By Mike Woitalla
Executive Editor, Soccer America
in Hamburg
''What are they serving, Kangaroo?'' asks a brunette garbed in black, red and gold as she approaches the Australia booth and eyes the menu. ''Grilled chicken! I can eat that in Germany.''
Of course, she is in Germany, one of more than 50,000 fans gathering at HamburgÆs Heiligengeistfeld, the Holy Ghost field, to watch the World Cup opener — which is being played in Munich in stadium full of 59,416 spectators.
''We noticed early on,'' said World Cup organizing chief Franz Beckenbauer, ''that the available tickets [3 million] did not meet the demand. We needed 10 times as many. So we created public viewing areas, which were popular in Korea in 2002.''
At the Hamburg Fan Fest, a 788-square-foot screen with impressive definition beams the game to flag-waving, chanting and singing fans who started doing the wave an hour before kickoff. Behind the stands are 32 white tents, each a mini-restaurant serving the cuisine and drinks from a World Cup country.
''Was ist ein burrito?'' asks a young man at the Mexico booth, which is near the spare ribs and Ben & JerryÆs ice cream served by the USA. The French sell crepes and wine, which sells slowly while crowds swamp the beer lines.
The Hamburg pilsner Astra sells for 3 euros ($3.60), plus a 1.50 euro deposit that is returned when you bring back your plastic cup. No wonder there's little litter.
It's different at the entrances. More than half the fans who streamed out of the subways carried cans or bottles of beer, which end up covering the ground in front of the entrance, having been guzzled empty and tossed before the security searches.
There are plenty of children. For them, there are bungy cords, a human foosball game — wrists are tied to the bars — and Haribo stands that sell 24 varieties of gummy bear-type candy.
On the world food tour, there's chocolate from the Ivory Coast, the worldÆs No. 1 cocoa producer; grilled sardines and cava sparkling wine from Portugal; vegetables in coconut sauce and chicken with pineapple and tomato sauce from Togo; sweet yogurt with raisins and couscous from Trinidad.
The Japanese offer sushi, but at their badly positioned booth the raw fish is bathed in the sun and the fans steer clear. Likewise, the kim chee, although a relative of sauerkraut, attracts no buyers as five Korean servers stare disappointingly while the droves pass them by.
It's standing room only under the Brazil tent, were cocktails named after players move briskly. The Ronaldinho is lime, cachaca (sugar cane liquor) and sugar. The Adriano is the same, but ''everything doubled.'' Add mint, and you get a Roberto Carlos. The Juan and the Robinho are alcohol-free and rarely requested.
Of course, there's the German food — Thuringer bratwurst, herring on rolls and Leberkaes (pork pate with onions, garlic and eggs).
Each of the 12 German venue cities have Fan Fests. Between 200,000 and 250,000 attended BerlinÆs opening gala. Previously, when European nations hosted major tournaments, they discouraged ticketless foreign fans from traveling, considering them a security risk. The Germans are welcoming fans without tickets. The idea is to sell Germany as a tourist destination of the future. The risk is that these gatherings are much more difficult to police than the games.
The Fan Fests are security's ''greatest challenge,'' says German Interior and Sports Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. ''We are, however, very well prepared. … Of course no one can ever guarantee 100 percent security, but the chances are good. People will feel safe.''
In Hamburg, 2,200 police are on duty. The crowd is mainly German, but there are some Argentines, here for their team's opener the next day, a few Brits, Swedes and a significant showing of Poles. The Germans win, 4-2, against Costa Rica in Munich, and the fans who have watched the game at the Heiligengeistfeld spill out into Hamburg's streets, but the party's not over.
Two young entrepreneurs park a couple of shopping carts filled with cases of beer in the middle of the sidewalk and started selling them for two euros a pop.
''In partying, Germany is already world champion,'' announces the Hamburger Abendblatt on its front page the next morning.