ERNST-AUGUSTUS-PLATZ, HANNOVER – Finally! I can’t tell you how good it feels to be blogging again after 24 hours of technical gremlins and tantrums from yours truly.
My laptop internet connection and digital camera had stopped working leaving me as the chocolate teapot of this blog operation.
I don’t take very well to things that previously worked, just breaking for no apparent reason and so I’ve been stomping about our camper van, two campsites and a fair few motorway service areas, with Fletch eyeing me warily in case I was about to explode.
Continue reading "Technical tantrums"
LONDON - Phil McNulty's post this morning on England divided opinion.
On a similar theme, Newsnight correspondent Paul Mason has some strong views on what the team need to do to fire on all cylinders.
NUREMBERG - The antics of Holland and Portugal's players stunned me as I watched their second-round match from the stands.
The referee was more like a croupier than the match official of a last-16 World Cup tie.
He dealt a record-equalling number of cards - 16 yellows, including four players (two from each side) being booked twice and seeing red.
Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy had to watch from the bench and said afterwards that he thought the referee had lost control of the game. It certainly appeared so from where I was sitting.
Continue reading "Verdict on that 20-card trick"
GERMAN MEDIA CENTRE, BERLIN - You can tell things are going well for Germany when the television pundits start pontificating wearing their old football shirts. Even Stefan Effenberg - whose own international career at the World Cup - has donned one to get behind the cause.
Even with my poor German it's noticable how the words have now been banished to the dust-bin of German football history as well.
Continue reading "Doing it Jurgen's way"
LONDON - Our blog has readers from all over the world, many of whom are forced to go to all sorts of lengths to watch the action.
There is , , (he's got Ashes tickets!), (an ex corporate slave trying to pay his way around the world via his blog), and in Sydney (his wife left him after moving there two years ago apparently) to name but a few.
I asked Steve Ditchburn to tell us what it's like in at the moment. If you would like to tell us about what it's like watching the World Cup where you are, or post a comment with a link to your blog.
Claire S, blog editor.
Continue reading "What's the World Cup like where you are?"
Ross Kinnaird is a sports photographer covering the World Cup for . He has been sharing some of his photos and the techniques behind them on our blog.
His latest guest entry shows Wayne Rooney muscling his way through the Ecuador defence.
Continue reading "Snapping Rooney as he bursts through"
HEADING TO - Ricco and I have stayed at quite a few campsites over the last few weeks.
Some have had great facilities, others modest. Some have been in great locations, others miles from anywhere - but none have been quite like Herr Schmidt's.
Continue reading "The strangest campsite in Germany?"
BADEN-BADEN - It was intriguing to see the change in body language among England fans as a steamy afternoon in Stuggart moved to its conclusion.
Exuberant at the start, anxious in the middle, name on the cup at the end.
England's campaign is a World Cup . Play poorly, do enough to win or at least get the result you need, progress towards the closing stages...
Continue reading "Jeers or cheers for England?"
BADEN-BADEN - England's World Cup win against Ecuador was top of the agenda in Stuttgart - but there was a hot little rumour doing the rounds among the foreign media.
Namely, that Manchester United are close to sealing a £20m deal for Atletico Madrid's brilliant Spanish striker Fernando Torres.
Continue reading "Is Torres Man United's main man?"
STUTTGART - Outside of the passion and pain on the pitch, it is the little things that catch your eye as the world’s cultures collide at this tournament.
The last guests to leave England’s post-match party were dancing in the streets as I walked back through the city’s main square in the early hours.
The strains of Football’s Coming Home and "1-0 to the Arsenal" sounded bizarre coming out of the pipes on a traditional German wind-up organ.
Continue reading "Last to leave the party"
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