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Germany celebrates beginning of World Cup with victory

(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-10 10:16

Many hold fast to dreams of a repeat of the 1954 "Miracle from Bern" when the underdog West German team beat Hungary for the World Cup title in Switzerland, catapulting the fledgling nation out of the shadows of its World War II history and boosting self-confidence at home.

With the shadow of the Nazis ever present, Germans have tended to steer away from overt displays of patriotism. But more than 15 years after the former East and West Germanys fused and 60 years since the war, such taboos seem to be melting away.

Germany stands to benefit from the million fans pouring into the country to attend the matches in 12 cities. Fans are expected to pack not only the stadiums, but hundreds of organized outdoor viewing points, as well as the nation's many beer gardens, pubs and restaurants.

The tournament opens with the German economy _ Europe's biggest _ picking up after several stagnant years. Economists say the World Cup may contribute 0.2 percentage points of the 1.8 percent growth this year. A million foreign visitors are expected to spend a billion euros (US$1.2 billion).

Police aren't taking any chances. A spike in racially motivated attacks in Berlin and surrounding areas ahead of the tournament raised concerns about neo-Nazis. British and Polish hooligans have also raised fears _ hundreds of known troublemakers from Britain had their passports confiscated and officials tightened Germany's border with Poland _ an hour's train ride from Berlin.

But Poland's first match, a 2-0 loss to Ecuador in Gelsenkirchen, finished without major incident. Roughly 10,000 Polish fans and 6,000 from Ecuador partied peacefully.

"It's very quiet," said Gelsenkirchen press spokesman Frank Sobotta. "I can live with this for four weeks, can't you?"

The soccer excitement spread beyond Germany.

In Denmark, which did not qualify, all newspapers featured the World Cup on their front pages, while public radio throughout the day played sound bites from sports commentators yelling and shouting when Danish teams scored in past tournaments.

"Football's popularity reaches all corners of the world," Former Polish soccer star Zbigniew Boniek wrote in Fakt newspaper. "One can of course also talk about hooligans making trouble, which applies to a tiny percentage of real fans, but actually football today unites the whole world."

A potential cloud over the tournament is the political dispute surrounding qualifier Iran, whose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has indicated he may travel to Germany to support the national team in person. No specific plans have been announced. Vice President Mohammed Aliabadi came to Germany and is expected to attend.

Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a "myth" and said the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map," leading a German Jewish group and Amnesty International to organize demonstrations before the team's first game in Nuremberg on Sunday.