WC2006: The Beautiful Game Being Beautiful

OLYMPIC STADIUM, BERLIN (11:25pm local time) -- Wow. This is what it's all about. The Olympic Stadium has this imposing air about it. It feels like an ancient Roman coliseum. It has character. Also, loads of characters inside it. We're sitting just to the side of the Croatian supporters, and to say they were in full voice would be the definition of understatement. The Brazilians, of course, had their own party going, and the Croatian chants over the Brazilian drum beats created this wonderful dance club backing track for the match. I wish I had a tape recorder.

The pace of the game was fast and furious. Ronaldinho did his thing, shaking off tacklers like an NFL running back, all with the ball still on his foot. As has been the case for at least half the matches so far, shots from distance were plentiful. And, for Brazil, ultimately fruitful, as Kaka measured up a blast into the upper left corner. The stadium went nuts.

I really can't say enough about the atmosphere. This may go down as one of the best matches I've ever been to. The passion was relentless. Croatia came out pushing hard for an equalizer, and Brazil countered with some great chances of their own, including a flashing header across the box from Ronaldinho - have I mentioned that I'm watching the world's best player live and in person - that the Croatian keeper did well to save.

Fire fans will like to note that the Croatians to our left were being scolded for standing in the aisles. So that doesn't just happen to us.

There's also something oddly perfunctory about the English versions of the stadium announcements. I wish I could remember the one about the attendance for the match, which was 72,000. Nice, round number, like the 52,000 in Gelsenkirchen. Something about that seems very German.

Chances are still presenting themselves late into the match, and I can't help imagining what the Australians and Japanese are thinking as they watch this match. Or that the U.S. team looked like a bunch of U-12 boys by comparison. Obviously, we deserve to be here, but the difference between us and Brazil, or even Croatia, right now seems staggering.

Five or six minutes to go, and the Croatian fans are getting restless. One of them so much that he decides to run on to the field, apparently getting past a 2-meter deep, 2-meter wide moat. No water or alligators, though. Pitch invasion! It might be my first - as spectator, of course - and I'm surprised that there's no security sprinting onto the field to take him out. They seem to be treating him like a five-year old, waiting until he tires himself out. He runs up to one of the Croatian players and starts to kiss his boots, and the player then escorts him off the field with his arm around him. No muss, no fuss, and the fan probably has an amazing experience to go along with what I'd have to imagine is a night in jail. If he can remember it.

I can't tell if it's a last push to urge their team to score, or the beginning of a celebration after a valiant effort against the defending champs, but a couple of road flares pop up in the stands. Croatia had a goal in them, something evident throughout most of the second half, but Brazil was able to keep it from being realized.

At some point I notice that I have goosebumps, and this is why I'm such a fan of this game. All the stupid little setbacks of the last couple of days melt away - although I sure would have loved to have a zoom lens and video for this match - and everything is all right.

Of course, I still need to retrieve my bags at the train station and figure out exactly where my host actually lives, despite the fact that it's almost midnight and my phone is dangerously close to being dead, but those are just minor details.