Germany vs. Poland: Much More Peaceful This Time

The crowds gathered for the Germany-Poland match were in a festive mood from the opening kickoff, although cheers and flag waving gave way to moans and groans as time went on and the Germans missed out on countless scoring opportunities. The jumbotron was situated on a small lake, surrounded by a grassy slope where about 20,000 fans enjoyed the best view. But even those of us who had to stand had a pretty good view of the action.



The end of the game approached and the match remained scoreless. We had hoped to see a German goal and the outburst from the crowd that would accompany it, but with time winding down, we decided to make our way back to the U-Bahn station and beat the rush. We were about a 1/4 mile from the center of the action and just a few yards from the station when we heard a tremendous roar that could mean only one thing: Germany had scored! We scrambled over to the U-Bahn security office, where we saw the guards celebrating and caught the replay on their small TV. The game ended seconds later and Germany had defeated Poland, 1-0, to secure their place in the second round.