WORLD CUP: World Cup fever was hard to locate in Baden-Baden yesterday, despite the arrival of David Beckham and the England team at their Black Forest retreat in the hills above the town. A pharmacy window displaying a Brazilian flag and photographs of Ronaldinho and Beckham - wearing his Real Madrid strip - were about the sole sign the 2006 Weltmeisterschaft is only three days away from the big kick-off.
Yesterday's only significant commotion in this genteel spa town was caused during a break in the frequent heavy showers, when the sun came out and so did Stefan Polap's Schwarzwald Musikander, a 14-piece wind ensemble who took their seats in a bandshell in a city-centre park and delivered oom-pah versions of local favourites to the enthusiastic applause of a couple of hundred senior citizens.
Heavy on the euphoniums and tubas, the music was reminiscent of some of the football played by German teams down the ages. What no one here can say is whether Jurgen Klinsmann will surprise his fellow countrymen by producing a team capable of playing in a contemporary attacking style, with the kind of light and shade their predecessors so seldom managed to produce. But a lack of interest in the aesthetics of football did not prevent Germany from winning the tournament three times and reaching the final on four other occasions.
Now the mass-circulation tabloid newspaper Bild und Sonntag seems to be putting its faith in one man: its front-page headline, "Super Schweini!", exhorted Bastian Schweisteiger, the 21-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder, to seize his moment when Germany meet Costa Rica in the opening match in Munich on Friday.
The man who rented me a bike yesterday said he had put money on England. Noting the raised eyebrows that greeted his claim, he explained by rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. "For one euro," he said, "you get nine." Well, 9 to 1 is not a price to be sneezed at.
It remains to be seen how much time Eriksson's squad will spend outside their gilded cage in the hills. Four years ago in Japan it was striking to see some of the players strolling unmolested through the street markets of Kobe, just like ordinary tourists. That sort of informal excursion is unlikely to be repeated in Germany. The current bunch might need to be sheltered from some local sights, such as that of a woman who was enjoying a spot of topless sun-bathing on the balcony of her apartment in Hindenbergplatz yesterday.
At a time of heightened political tensions around the world, Germany knows the opportunity to host the World Cup is a mixed blessing. The grievances behind the massacre of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich have not disappeared; rather the reverse. On the other hand there is a far greater awareness of the potential threat and a more sophisticated understanding of the means by which to reduce the possibility of another such disaster.
Some of this will penetrate the consciousness of England's footballers. Already there has been a dispute over the decision to exclude local children from the training sessions of Eriksson's squad, taken on security grounds. Beckham's famous smile has a way of transcending such unpleasantness. And if Peter Crouch scores a goal against Paraguay on Saturday before following it up with a repeat of his robot dance then the Black Forest, if not all Germany, will be eating out of his hand.
Before departing for Germany Gary Neville joined Wayne Rooney on the sidelines yesterday, still suffering the effects of a tight hamstring, though Eriksson said he expected the defender to take part in their first practice session at SV Buhlertal's Mittelberg Stadium today. Beckham, John Terry and Ashley Cole were all excused training after suffering minor problems following the match against Jamaica last Saturday.
