MARK J. TERRILL / AP

we are the winners >>>> Germany's Oliver Neuville, left, jumps into the arms of teammate Marcell Jansen as Poland's goalkeeper Artur Boruc collapses in despair at the Dortmund stadium

World Cup Blog | Bruce Crumley Reasons To Be Cheerful for Germany's Win subscribe to TIME Printable Version email this story Bruce Crumley: Read all his blog entries

Posted Wednesday, June 14, 2006; 22.38BST
Germany, at last, breathes easy. Which sucks for the Poles, but is probably a good thing for everyone else at this point. Fine, the Manschaft needed over 90 minutes to finally get one

Previous Entries July 7, 2006 Assessing The Legacy Of Domenec   July 6, 2006 The Runners-Up Final Is Really No Consolation   June 28, 2006 For Fans, Now Comes The Hard Bit   June 27, 2006 All About The Swiss Misses   June 26, 2006 Reading Between The Lines Of The Freebie Press   June 26, 2006 Little (Irritating) Things That Make The World Cup Go Round   June 25, 2006 The Cup's Rough Edges   June 22, 2006 Chilled Out In Dortmund   June 19, 2006 Living It Up In Leipzig   June 18, 2006 Why No Joie de Vivre?   June 16, 2006 Taking Advantage of Poor Refereeing   June 15, 2006 Feeling Let Down By The Giants Of Football   June 14, 2006 Reasons To Be Cheerful for Germany's Win   June 10, 2006 How To Win The Good Conduct Medal   June 9, 2006 Deutschland 2006 Turns Up The Heat

in the net (these German players must have Playstation games requiring the bludgeoning of goal posts). And just as good, they enjoyed what the French call "arbitrage maison" — the consideration of a referee all too aware he'll come off looking spiffier if he whistles in favor of the home side. Despite the 0-0 tie Poland deserved in Dortmund, however, here are two reasons why it's probably best all around that Germans everywhere are sighing happily into their steins: World Cup 2006 might well have gotten a terrible cramp otherwise.

For anyone who isn't lucky enough to get to Germany during this World Cup, it has to be stated that the organizers of this tournament, the people working for it (often as volunteers), and the plain old German-in-the-street are doing their uber-maximum to make sure this month of football is a terrific one for everyone involved. And they're doing a great job of it. Forget the US media reports coming into the Cup about the uptick of racist violence in Germany and the resistance economic recession that has turned every single German into a huge grump.

This is one happy country, and it's hard to find anyone who isn't trying very hard to make sure that glee spreads (apart from neo-Nazi hooligans and/or England fans, but let's leave terminal cases aside). Things work, and when they don't, there's endless goodwill and patience when visitors bitch about it. Despite the extremely high security and tight measures to control exactly who gets close to — and into — stadia, match days are slick as well. And though most visitors tend to consider the utter inability to speak a single work of German as a source of pride, one really has to look hard to find a local of any age who won't point, gesture, draw, cite rap lyrics, or dance the Macarena to help the clueless out.

Okay, fine: the world could do without each and every permit-carrying German climbing into the car for a meandering drive around honking when the home side wins, but we won't begrudge the faithful even that. Because though this Cup is less than a week old yet, it's already proving a great one for fans flocking to Germany to attend matches or just macerate in the positive, collective sense of good will that has grown around football here. No one would want to see the thousands of visitors deprived of that with the hosts suddenly getting scared and grumpy over an eventual qualification for the knock-out round. The horns are screaming outside; Germany is happy. The Poles' loss is the gain for the rest of us.

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