GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL!

This past weekend was a big weekend for fúbtol. Last Saturday night the Germany - Ghana game was happening. I had the pleasure of going with a couple of friends to watch the game at the Brandenburger Tor, which I’ve mentioned is an iconic gate in Berlin. It takes around 25 minutes from our residence to reach the gate, but with the flux of people rushing to attend the game we were delayed. We arrived to see guards and blockades closing off the entrance. When we approached the guards we were told in German something to the effect of “It is closed”. We were determined to find another way in. We followed some calm and composed locals and were excited to see they were trekking their way through some of the woods that surround the gate. They were trying to sneak in!

We weaved in and out of trees and reached a number of paths that had handfuls of people. It was really exciting to try finding the gate in the dark. All of this for a fúbtol game! We finally got to a main street that took us inside the fortified gate area. We encountered another guard who let us in. In retrospect, it wasn’t closed as we had thought earlier; we were just at the wrong end. Nonetheless, we had found the main entrance and entered controlled chaos. There were 3 giant screens set up about half a football field’s length from each other. It was exhilarating to be with the crowds of people decked out in German jerseys, the German flag in front of them, cheering, chanting, and screaming. We stayed through the second half of the game and started to cheer and scream alongside everybody surrounding us. The energy was incredible and it makes me that much more excited for the upcoming Germany vs. US game.

On the way home, we got a different perspective of how many people were actually at the public viewing. We were completely surrounded by people trying to reach the U-Bahns (the subways). Unfortunately, a bunch of the u-bahn entrances were closed off to help smooth the flow of traffic. When we finally reached the u-bahn it was crazy. The crowds chanting in the subway erupted into a platform-wide chant.  I figured I’d chime in and managed to lead a Zombie Nation chant.

The next night, my friends and I went to a local bar to view the US vs Portugal game. We were lucky enough to find a decent amount of American fans there. We were on the edge of our seats the whole time and it was a great time despite having to stay up until 2 AM to watch the game to completion.

This week was a bit less eventful but there are bound to be more adventures to come. The US vs Germany game is coming up and we have a trip to Budapest planned for next weekend.

Until my next post,
Wesley