The Match

It is funny. After all of the anticipation before and the joy experienced during the actual game, I am at a loss on how to describe the actual day and match, watching the Germany team play against Curacao. 

It was all a bit overwhelming: there were so many people (68,000+), it took so long to get through security (we arrived at 10:30 for a 12pm match and still had to wait 40 minutes to get through the gates), it was so hot waiting to get inside the stadium (92 degrees and humid) and then pleasant once inside and, after weeks of anticipation and build up,  it was all over after less than 2 hours. 

And those 2 hours were action packed.  Germany scored the first goal which was followed shortly after by a goal from Curacao, the small nation of 160,000 who was playing in the World Cup for the very first time.  While the Germany fans had celebrated winning the first goal and a good start to the game, the Curacao fans put the Germans to shame: they sang, they danced,, they cheered, and they cried with pride in their team. 

Germany responded with a few more goals after finding their rhythm. And at the end of the game, Germany had secured the win with a 7-1 final score (a score tying the previous record for biggest win in the World Cup set in 2014 when Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals).  

Unfortunately my poor planning didn’t allow us to stay to enjoy the glow of the win: we had a flight to catch and bags to grab.  But we did get to walk out of the stadium singing Tage Wie Diese with the rest of the German fans. 

All in, we watched five matches over the course of the two days in town and the family was officially hooked on the World Cup festivities.  We have already started planning for the 2028 World Cup in Spain and maybe even the Euro Cup in England in 2026.