World Cup Game Day in Berlin

I spent a few hours today walking around the streets of Berlin where the sun is blazing and a full invasion of Brazil and Croatia fans is underway. With the game at 9 pm local time tonight, the fans from both countries have all day to get properly fired up and to get to know one another as friends before their teams battle it out as enemies.

The atmosphere in Berlin is simply awesome. The city is awash in the yellow, green and blue of Brazil, but in the last 48 hours the numbered of checkered red and white Croatia kits has increased dramatically. Everywhere you look there is someone wearing a flag of one those countries and there might not be a face that isn’t painted in this entire city.

One of the neatest things about being at the World Cup is getting to know people from other countries and to see the positive, festive interactions between the fans of various countries.

Many times today I came across fans from Brazil and Croatia singing and dancing together, their only common language being that of football. They might scream at their opponent’s players tonight, but for the hours leading up to the game there are nothing but smiles and best wishes.

Fans from Mexico, Spain, Ukraine, Australia and even countries that didn’t qualify like Scotland are all joining in the party, knowing that Berlin is the place to be with the five-time World Cup champions kicking off their 2006 campaign.

We’ll be out and about getting photos and videos of all the fan fun so definitely check on our multimedia section.

I’m looking forward to liveblogging the game. I hope that wherever you are in the world you’ll enjoy it.