England lose match, Germany the euro

The English fans in full strength present a sight to behold and, given that there have only been a couple of incidents (chiefly in Stuttgart a fortnight ago), even the cost of broken glass and furniture is minimal. Many of them came in caravans to cut on hotel costs but what they saved on lodging they spent on boarding — i.e., the vast quantities of beer they consumed.

Indeed, beer has been a lubricant in the potential friction because the English and German fans. After the defeat to Portugal yesterday a group of English fans were confronted with a similar group of Germans on the train ride out of Gelsenkirchen; the tension lasted a few moments before they started talking about the quality, and varieties, of beer in Germany!

That’s the kind of partying Munich and Berlin were looking forward to over the next week. The invasion would have been double, at the very least, given the size of the venues of the semi-final and final. On the way to Berlin station on Saturday mrning, Ahmet, a taxi driver, was praying for England’s win later that day and in the semis on Wednesday. That would ensure England and their fans would hit Berlin from Thursday onwards.

‘‘I don’t like their football but I like their fans’ style,’’ he said. ‘‘They take taxis, so many, even Germans don’t take so many.’’

That spending power comes from the pound, for which you get 1.4 euro. Even the Americans are complaining but not the Brits. ‘‘It’s easy for us,’’ said Rob from Newcastle. ‘‘And the distances help; we can fly in the day before the match, fly out the morning after. Only costs us a hundred quid or so.’’

They’ll be mourning in Britain, too: The British Retail Consortium has predicted a windfall of 1.5 billion pounds from the World Cup, 125 million pounds for every extra week that the team spent in Germany, as fans spend on travel, TV sets, beer, food, and that important sector, ‘retail therapy’ for the football widows.

So who do Germany have left? The less affluent Portuguese and Italians and the less exuberant French. So they plan to make up for it by partying themselves. Going by their team’s performance, they’ll be partying for the next week.