Europameisterschaft 2008

I have been so caught up narrating my travel experiences on this blog that I almost forgot to write about probably the biggest event in Europe this summer, which was of course the European Soccer Championships.
The final was played last Sunday and Spain beat Germany to lift the cup; Spaniards won their first major competition event in 40+ years and were definitely the best team of the tournament. Germany, on the other hand, played well sporadically and made it to the final, which made it a really fun experience for me.
Once the group stage of the tournament was over and the quarterfinals started, the action got really interesting. Here in Cologne, for every Germany game there were a couple of options for people to watch the game among thousands other fans. One was at the Kölnarena, which is Cologne's version of the Xcel Energy Center, and the other was the Zülpicher Straße, which is the student part of town.
I followed the games at both places. It was crazy to see so many German fans chanting during the entire game and having fun. After each of their win, people gathered at Zülpicher Straße to celebrate their team's victory. The police closed the street to traffic and the festivities went well into the wee hours of the night/morning. It would have been interesting to see how many people made it into work the following day; my guess would be, not that many.
One particular game of the tournament was unique. Turkey and Germany played each other in the semi-final. Now, I've heard from some friends from Minnesota that the US government had issued a warning to all American citizens living in Germany to be on high alert during and after this game. Everyone in Europe, too, assumed that this was a high risk game because there are 4 million Turks living in Germany. The night of the game I went to the Kölnarena to watch the match with 20,000 people. A lot of people here actually feared violence and stayed at home. I am glad I went because the way both the Turkish and the German fans behaved is something I am sure many governments would like to see emulated. German fans were clad wearing their national colors (black, red, yellow) but many also painted small Turkish flags on their faces to show their respect to their neighbors. Turkish fans that came to the arena waved both Turkish and German flags.
The game was won by Germany, but in reality Turkey deserved to win. It was one of the best games of the tournament with 3 goals scored in the last 20 minutes. After the game the celebration started. Interestingly enough, many Turkish fans showed up to celebrate as well. They were proud they played tremendously well against a more talented German team, but also very proud that their team made it so far into the tournament.
Another compliment goes to the German people after losing the final game. If you had walked through the streets of Cologne that night, you would have thought Germany had won the title. I can only imagine how great of a celebration it would have been had they actually won.

Here is a video I took in the arena as the final whistle blew.