http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/050616/1/3wn9.html
All aboard for German stars
16 June 2005
by FIFAworldcup.com
Germany's 4-3 victory over Australia in their opening FIFA Confederations Cup
fixture on Wednesday is public knowledge, but the team's travel plans the
following day remained a closely guarded secret. Hardly any members of the
public were there to witness the squad board the 3pm InterCity to Cologne,
venue for the hosts' next group fixture.
Reporters drew parallels with the momentous scenes of 1954, when Sepp
Herberger's world champions triumphantly bore the trophy back from
Switzerland behind a steam locomotive – probably the last occasion a Germany
side travelled together by train.
However, the air of nostalgia did not extend to a communal sing-song,
possibly due to the ICE's top speed of 302 kilometres per hour. The trip from
Frankfurt to Cologne, where the hosts face Tunisia on Saturday, took a mere
57 minutes. The players sat in a reserved carriage, while coach Jurgen
Klinsmann and goalkeeping supremo Andreas Kopke worked away on their laptops
in a separate compartment.
Patrick Owomoyela and captain Michael Ballack seized the chance to proceed
right to the front and hear about the state-of-the-art technology direct from
the driver. But to everyone's astonishment, a gaggle of fans had somehow got
wind of the secret journey and were waiting to greet the team on arrival in
Cologne. So there you have it: Cologne really is an even more football-crazy
city than Frankfurt.
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