- Peter van Dyk
- 29 Jun 06, 11:00 AM
We thought it was about time we heard from the kids on World Cup Have Your Say.
Of course at the World Cup the closest kids get to the game is being mascots (no, I'm not talking about Theo Walcott), and I'm sure none of them are complaining, but we want to know what children think about football.
If like me, many of your early memories are of football matches, you'll remember the thrill of the crowds, playing your first game, the exotic countries you saw on tv at the World Cup. So how do today's children see the tournament, and the game of football?
Continue reading "Child's Play"
- Peter van Dyk
- 29 Jun 06, 06:59 AM
A day without World Cup football. How did you survive. How will you survive - it's still more than 24 hours until the next game (but what a game!).
Here at World Cup Have Your Say, we're getting our footy fix by talking statistics. Shots, passes, saves, tackles - it's all recorded these days. But what can you really tell from all the information?
We're asking the experts, but in the meantime, here are some stats to get you going...
Continue reading "Withdrawal symptoms"
- Peter van Dyk
- 28 Jun 06, 11:05 AM
We held an African football summit on Thursday, with our resident Ghanaian, Vera Kwakofi, Nigerian and African football expert Osasu Obayiuwana, and Angola fan Romero all in the studio. We were also joined from the Ghanaian capital, Accra, by football journalist Durosimi Thomas. By the way, this is Martin Vennard writing and not Peter.
Continue reading "Africa day"
- Gill Farrington
- 27 Jun 06, 01:26 PM
Ever wondered which team is top of the league in the alice band-wearing stakes? Or how about which striker has attempted the most long shots with his left foot?
Continue reading "Stat attack"
- Gill Farrington
- 27 Jun 06, 11:32 AM
First there were five and now there is one. Ghana is the only African team to make the last 16.
Continue reading "Africa calling"
- Gill Farrington
- 26 Jun 06, 10:27 AM
High drama or football farce? Just what was going on last night in the Portugal v Netherlands game? I'd expected total football not a total shambles.
Continue reading "Men behaving badly"
- Piers Wisbey
- 25 Jun 06, 01:51 PM
Have had problems putting up pics, so hope this works!
The van
Life on the road
Czechs find a break in their drinking schedule for a spot of music
Sacre bleu!
Our hosts
Everyone getting on
Go Iran!
What team do you support mate?
Well organised
Sheila
- Piers Wisbey
- 25 Jun 06, 01:04 PM
“… it’s going, football’s going home….”
That’s it for us. All over. Two weeks of football mayhem, no sleep, inter-global partying and a little bit of work have come to an end. The World Service World Cup Camper Van is back with its owner Ricky. And we even got our deposit back! After a few near misses and an inexplicable ink explosion in the van, we have saved the 大象传媒 some cash and hopefully our own jobs too…. It’s amazing what a bit of bleach and elbow grease can do.
Spent our last evening in Germany at the Togo v France match in Cologne. Great game, fantastic, noisy atmosphere, good way to end the trip. The tram to the ground was full of German fans shouting Togo songs but carrying French baguettes and huge wooden cockerels, painted in Togo colours. Typical bizarre behaviour of this World Cup.
Long drive back home but amazingly, despite being absolutely knackered, got ourselves and the van home in one piece.
After 2200 miles, and nights spent in Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen again, Frankfurt again, Nuremberg, Munich, Leipzig and Cologne, a few final thoughts on the trip:
Wish we’d taken….. a better map
Worst campsite: Frankfurt – toilets and showers merging to create horrors too extreme to put in this blog
Best wildlife: Nuremberg – woodpeckers and red squirrels in the campsite
Luxury: service station showers
Low point: a night spent parked in a car park in Munich
High point: meeting the seven Aussie fans in same car park, squashed into Sheila, the smelly, full of dirty underwear 1970s four-man camper van. They’d been there 10 days and made us think we could have had it a lot worse… I hope they are not still wearing the World Service t-shirts we gave them, or have at least washed them in their bucket.
Best food: bemused Chinese restaurant in the middle of the night, Munich. After we weren’t allowed into the campsite we thought we’d booked.
Never found anyone….who could out-drink the Czechs.
Dream…. England v Germany in Berlin. England win on penalties….
Big big thanks to Katie Dahlstrom, who thought up the camper van idea but then was unable to go herself. And to Dan McMillan for getting us Togo tickets. Good man.
Would we do it again? Bring on South Africa 2010…
Had problems putting up pics of the trip. Hopefully here are the Australians in our World Service footy t-shirts. Will put up some others if we can get it to work.
- Peter van Dyk
- 25 Jun 06, 10:28 AM
The big game is whoever your team is playing next. Here in London, there's only one game today, and it's not .
That may have the potential to be one of the games of the tournament, but is the only thing in the papers and on TV. The behaviour of the hasn't helped, but even so, it's nice to be able to talk to you all about your teams.
Continue reading "The big game"
- Peter van Dyk
- 24 Jun 06, 07:10 AM
Sixteen teams have gone home, but all the favourites are still here. Every game from here on has a winner and a loser. Today, the World Cup gets real.
Continue reading "Now it gets serious"
- Rebecca Kesbey
- 22 Jun 06, 11:27 PM
Despite the fact that I can barely remember my own name, can’t remember life before the camper van, and have been wearing same 大象传媒 t-shirt for more days than I care to admit – I’m gutted that tonight is our penultimate night at the World Cup, and that our rock ‘n’ roll adventure is nearly over….
Last night we camped in a tiny German village half way between Leipzig and Cologne – it was very pretty and full of elderly Dutch holiday-makers who couldn’t believe we were working and not on vacation! They demanded free t-shirts as evidence of our professionalism! But tonight we are back in our spiritual home…inches from other fans, blocked toilets, tatty flags and sun burnt faces still full of beer fuelled optimism. There is no chance of much sleep tonight – but we can still take the pace, flying the World Service flag as we go!
Spent the evening chatting to a bunch of French fans. Wizzer embroiled in the intricacies of the French defence, whilst I debated the values of political radicalism and the potential for future revolution in France! Love a bit of that!
So chuffed that Ghana got through. Have tickets for the Togo France game tomorrow. What a great way to finish our trip? We’re dreading taking the van back to Rickey the camper-van-man…after so many scrapes on the road and internal mishaps we’re praying that the 大象传媒 gets it’s deposit back???
- Mark Sandell
- 22 Jun 06, 11:05 AM
We were talking about this in the office this morning; the story of two people in Scotland -one of them a child - who have been attacked for . There's quite a debate about this in Britain, with some Scots expressing outrage at the small-mindedness of some of their own people when it comes to England.The Guardian newspaper's excellent columnist Simon Hoggart wrote about this "rivalry".
For the record, Scotland haven't qualified for the last two World Cups.
Also, earlier in the tournament, we were hearing about because of the peculiar tensions there people need to be careful about what shirt they're wearing - and where.
Now, of course these stories are serious; people have been hurt -ostensibly because of football.
But for a future World Cup Have Your Say, we were wondering if you've got into trouble by wearing your country's shirt in the wrong place at the wrong time. Let's hear your stories... Or alternatively (and more optimistically) has wearing your shirt made you friends?
- Gill Farrington
- 22 Jun 06, 10:51 AM
Today's programme saw Vera from Ghana take on USA supporters ahead of their crunch match in Nuremberg this afternoon. We also heard from Aussies and Croats in Germany whose teams are meeting for another crucial game in Stuttgart.
Continue reading "Ghana lead the African challenge"
- Rebecca Kesbey
- 21 Jun 06, 01:49 PM
Definitley reduced to Plan B today, if not Plan C or D..... in fact make that E! The good news is we're still alive, and England don't have to play Germany in the next round. Low-lights of the day include me stalling the van on a six-land junction in Leipzig over the tram lines - in the path of a speeding tram, and Wizzer being half an inch away from tipping the van into a ditch. This was just seconds after another driving disaster, when we managed to navigate ourselves onto a country lane so narrow the entire village had to come out to move their cars so the 大象传媒 World Service Camper Van could pass - flattening several shrubs and flowers in the process (sorry to all the keen gardeners of Lieberwolkwitz.....)
Our plans of reaching a fan camp with electricity and maybe even a bar (to watch the England game) in time to mix our report for the day for London failed to materialise. Instead we found ourselves on a run-down housing estate on the edge of Leipzig, editing our piece in a thunder storm. If we don't get access to some electricity soon we're going to get sacked. This laptop battery has nearly run out, our mobile is practically dead and our satellite kit is on its last legs after our friends at 大象传媒 Five Live left it out in the rain in Dortmund. But hey we've managed to stock up on fruit and veg so, despite my heavy cold, scurvy is being kept at bay - but Wizzer is devestated that I've lost my voice and therefore can't tell him to clean up all this mess.
Never did find the fan camp - so tonight's resting place is a moonlit park.... strangely enough , despite the late hour
we are not the only ones here.... Leipzig seems to be full of gardening types, and there seem to be quite a few people taking a stroll and checking out the bushes and shrubs around us......
- Gill Farrington
- 21 Jun 06, 12:05 PM
Poor old Michael Owen - is that guy actually made of glass? Three minutes in last night and his World Cup hopes collapsed just like his knee.
Continue reading "Woe is England"
- Gill Farrington
- 20 Jun 06, 11:03 AM
Hi it's not Gill it's Martin here, a producer on the programme. I've only just got back in the office after a holiday in - yes you guessed it - Germany. Well I say it was a holiday but I did spend a lot of time talking to fans and finding out what they think for the programme.
Continue reading "A matter of German pride"
- Gill Farrington
- 19 Jun 06, 01:30 PM
It all started with Christina - a Mexico fan who forked out for tickets for all her group games more than a year ago. When she arrived in Germany turns out she didn’t get such a good deal after all.
Continue reading "Tickets, touts and flying the flag"
- Mark Sandell
- 19 Jun 06, 11:28 AM
The 大象传媒's Environment Correspondent , Richard Black, has written on the 大象传媒 website in which he poses the question "
if the rich West cares so much, how did it allow the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to reach a position where, for the first time in 20 years, it has endorsed the idea of commercial whaling?"
and we want your views on that today.
The case of two missing girls has re-awoken some of , so we'll be hearing voices from there...
Tessa Jowell is Britain's Culture Secretary and for men and women at this year's Wimbledon Tennis Championships...is she right?
and we'll be looking at a case which is and could lead to one of the country's best known pop stars facing a criminal investigation. Mika Singh allegedly assaulted a Bollywood dancer called Rakhi Sawant by kissing her against her will. Some people say that Ms Sawant brought it upon herself by kissing Mr Singh on the cheek in the first place, others say it's a clear violation of the dancer's rights.
- Rebecca Kesbey
- 19 Jun 06, 11:08 AM
We are living in total luxury today! We have unlimited water, we have a power socket and there is a cafe down the road with BREAKFAST! This is in stark contrast to our previous night - spent in the seventh level of hell - also known as a car park beside a dual carriageway outside Munich's Olympic stadium. We weren't the only ones there - hundreds (and hundreds) of other sweaty fans with no access to shower facilities, food or drinking water were also there, sleeping in cars, pitching tents on the grass verges - but good to see that despite the hardships, no one seemed to have run dry on alcohol rations.
One particularly vile experience included a trip into our neighbours camper van "Sheila". I thought living in a van with one bloke (who stores his suntan lotion with the microphones and leaves his toothbrush with the tea bags) was bad enough, but living in a van designed for four with SEVEN sweaty Auzzie men would be pure hell. They said they'd been stuck in that car park for ten days already, and from the looks of their van they could be there for a lot longer....although they assured us that they were going to make it to Berlin even if they had to
Push Sheila the whole way there!
We took pity on them and gave them some 大象传媒 t-shirts (they were so desperate it was pathetic) felt a bit like an aid worker in a refugee camp as we waved goodbye from our fully functioning van. They all put their new t-shirts on immediately.....that should keep them going for another week or so.
We spent the morning using our new found water supply to clean the van from top to bottom. All the squashed flies on the 大象传媒 logo didn't look good. We may look a state, but at least the van is looking all 大象传媒-ish and nice and not just some kind of mobile 大象传媒 scum fest.
- Peter van Dyk
- 18 Jun 06, 12:18 PM
Agreement is universal: Germany is putting on a wonderful World Cup. Here at WCHYS we're only too happy to hear that, as we love the World Cup. If we didn't, we wouldn't be working on the programme.
But there are black clouds on the organisational front. Ticketing has been a source of complaints pretty much since before the first seats went on sold, and security has always been a major concern.
A Fifa board member from Botswana has admitted at ten times their face value and fans' groups have protested at the lack of tickets available to "real" fans.
What is the situation like for fans in Germany? Has security been too tight or too lax? What about fans who travelled without tickets? Did they get lucky?
As ever, join the debate using the comment form below or by email to worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. And we'll talk to you in the morning...
- Peter van Dyk
- 18 Jun 06, 06:48 AM
We have our upset! And how! Between the second and 82nd minutes Ghana may have looked like they wouldn't have scored in a brothel, but they thoroughly deserved their 2-0 win over the Czech Republic.
The celebrations in Accra, Cologne and no doubt in Ghanaian communities all over the world were something. Vera in our office just came in having shouted herself hoarse. We'll be talking to Ghanaians today, you can be sure of that.
The other big talking point from yesterday's games was the sudden rash of red cards. Italy USA finished with ten playing nine to a 1-1 draw. There have now been 10 red cards, in just 26 games. Until yesterday, all bar one had been for two yellow cards, but suddenly the Czech Republic's Tomas Ujfalusi, Italy's Daniele De Rossi and Pablo Mastroeni of the USA all got straight reds. Did you see their fouls? Were the cards justified?
And are all the petty yellow cards - for time wasting and delaying free kicks - good or bad for the tournament? Have your say today.
- Peter van Dyk
- 17 Jun 06, 12:42 PM
My pick for the first upset of the tournament (although I wish there'd been some already) is today's match between USA and Italy. It has to be said that the two Americans we had on the programme this morning were only cautiously optimistic, but surely the USA must improve over the performance against the Czech Republic.
One thing that was clear from today's programme was Africans' dissatisfaction with the refereeing, which many see as favouring the established nations. Numbi in Zambia sent this text:
Do African teams have to go to the World Cup knowing they'll be victims of preference by referees?The yellow and red cards have been unreasonable.
Continue reading "A chance for the underdog?"
- Piers Wisbey
- 16 Jun 06, 06:35 PM
.......... hurtling towards Frankfurt, fridge door swinging open every 10 seconds as Kezzer swings us through another chicane…. Hope Health and Safety at work don’t read this…
We’re clocking up the miles and the countries. Have hung out with fans from USA, South Korea, Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro, Poland, Germany, Iran, England, Argentina and Togo.
The story so far:
Drunkest fans: Easily won by the Czechs. Our hats off to you boys, you know how to drink. The campsite in Gelsenkirchen was mayhem. The owners of the bar said ‘we were drunk dry’. 400 Czech fans between them BOUGHT 800 litres of beer in 14 hours. Yet they were mainly drinking shots of slivervitz AND had their own beer barrels in their vans!!
Most polite: USA. A credit to their mothers.
Tallest: Germans
Most in need of tickets: England
Most fans who have got into games without tickets: England (but mainly from Liverpool)
Most fans who think that because we are 大象传媒 we will have handfuls of spare tickets (we haven’t): England
Most high pitched chanting: South Korea
Most organised singing: South Korea
Most closely related to the president of Montenegro: Serbia and Montenegro. Spent an hour with the brother in law of the president, redrawing the map of the Balkans in Kezzer’s notebook.
Best mutual appreciation: Poles n Czechs.
Best expression of drunkenness: German fan: “Excuse me for being full up”
Special award to the Germans for making it all happen.
- Gill Farrington
- 16 Jun 06, 12:15 PM
We like trying new things here on World Cup Have Your Say so this morning on the programme we decided to recreate Group B in our studio.
Well why not? Our presenter Martin likes company and surely it couldn't be that hard to find representatives of Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and England.
Continue reading "Apologies to Paraguay"
- Peter van Dyk
- 16 Jun 06, 07:17 AM
The clock's running down, your team has the result they are looking for - and then, heartbreak. A late goal turns everything upside down and you're out. It happened to Poland, it happened to Paraguay. With the final whistle looming, they each had a point and a chance of the second round. But goals for Germany and Sweden, in the 92nd and 89th minutes respectively, leave them with nothing but a meaningless game before the flight home.
Do you have sympathy for the losers? Or did they get their just desserts?
The flip side of the late swings of fate is of course the joy of the scorers. We've all jumped around in the stands or in front of the telly after a late winner for our team. How good must Sweden fans be feeling this morning? (If they over-celebrated then possibly not very good, but you know what I mean.)
We're also recreating Group B in our studio, with a Swede, a Trinibagan and an Englishman. Unfortunately there are only about 150 Paraguayans in the UK, and even the embassy couldn't help us find one. Can you?
- Piers Wisbey
- 16 Jun 06, 12:27 AM
Planned to drive to Frankfurt, but couldn’t face it. So we popped back to Gelsenkirchen to check out the Argentina fans who are arriving for the game tomorrow. No Serbia and Montenegro fans here because none of them were given visas apparently. But the team will be pleased to know that Steve from Sheffield has tickets to all their games, and has the shirt, the wig, the scarf, you name it.
We were the only England fans watching the game against Trinidad, surrounded by Trinidad fans in Germany and Argentina shirts. Thought it was all going to go horribly wrong at one point, then Crouch scored and we’re through to the next round.
Nobody told us today was a public holiday in Germany!!! Every shop is shut and we’ve run out of food! Kezzer knocked up a good late night sweet potato, er, dish of some kind, though, from the leftovers and we are sorted. Spent the evening chatting to a group of drunk German fans who are parked next to us. They don’t speak a word of English and we don’t speak German but we seemed to get on okay. It’s that sort of place.
Oh my god, we’ve run out of water too. Bumped into some other 大象传媒 colleagues last night in Dortmund who were keen to offer us the use of their hotel showers. Too keen we thought…..
- Piers Wisbey
- 16 Jun 06, 12:23 AM
What a brilliant day! Town was buzzing in the build up to the Germany Poland game, felt like the final not a group match. Fans of both sides really went to town on their outfits, German flag Mohicans, red and white afro wigs…..great fun. The best thing about it though was that all the fans were celebrating together! Getting drunk in the sun and singing each other’s songs, as the afternoon wore on they even started painting the others teams flags on their faces! Never seen anything like it! It was almost like a protest against all the hoolies who were promising to start a scrap at the match.
In the end there was some trouble…the cops said it was started by some known German hooligans who had been fighting with Poles in the woods on the border a few months ago. But the police piled in and squashed it all pretty quickly and most people there didn’t even notice it had happened.
The only down side to the day was the jubilant German fans who kept us up til five o’clock in the morning! The English fans on the campsite were retaliating by blasting out England’s 1966 team song very very loud. Come on England! Everyone still buzzing with the whole atmosphere, even the Poles who are the first team to go out, bless em. Staying in the fans campsites is a bit like being at a very long music festival. Everyone is permanently drunk, the food is terrible, and the toilets are on a par with those at Glastonbury. And it’s great fun!
- Peter van Dyk
- 15 Jun 06, 01:10 PM
By the end of the day, Poland, Costa Rica and Paraguay could all be out of the World Cup. Will you miss them? I'll miss Costa Rica - when I was in Munich for the first game their fantastic fans were everywhere.
They not only kicked off the tournament - they kicked off the party. Poland, I just feel sorry for their fans because they were so disappointing. The players don't deserve to stay. What do you think?
Continue reading "Time to go home?"
- Mark Sandell
- 14 Jun 06, 12:59 PM
Today's show worked. The blend was right, the fans were brilliant and i think we got close to capturing the mood of the World Cup.
We had two South Korea fans (Jun and Brent) talking to two Togolese fans in Lome (Eric and Guy) and they replayed yesterday's game with the help of Mikhail (a Poland fan) and Mirka (a German fan). Oh, and did i mention Ghassad, who joined us from Saudi Arabia to tell us he has only a slight hope that his team will perform better than in 2002?
The line-up was completed by Eric and Andreas, from France and Switzerland respectively.
The agenda: Ronaldo's weight, why there hasn't been a penalty yet,( thankyou Rob Stradling for pointing this out to us) and whether an ageing team (like France, the Czech Republic or the USA ) can win the tournament.
Jun and Brent started the singing, followed by Mikhail and one or two of his friends (who may just have taken a drink on board) singing up for Poland and Eric and Guy, not to be outdone, sung us the Togo song.
As for Africa's performance in the tournament (4 defeats so far), we had this e-mail in from Peter in Nigeria...
"I'm predicting victory for the Tunisian team today. Yes..., Tunisia just has to win today, and secure Africa's first victory in Germany"
- Piers Wisbey
- 14 Jun 06, 01:24 AM
Love is in the air!
It is one giant love fest here in Germany! In Dortmund tonight ahead of the big Poland Vs Germany match the fans are sinking beers and singing each others songs like they’re long lost cousins….The Czechs love the Poles, the English fans here love the Swedes – and everyone loves the Germans for hosting the best party ever! What’s going on?!
We made it to Togo Vs South Korea – what an atmosphere?! When Togo scored first all the fans went mental with their drums and dancing – and that was just the ‘new’ Togo fans (ie all the Germans and Brits who managed to get tickets). Must say, bit of a shiver down the old spine before we got into the ground when we heard “….it’s coming home it’s coming home….football’s coming home” blasting around the stadium as we came through the turnstiles….can it really be (coming home)?!
- Peter van Dyk
- 13 Jun 06, 02:02 PM
On Wednesday we'll be hearing from fans of Togo - our reporter in Togo said that the celebrations when they scored was like nothing he'd seen in football - and South Korea, and hopefully German and Polish fans in Dortmund ahead of their game later on Wednesday. Poland have never beaten their neighbours but if they want to have any real chance of reaching the second round they can't afford to lose - will they throw caution to the wind?
But by Wednesday morning, we'll have had our first look at Brazil. The holders, the favourites, the team everyone talks about. Will they live up to expectations. Or will Croatia provide the shock of the tournament?
I have to say I hope so - one of the great things about a World Cup - and football in general - is upsets. The underdogs beating the favourites, the big guy coming unstuck. So far, we haven't had any. Trinidad and Tobago's draw with Sweden in as good as it gets. Togo looked like they could - would - manage one until they went down to ten men. But no, it wasn't to be. So who do you think will be the first upset of the tournament? T&T will certainly be hopeful against England, and before that Poland almost have to beat Germany to stay in the tournament. but I predict USA to upset Italy. What do you think?
- Mark Sandell
- 13 Jun 06, 11:38 AM
...the Aussies as Ben, one of the WCHYS team said this morning talking about their late, late comeback against Japan. We had Chris on the show this morning- an Aussie who could barely speak as he'd been shouting so much at the game.
We talked about whether anyone will stop Brazil, and were joined by four pretty confident fans from there (and why shouldn't they be) who said it doesn't bear thinking about Brazil not winning. We had this excellent text in from Mohammed :
Kindly permit me to appeal to Brazil before their game to limit the scoring against Croatia before the tournament loses its monentum.
Boldest text on this came from Harun in Sierra Leone: "Brazil will surely loose, you will all be suprised"
Judging by your other texts, you think Ghana were robbed of one-if not two- penalties in . Here's one from Igonoh in Nigeria ; "It is my sincere opinion that Africa should stop participating in the World Cup since we cannot be treated fairly. Remember USA 94? Nigeria vs Italy! " but Kwame texted us as a Ghana fan with this: "Very sad. We were robbed of, at least, one certain penalty. But we should have been swifter in our passing game and also needed better strikers."
Two Iranian fans joined us from the WCHYS camper van and told us they were off to watch....well, Togo v South Korea, naturally.
- Piers Wisbey
- 13 Jun 06, 12:20 AM
Hello Frankfurt!
Hit the road from Gelsenkirchen with the name of a campsite in Frankfurt scratched on a beer label from an American camper-van fan. No detailed map, no address, no German language skills – but two winning smiles, lots of helpful pointing locals and the likelihood that if you go down enough roads in any given area, one of them is bound to be right - we made it in time to watch the USA Vs Czech Republic on telly.
The German organisers are getting the thumbs up - everyone is saying how great the fan fests are in the host cities, so that fans without tickets really get the buzz…One English guy (with no chance of getting a ticket) said it was
Brilliant! Thousands of fans from all over the world getting drunk together in the sunshine. There’s been no sign of trouble – but then we haven’t lost yet.
Mingled with the flagged-up South Korean fans ahead of tomorrows match with Togo – they are pretty confident of a win but the Togolese are having none of it. We are so chuffed cos we’ve managed to get some tickets for the match courtesy of 大象传媒 Producer Dan McMillan who happened to be passing the Togo FA a few weeks ago….he gave us a pretty good deal on them!
- Mark Sandell
- 12 Jun 06, 11:28 AM
Steve and Bernie - 2. U.S fans preparing for the Czech Republic match spoke to us from a campsite in Gelsenkirchen (from the WCHYS van) and had a good conversation with Joseph and Kwame (2 Ghanaian fans) and from Hanover, 2 Italian fans Luca and Elia. The Italians certainly think they'll dispose of Ghana quite comfortably while the Americans think the age of the Czech team will help them.
We talked about players criticising coaches (seen as a bad thing at a time when unity is required) and how delighted we all were when we saw a ref give a (Serbian) player a yellow card.......for miming a yellow card.
Also, i've just been on a programme called "Over To You" to defend the programme against people who think there's "too much football".....how can there be too much football?
- Mark Sandell
- 12 Jun 06, 07:49 AM
The Serbian team haven't taken their defeat well - "" says their ex-Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman , who, perhaps not coincidentally was substituted during the 1-0 defeat to Holland.
healthy blood-letting? or morale-sapping divisions?
And talking of excuses, what about England? They're complaining - well, not complaining- pointing out they on board during their narrow win over Paraguay.
And is the story of
the most heartwarming of the tournament so far?
Tell us on World Cup Have Your Say with Martin Kelner.....
- Piers Wisbey
- 11 Jun 06, 10:19 PM
Okay, the World Cup can now officially start. We're here!
There is surely only one place to be for the next month. Germany. They seem to know how to throw a World Cup, and if you are on your way over, even without tickets, expect a big, warm hug of a welcome from the Germans. The atmosphere here in Gelsenkirchen is great.
We're in a camper van site just behind the Shalke stadium, home of tomorrow's big game between the USA and the Czech Republic. The American fans are very friendly, high fiving, huge camper van drivers. They love their soccer and they are having a great time. The Czechs are great too, all completely drunk and making a right racket. They won't let you walk by without forcing some kind of lethal spirit that is surely too strong to be legal in England, down your neck. But we're supposed to be working!!!
Managed to miss all the games today. How did that happen?? Not even a sniff of a goal. The telly in the van has now got only one, footie-free, channel working. Nightmare.
People have been coming up to the van to say hello all day, with the same question - are you really from the 大象传媒, and can they not afford to get you a hotel?
- Mark Sandell
- 11 Jun 06, 09:43 AM
And it was today. Adama and Olivier were sat on a roof in Abidjan-two very proud Ivory Coast fans and they joined in throughout the programme. They replayed their defeat to Argentina with Luis who called us from London with his blue and white shirt on. Alarmingly for the other teams in the tournament, Luis thinks Argentina only played at 75 per cent and he was a bit disappointed with them!
Amanda and Stace Marie are best friends. They called us. Alyson asked Stace-Marie if she is a T and T fan; "hardcore" was the reply...."Amanda, are you a Sweden fan?"...."with all of my heart" was her reply. They chatted to each other, one a lot happier than the other. Amanda said she was "embarassed" by her country's performance while Damien, another Soca Warrior fan said he felt his team hadn't had enough credit for "earning" their point.
The show finished with Kimi (an Angola fan) and Ali (a Portugal fan) previewing their game and both hoping it doesn't get nasty.
There wasn't room for any puzzlement over Sven's tactics (again) but everyone agreed that booing your own player (as England fans did to Owen Hargreaves) was unacceptable.
The joy in the voices of the Trinidad and Tobago fans is what this tournament is all about.
takes the presenter's chair for the next ten days- he's a top broadcaster and a fellow Hammer so talk to him!
- Mark Sandell
- 11 Jun 06, 08:25 AM
Brilliant performance (and Shaka Hislop was brilliant so i'm very proud of that) from T and T who held Sweden, despite being down to ten men for the second half.
If they are the story of the day, here are a few others....
* Argentina looked imperious; have we seen the eventual winners?
* Ivory Coast; looked classy, but why the big freeze when close to goal?
* England fans boo'd their own player (Owen Hargreaves) when he came on...is that ever acceptable?
* The refs: is there some law i'm not aware of that means defenders aren't allowed to tackle any more?
* and was Peter Crouch guilty of being tall in a built-up penalty area?
* and Sven's substitutions; if you can explain them, we'd love to hear from you..
Hoping to speak to fans from all those countries as well as Iran ,Holland and Serbia..please join in.
- Piers Wisbey
- 11 Jun 06, 12:40 AM
Nearly there!
Picked up the van (which is enormous!) Rebecca’s used to a Nissan Micra, but Piers is a professional – he used to drive an ice-cream van….
Big Chief Super Whip. Best 99 in southern England……. Van has a telly! And as we put keys in ignition, the radio is playing God Save the Queen live from Frankfurt! A good omen perhaps!
Roads were completely empty and managed to catch the second half of England/Paraguay in the service station. A GLORIOUS WIN….well a win at least which will do us for now….
On the Sea France ferry for Sweden v Trinidad and Tobago. There’s one telly and we’re the only ones watching! Are the French not interested in this World Cup at all? Meet an American who fancies the USA to surprise the tournament with its offense/defence power-play on the forty-nine yard line.
Remembered to drive this monster on the right which was a good start to our European trek…..inching closer to the action.
- Mark Sandell
- 10 Jun 06, 07:13 AM
Typical, cautious start to a World Cup eh?. Just the 6 goals in the match and another couple in the game.
A couple of things struck us here at WCHYS:
- what happened to the ref's clampdown then? twice i saw the ref in the Germany match signal that a player had dived (both Germans) and twice no yellow card was shown...
- they weren't kidding about the ball were they? I was wondering if they'd credit the ball with an assist for Frings' goal at the end (tho' it was a cracker)..
- TV panellists here were very down on the standard of football in the Poland game, but i quite enjoyed it.....do we expect too much?
All this, and whatever you want to talk about in a few hours..
- Piers Wisbey
- 9 Jun 06, 03:55 PM
They said every camper van in western Europe had been bought or hired out for the World Cup....they lied. The World Service has got its hands on the last one and we're off to Germany!
We've got our flags, our mozzie repellant, our big inflatable hands, and two-weeks' worth of baked beans. The World Service World Cup Camper Van is going to be getting the fans eye-view out there - updating this blog daily with the gossip, the hype, the vibe, and the passion from the fans we meet.
If you can't make it to Germany you can still be part of the action by posting your comments to our blog.
And if you are in Germany look out for the van. You can't miss it. It's got twenty feet of bunting wrapped around it! Come and say hello and speak to the world through World Cup Have Your Say.
Let the footie begin!
Piers and Rebecca, the van team.
- Mark Sandell
- 9 Jun 06, 10:01 AM
We've started our World Cup campaign.
The first World Cup Have Your Say has just aired and if the tournament is half as lively as that half hour it'll be worth watching.
We were joined by some Costa Rica fans, Maurizio and Juan Carlos, in a cafe in Munich along with some Germans who chatted aimiably to each other although none of the German fans on the programme sounded either a) confident or b) excited! .
There was a nice exchange between Dariusz,a self-confessed miserable Poland fan and Luis from Ecuador who sounded a lot brighter.
Emanuel, a Brazilian fan sounded as confident as you'd expect supporting a team with Ronaldinho in it and there were great contributions from Ivory Coast, Angola, France,Ghana (twice) and the Czech Republic.
The last exchange featured four fans from 4 different countries and Ros asked them who they'd support if their team was knocked out; "England" said three of them. Quite right oo....
of the Times newspaper takes the presenter's chair tomorrow and Sunday.
- Mark Sandell
- 9 Jun 06, 07:12 AM
From Ros Atkins.......
Hi there. Exciting times here in the World Have Your Say office as today we're launching a sister programme devoted to the football . In a moment of clarity we decided to call it World Cup Have Your Say (though Mark wanted to call it World Have Your Cup) and it's on air every day of Germany 2006 at 0800 GMT. The idea's pretty simple. We want to speak to football fans from around the world to find out what your making of the tournament.
I should start by doing a few introductions....
Vera Kwakofi. Team: Predicted winner:(she's a risk taker...) or Ghana depending on her mood. You may well know Vera if you listen to the 大象传媒 in Africa. She normally presents the African sports show Fast Track.
Martin Vennard. Team: . Predicted winner: A bold some would say foolhardy prediction. Martin's a regular producer on WHYS as well as being one the people who writes the 大象传媒 News radio bulletins.
Gill Farrington. Team: England. Predicted winner: Argentina. Gill's a reporter on the 大象传媒's main domestic news and sport station Five Live. So this is a like a home from home.
Peter Van Dyk. Team: England. Predicted winner: Who knows? He's in Germany and not picking up his phone.
Mark Sandell. Team: England. Predicted winner: England. Mark's our esteemed editor on WHYS, and a very keen West Ham fan, so he's clearly looking for England to mend his broken heart after the . Though he's keen to point out last time England triumphed 40 years ago it was 'West Ham that won it'.
Oh and my predicted winner? . It's only a matter of time and I think they're looking good.
Continue reading "Here We Go"
- Mark Sandell
- 8 Jun 06, 05:41 PM
We've spent a few days doing the radio equivalent of those over-the-top warm-up exercises associated with eastern European substitutes and immortalised on here in Britain and now we're ready to get the tracksuits off and ...er...come on.
World Cup have Your Say kicks off (alright, enough of the rubbish football cliches) at 08 00 GMT on Friday the 9th of June.
It's half an hour of fans talking to each other about what is-let's face it- the greatest sporting event in the world.
We're on every day throughout the tournament and we need you to tell us what we should be talking about. Like our Big Brother programme
we want you to set the agenda.
If we have a mission statement it is "We Love The World Cup" but that doesn't mean we won't talk about hooliganism, racism, rip-offs or cheating. But let's hope we don't have to eh?
Ros Atkins will be in the presenter's chair on Friday (and he will post here to tell you more about the team), followed by Alyson Rudd, Martin Kelner,Alex Capstick and Mark Whittaker. We'll hear from fans in Germany and all around the world.
If for you the world is football-shaped, join the club.
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