As the Americans left Hamburg for their first game, the harbor city welcomed contingents from Africa and South America.
By Mike Woitalla in Hamburg
At 11 p.m. each night, green laser beams blaze through the Hamburg sky, aiming at 170 goals built with luminescent blue pipes. The goals stand on rooftops, in parks and span rivers and canals. The beams shoot from eight tall buildings, including the landmark Church of St. Michael.
The Blue Goal Show, by ''light artist'' Michael Batz, is part of the city's $50 million of World Cup-related investment. In return, it hopes for a $100 million boost to the economy during tournament, estimated to create 8,000 new jobs.
Hotels expect to book 380,000 more overnight stays than is usual for this time of year.
Advice to those visiting the ''Free and Hanseatic City'' of 1.7 million comes in the official ''Fanguide Hamburg'':
''The Hanseat is generally reserved, not likely to immediately embrace you, but he is almost always ready to be of assistance, and usually speaks English.''
''Punctuality is expected. If you make arrangements with a Hamburger, you better not be late.''
''The drinking age is 16 for beer and wine; 18 for hard liquor. Drinking in public is permitted.''
''Hamburg is not Ganja-Land. So be careful with illegal drugs of all kinds. Possession of small amounts marijuana products is allowed, but what is a small amount? That decision is made by the police and judges.''
The Hamburg subway and city trains (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) are run on the honor system. Rarely do conductors board trains to check tickets, but the fine is $48. Fines for public urination are $24 and crossing the street on red elicits a $6 penalty, tells us the ''Fanguide Hamburg.''
The U.S. team, which arrived June 2, is based here throughout the tournament, but will play in Hamburg only if it wins its group and advances to the quarterfinal.
On Saturday, the U.S. team flew south to Gelsenkirchen, where it opens on Monday against the Czech Republic. Before departure, Coach Bruce Arena said, ''I think the time in our camp has been perfect and we're moving right along in the kind of rhythm that we want to. We're ready to go.''
Arena said starting late in the tournament, on Day 4, is an advantage, because it gives the team a chance to see trends in the tournament, especially in officiating.
His early impression: ''The players are going to have to be very aware of time-wasting.''
Later on the day that the USA departed, Hamburg hosted its first of five games.
More than $2 million of the city funds went to renovating S-Bahn station Stillingen, the arrival point fans attending games at the AOL Arena.
The thousands who streamed out of the Stillingen station included hordes of Ivory Coast supporters clad in bright orange and Argentine fans in their team's replica jerseys. More than 5,000 faithful from each team came to Hamburg. Those without tickets faced scalper prices of more than $2,000.
Inside, the rhythmic clapping of the Ivory Coast fans and the Argentine singing under the AOL Arena roof frequently hit ear-piercing decibels.
And the game did not disappoint. The Argentines coped with the Ivory Coast's swift dazzling forays while the stylish Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme stroked passes past the powerful African defenders in a 2-1 win for the South Americans in which we saw the best soccer of the tournament so far.
Elsewhere in Germany, the soccer impressed less but the news from off the field delighted the organizers. In Frankfurt, where England needed an own goal to beat Paraguay, police reported ''very peaceful'' behavior among the fans.