England-Ecuador: Storm in a Fan Fest

You can tell when England's playing a game. You can hear when England's playing a game. It's that tune: En-GER-Land, En-GER-Land, En-GER-Land, the triple-syllabic repetition that after a while, frankly, becomes monotonous.

Even the way they look is pretty standard. Stripped to the waist, with an England team strip tied around his swelling reddened midriff, a beer in one hand, head cropped to reveal slightly paler skin underneath.

But one thing you can say about them: they're loyal. They're England through and through. Prick 'em and they bleed roses.

England are through to the second round, against what is perceived to be lightweight opposition. This is naturally where teams fail. The underdog usually plays a tight defensive game and all the pressure is on the bigger team to attack. It's not easy playing the minnows.

Gavin and I were in Koln (or Cologne, if you want) and we decided to go to the Fan Fest. Unlike the impressive festivals in Berlin (size) and Hamburg (interest), Cologne's fan fest is pretty much a letdown. To be fair, they do have pre-match concerts, but I kind of missed them on the days I was there.

The game began under sweltering heat. It's not really that much fun being stuck in a crowd of sweating tattooed Englishmen who are hurling abuse at anything that catches their fancy at the time.

England's game wasn't much better. Playing 4-5-1 (why?) with long balls punted to that well-known heading machine, Wayne Rooney, England had some chances, but were not convincing enough. Worse, the man I've tipped to win the game for England, Joe Cole, is not delivering. All he needs to do is to either beat a man and then pass to a free teammate, or hold the ball and pass to an overlapping Ashley Cole. A guy like Joe should be able to do that in his sleep, but the way he's playing, he looks more in comatose.

As the game progressed, the weather began to take a turn for the worse. It began slowly, with clouds gathering overhead. Although it gave respite from the sun, I noticed that the winds were picking up as well - normally a sure sign that rain is coming.

I put on my rainjacket. Gavin scoffed at me, but I could see how dark some of the clouds were. You could even see it moving towards us.

On the pitch, England were still not that convincing. Gerrard was trying his best to make things happen, but it wasn't really coming off. Lampard took shots, but still no goals.

Half time came, and I suggested getting out before it started raining. Just next to the Fan Fest, my eye was caught by an ice cream menu. Banana splits. Yum. Even at EUR4 for one.

We sat just inside the open shop. If we peeked into the back of the shop, we could see a TV. I got my banana split, and the second half began.

Now, I can't really say that I saw much of that, because it started to rain, you see. And I mean, really rain.

Well, first there was the wind. The umbrellas outside all flapped uncontrollably. Waiters ran out to try and bring them under control.

The announcer at the Fan Fest said, "You can feel the winds, it is very strong. And if you look behind you, you can see the dark clouds. It might be a good idea to look for cover."

The crowd roared and let him know exactly what they thought of fans that abandoned their team at the threat of mere rain.

The storm began. And I mean 'storm', not rain. Plastic chairs toppled over and scurried along the ground. The Fan Fest TV kept flickering on and off, and the TV in the shop too had difficulty keeping a signal. Outside, it began to pour, with some hard-but-not-so-hard core fans running for cover.

The ice cream shop started closing its sliding doors, insulating us from the chaos outside. English fans pressed up against the glass, not so much to get in, but so they could peer at the TV inside.

I talked to the lady next to me. "Does it rain like this often?" She shook her head. Never.

Suddenly, there was a roar. Beckham had scored, a meticulously curled free kick into the side.

Suddenly, with that, it all began to become clear. Both the game and the weather turned for the better. I finished off my ice cream, and celebrated an England win, if not thoroughly convincing, then at least workable.

Labels: germany, world cup