciting.
Actually one of the best parts of the game for me was when the TV signal cut out and sent the whole crowd into an uproar. I guess the folks in Austria (where the game was being played) lost power and blamed it on the weather. It was hard to get too excited when the goals were scored but it was easy to see why that was amusing.
Another good thing about watching German soccer is that the coach is kind of a hipster.
So anyway, Germany is in the finals and they place Russia/Spain (decided in a couple hours) on Sunday in the EURO 2008 championship match. I can't wait!
Re the title of this entry: I'm told it's funny if you speak German and Turkish.
