Full Moon on More than the Rhein

Hitting the ground in Frankfurt and going straight to Waldstadion for Saturday's England-Paraguay match made for a long Day One im Deutschland. After the match and checking into my base hotel, the Dorint Novotel on the Rhein River in Koeln, had to reflect on the day's events before entering the Land of Blog.

First downloading all of the match images into my laptop, and showering and shaving while the processor did its thing, I then took a walk along the banks of one of the world's great rivers through history. On the way back to the hotel, the evening's full moon struck me with a theme for the day, at least in Group B, where none of the four team actually scored a goal. England did go up 1-0 five minutes in, but seemingly off the head of one of Paraguay's defenders attempting to clear a David Beckham service. Along with Sweden and Trindad & Tobago's scoreless draw, all those zeros did indeed emulate the full moon.

Speaking off 'Becks', one of my goals for the day was to get a couple images in the can of one of the world's highest-paid and most recognizable players. Getting to that point, however, was an exercise in patience as the media ticket process was about a two-hour ordeal in monotomy, as FIFA tried to deal with a match that had 200 photographers on the Wait List. First impression of the 2006 World Cup Germany is the legendary efficiency and organizational skills of this land have eluded some of the event's organizers. More on that in later posts.

On the upside, nothing can quite compare to being at an England match with 40,000 in unison urging 'Go on England!' on corner kicks and attacking build-ups. We Americans could also take a lesson in singing the Star-Spangled Banner with the gusto that both the fans and team sings 'God Save the Queen'. And though the German Polizei were out in force in Frankfurt's public areas, I'll have to give the Brits high marks for their congenial decorum.

England were also missing Wayne Rooney, who is still recovering from a broken foot but he did go through the full team warm-up and take his place on the bench. In his stead was an unusual sight, in 6-foot-7 Paul Crouch running up top with Michael Owen, who MAY be 5-foot-8. Crouch did a nice job winning and knocking down headers for most of the match.

For now, suffice it to say am extremely relieved to be shooting the Portugal-Angola match here in Koeln tomorrow night at 9 p.m. local time. Gives me a day to sleep in and walk around a bit more and take in some more of this vibrant and upbeat city.

As with all the content of this blog, written and photographic, Copyrighted 2006, All Rights Reserved, Perry McIntyre, Atlanta, GA - USA.