World Cup Diary - Day 5 Here come Germany

Germany off to a flier

The tournament's first dull game and it was the BBC who were cursing their luck. The 0-0 between Iran and Nigeria really had nothing to recommend it at all barring the fact the fact that Iran's Football Association is in complete disarray and has no money, and this draw is therefore something of  a result. 

Germany got off to a fantastic start in the earlier game, trouncing Portugal 4-0. Once again, you have to hand it to the Germans who don't really have anyone of the class of Cristiano Ronaldo, but who somehow make everything look easy regardless. Leading scorer in the 2010 World Cup, Thomas Muller started this tournament off with a hat-trick and a bit of play acting that so incensed Pepe that the Portuguese player bent down and told him so, pushing his forehead into the face of the Bayern Munich player. Muller - who later insisted he remembered nothing of the incident after the 'blow from Pepe's fist' - yea right! - suddenly found the strength to leap from his prone position and jostle his opponent before the players interrupted and the ref waved the red card to the dismiss Pepe. There is no defence of Pepe who deserved his marching orders, but you can see why players get annoyed when a trailing arm that barely brushed Muller's chin apparently has him clutching his nose. Germany never used to get involved in this type of rubbish and it was a shame to see. Retrospective yellow cards are the answer here and it's about time they were introduced.

The game was over by half-time with the Germans 3-0 up, which was a shame for the neutral as a spectator but great for the watching German Premier Angela Merkel who has seen more World Cup games live than I ever will. How odd her diplomatic missions always take her to the country hosting the World Cup.

Final word goes to Jurgen Klinsmann who seems to have developed an American accent; he saw his USA side squeeze past Ghana 2-1 with a late strike from John Brooks. "AWESOME" it sounded like he said.

Today's World Cup Menu
Piri-Piri Chicken, German Peppered Salami, California Zinfandel

World Cup Heroes # 5
Tofiq Bahramov
For decades known simply by Germans and English alike as 'The Russian linesman', Tofiq Bahramov was the representative from the Soviet Union who awarded England the controversial third goal in the 1966 World Cup final. 

After the fall of the Berlin wall and the subsequent demarcation of eastern Europe, Bahramov was found not to be 'Russian' at all but an Azeri in what is now known as - and strictly speaking always was - Azerbaijan.
  

There are no definitive angles to prove now - let alone then - that Geoff Hurst's shot did bounce over the line but consider this; Bahramov was born in 1925 and would have been 16 on 22nd June 1941 when Operation Barbarossa begun and the Nazi's crossed the border into the USSR. He was 41 on that June day in '66 and he was certain he saw another line crossed but this time it was a German one. Without a doubt he was right - because, even if he was wrong, he was right.

Rather quaintly, the Azerbaijan national stadium is known as the 'Tofiq Bahramov Stadium' and the 'Russian Linesman' is something of an Azeiri hero whose accredited quote that "[Football is made up of]  duels.. full of unforeseen turns and even real miracles. And who does not want to be a magician if even for just 90 minutes?" should make anyone warm to him even more.

Bahramov passed away on 26th March 1993, aged 67 and when England and Azerbaijan were drawn together  for the qualifying group of the 2006 World Cup, a special ceremony was held before the game in Baku to honour the only referee to have  a stadium named after him. His Son Bahram met representatives of the visiting fans after the game and touchingly expressed his pleasure that the famous 'Russian Linesman' of 1966 had finally gained his true nationality. "Now that Azerbaijan is independent it's very right for him to be remembered as a member of the Azeri nation. People like Tofiq Bahramov are only born once in a hundred years.

It's rare that we can say: "Two nations salute you, Sir!"