MUNCHEN (AND DRINKIN')
June 21
We had a day of planes, trains and automobiles, flying from Glasgow to Beauvais, France and then taking a bus to Paris, then a train to Orly to rent a car. After a stop somewhere between Paris and Nancy to have lunch at a roadside house with Sayeed, the only Algerian in his town, we stopped for the night in Metz. Then on Weds morning we drove through Luxembourg and into Germany to head to Munich for Cote D'Ivoire vs. Serbia.

It's tempting to pull for Serbia and Montenegro - this will be the last tournament in which a team ever represents that nation. Montenegro recently split off and will have their own team, so this is the last game ever for this country.
But Cote D'Ivoire (we call them Ivory Coast, but that sounds like soap to me) is a fun team that stopped a civil war. The Elephants have played well, but still they're on their way home after this game, as are the Serbs.

It's pouring in Munich and the subway train breaks down on the way, so we're a bit late getting there. We get there and head up into the concourse and look at the scoreboard - they're in the 13th minute and already it's Serbia 1-Cote D'Ivoire 0. We missed the goal.
We both have to go to the bathroom. As I come out, I'm walking over to watch the game from the concourse while waiting for Jess. Serbia scores just as I walk up.
So by the time we get to our seats it's Serbia 2-Cd'I 0.
Drogba is on the bench for some reason.

Ivory Coast (dressed in Orange no less) plays a kind of Holland-like total football thing, where everybody pushes forward in attack.

In the 34th minute Serbian defender handles the ball in the box. Aruna Dindane takes the penalty, but the ref says somebody moved too early. So he does it again. Same spot. Same result. GOOOOOAAAALLLL Cote D'Ivoire, and the first W.C. goal I really, actually fully see live. And I got to see it twice.

Just before the half Serbia goes a man down with a yellow card to Nadj.
The Elephants dominate the second half with a man up. Several chances just miss.
Serbia actually has a player named Milosevic. The ref should keep an eye on him. In the 66th minute Dindane gets his Ivorian head on a nice cross and finishes beautifully. Knotted at 2.

All the Ivorian players head for the corner for a little dance, led by Drogba. The tournament is sponsored by Budweiser (the American crap) and I had one of those when we first came in . You can get Bitburg if you look for it. Fortunately, I'm going to have to drive later, so I won't be drinking any more tonight. Jessi's on her third though.

ANOTHER HAND BALL IN THE BOX BY SERBIA. They're not only war criminals, they cheat too. Bonaventure Kalou buries the spot kick and it's 3-2 Elephants, who go on to win.

We take the train back into the city center to find the car. We still don't have a place to stay. We get pulled over by a police officer who says we look lost. We are. He gives us directions. We go to a campground, but it's closed. Still raining, and we're in Dachau. We get on the highway toward the north. After about an hour I'm tired and I pull into a rest area. I go to sleep, dreaming of Yaya Toure, Dindane and Kalou.

It's more than a game, and it's too bad it's over. The Ivorians may return to their civil war. Montenegrins will go about building a new country - never an easy thing. And the Serbs can go back to rebuilding the land that we bombed into oblivion a few years ago and hating their neighbors for their religion and bloodline. If only they could just tune in to an endless soccer match.