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BRANDENBURG GATE: Players of the German national football team (left -right) , Per Mertesacker, , Kevin Grosskreutz and celebrate on a stage at the “Fanmeile” area, where fans welcomed players and members of Germany’s football national team to celebrate their FIFA World Cup title. — AFP Germany throws giant party for heroes

BERLIN: Hundreds of thousands of jubilant fans emblazoned with the number one took the stage in The team touched down in the late morning at “This is my way of saying thank you,” she said. “All that pride grows title by title.” massed at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Tuesday to cheer groups to greet ecstatic supporters, many of whom Berlin’s Tegel airport on a Lufthansa jet re-branded the games were exciting and I wanted to see the play- By contrast, 18-year-old fan Sven Engel was not the World Cup winners and new national heroes travelled from across the country and skipped work to “Fanhansa” and “Victors’ Plane”, as thousands of sup- ers at least once live.” even born the last time West Germany won. “Germany bringing home football’s top prize for the first time to join the party. porters waited on a viewing platform. Fans had lined the team’s route as black buses fer- deserves this title, they were much stronger than the a reunified Germany. They carried a long banner reading “Obrigado “This is a historic event,” said 34-year-old bus driver ried the players to central Berlin from the airport, other teams,” Engel said. The flag-waving crowd, which began gathering Fans”, “thank you” in Portuguese in a nod to tourna- Bernd Hesse, who followed all the matches in Brazil on while construction workers waved from scaffoldings “But the Brazil match was still the best,” he said, before dawn, erupted in applause under warm sum- ment hosts Brazil, and “the fourth title is ours”. the radio when he was behind the wheel. and dozens of cyclists followed the motorcade, their referring to the jaw-dropping 7-1 thrashing of the mer sunshine when the triumphant players arrived Mario Goetze, who scored the only goal in He noted that Germans had waited 24 years to bicycles draped with Germany banners. hosts during the semi-final. The championship has from Rio de Janeiro. Sunday’s nail-biter final against Argentina, called the bask in the glory of a World Cup victory, the first since Players tweeted photos of the fans, with Mesut bolstered an already upbeat national mood, with the Germany coach Joachim Loew told more than Mannschaft’s win “a dream”. “We played an amazing the reunification of the country in 1990 following Oezil writing “What a crowd! Unbelievable!” German economy humming and popular Chancellor 250,000 supporters at the so-called Fan Mile stretch- tournament,” he said to chants of “Super Mario”. “It’s an three wins by the former West Germany. Supporters on the Fan Mile sang “this is what vic- Angela Merkel at the helm of a stable ing behind the Gate, the symbol of national unity, that incredible feeling.” “It’s not every day that you get to see something tors look like” under a sea of German flags, which government.The German media ran banner head- they shared the title with his players. Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger appeared with like this,” he said. Lydia Lampa, a 28-year-old advertis- rarely make an appearance outside major sporting lines celebrating the young, talented and multicultur- “We are all world champions,” he said. “Of course the black, red and gold German flag draped from his ing executive, stopped by the airport with a friend on events in the country in deference to its militaristic al champions. we are all overjoyed now to be with the fans.” Captain shoulders, with a bandage still affixed below his eye her way to work. past. Ulrich Felgentreff said he was born in 1954, the Even normally staid business daily Handelsblatt hoisted the World Cup trophy to a giant from a cut he suffered in a clash during the final. Wearing a Germany jersey adorned with the cov- first year West Germany won the World Cup-just nine joined in the celebration. “The German team embod- roar from the crowd. “Now we finally have the damn thing,” he said, eted fourth star for the latest World Cup win and a years after the horrors of World War II, as the country ies many of the qualities that typify Germany today: “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a child,” clutching the trophy. The players jumped and danced Hawaiian-style garland of plastic flowers in the nation- was gradually rejoining the community of nations. commitment, discipline, technical skill and tactical Lahm said as he passed the golden statuette to his fel- together in a raucous circle on stage, singing “this is al colours, she said she had watched every World Cup “Everyone has an immense feeling of pride,” he said, know-how,” it quoted the head of Germany’s top bank low players. Team members wearing black shirts how the Germans win, this is how the Germans win”. match featuring the Mannschaft. decked out with his family in black, red and gold. “And Deutsche Bank Juergen Fitschen as saying. — AFP After Brazil, Blatter Chelsea complete focuses on election move RIO DE JANEIRO: When Brazil’s football wards,” Blatter told delegates from the : Spain striker Diego Costa has completed his transfer to Chelsea fans finally got their best chance to see CONCACAF region on June 10, two days from Atletico Madrid, the English side announced yesterday. Sepp Blatter at the World Cup, they had a before the tournament kickoff. The Brazil-born forward had long been linked with a move to the London message for him. It was not a nice one for The success of a World Cup in Brazil that side and completion of the deal appeared to be imminent after the Blues the FIFA President at his fifth final as head beat all expectations �” better organized, said earlier this month they had met the buy-out clause for the 25-year-old, of football’s governing body. better football on the pitch, fewer protests whose transfer transfer fee could be in the region of �32 million ($55 million, Jeers and whistles rained down on on the streets �” was unlikely to weigh 40 million euros). Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma heavily on Blatter’s election chances. “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce Diego Costa has today Rousseff before and during the trophy Since Brazil was awarded hosting rights presentation at the Maracana Stadium. in 2007, as the only candidate, Blatter dele- (Tuesday) completed his transfer from Atletico Madrid by signing a five-year Happily for Blatter, however, he could gated responsibility and tough questions contract,” a statement from the London club said. “He will join up with the enjoy a sixth World Cup final as president during troubled preparations to his secre- first team for our pre-season European training camp next week.” Costa in 2018 in Russia if he wins re-election next tary general, Jerome Valcke. scored 35 goals for Atletico last season as they won the Spanish title and May. Blatter mostly stayed out of view here Still, Blatter can share in the satisfaction reached the Champions League final, only to lose in extra-time to city rivals Real Madrid after they had defeated Chelsea in the semi-final. during the 32-day tournament, making of a job well done. That will be expressed FIFA President Sepp Blatter few public appearances and being kept off Monday at Maracana during his first news and UEFA President Michel Platini at her the 2016 European Championship. UEFA His desire to represent Spain, rather than Brazil, at this year’s World Cup in stadium giant screens at the 18 matches he conference since the World Cup began. right. Late yesterday, Blatter will fly home has made no such decision. his homeland backfired spectacularly as the reigning champions crashed attended. Blatter’s tournament has been a private to Switzerland and resume election strate- The strategy appears to be: Dissuade out in the first round. “I have not been hiding,” Blatter told pleasure in a football-loving country. FIFA is gizing, nurturing his supporters among Platini from seeking the top job, and per- Costa joins former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas in reporters at a reception Friday in Rio de unpopular in Brazil and typically seen as 209 FIFA voting federations and needling suade voters not to support the former moving from Spain to Stamford Bridge this pre-season. Janeiro, hosted by Russian World Cup arriving with aggressive demands, then perceived rivals. France great. “I am very happy to sign for Chelsea,” Costa told his new club’s website. organizers. “I have just not been speaking leaving without paying tax. His column for FIFA’s online magazine After a quiet few weeks for Blatter �” “Everybody knows it is a big club in a very competitive league, and I am very too much.” He has had limited direct contact with The Weekly on July 4 was typical. After the attending the Under-20 Women’s World excited to get started in England with a fantastic coach and team-mates. There was nowhere to hide Sunday Brazilian people. Appearances at a sports Asian Football Confederation’s poor World Cup in Canada and the Youth Summer “Having played against Chelsea last season I know the high quality of the with World Cup protocol requiring Blatter seminar and opening a FIFA community Cup �” zero victories in 12 matches for its Olympics in Nanjing, China �” August 29 is squad I am joining. “I would like to thank everybody at Atletico who made and Rousseff jointly give the gold trophy to project in Rio de Janeiro were vetted for four teams �” Blatter suggested its 46 FIFA a key date. me into the player I am, it was an incredible time for me, but now I am start- German captain Philipp Lahm after a 1-0 attendance. member nations were “treated with such Then, at the Champions League draw ing a new adventure and I hope to win many trophies with Chelsea.” win over Argentina. FIFA denied instructing its television disdain” and should seek more places at event in Monaco, Platini should announce Despite his World Cup travails, Costa appears to have a big fan in In fairness to Blatter, most derision production team to keep Blatter out of future tournaments. if he will be a FIFA presidential candidate. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese complaining that a seemed aimed at Rousseff, who also faces shot, though it did help avoid the jeers he “We need a new deal, preferably sooner Even if Platini decides against challeng- lack of strikers despite the presence of Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and an election within months. He is also more and Rousseff faced during the rather than later,” Blatter wrote, in a clear ing his mentor, UEFA will likely support popular among football leaders than foot- Confederations Cup opening ceremony in Samuel Eto’o at Stamford Bridge-prevented the third-placed Blues from sur- jibe at UEFA (53 FIFA members, 13 World another candidate by the January deadline passing Premier League winners Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool ball fans, and many voters share his desire Brasilia last year. When Germany’s chancel- Cup places) and Platini. to declare. to extend a presidency that began in June lor Angela Merkel watched her national last season. Baiting his former protege is a regular That seemed assured after a volatile Chelsea play RZ Pellets on July 23 before further pre-season matches in 1998. team beat Portugal 4-0 in Salvador on June tactic. In a FIFA video interview released UEFA meeting in Sao Paulo last month Slovenia, the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary. — AFP “I’ll be honest with you it still burns, it 16, she was framed in TV pictures with two after the group stage, Blatter “revealed” when European officials urged Blatter to still burns stronger than ever to go for- men sitting to her left, rather than Blatter that Platini will have goal-line cameras at step aside in 2015. — AP