±«Óãtv

Enjoying the coverage guys

Nice one.

Peace

Great posts guys, keep up the good work.

Enjoying the story. But less of the boring football stuff and more about the blog star.. SVAN

Witty, but must try harder on the punctuation! C+

Do you want a good plumber for the pong factor Im a bit cheaper now Im retired

TF

This World Cup is putting me to sleep...without Denmark,Turkey, Senegal and Uruguay this to me is shaping up as a truly boring World Cup...There is no Group of Death...How can there be when all the teams are composed of clear favorites...Argentina's Group is so weak...Come on...Are we supposed to take Serbia and Montenegro for real? I'd be suprised if they score one goal in the whole tournament. What about the United States...this proves that the MLS is the worst league in the World.

He is the best player I ever seen

Frankfurt - why is it so named?

Just who is Frank of the Frank furt ( Frank fort?) fame?

Or is it that the people of Frankfurt are more forthright in their views than the rest of Germany?

or maybe its really named after Miss Kfurt ( Fran Kfurt?)

I think we should know - can our intrepid investigative team enlighten us.

( You can tell that the Korea v Togo game is rather dull from these mad meanderings)

Romulo, how can you justify your above statement? Germany 2006 has so far surpassed most peoples expectations, on and off the field. Only one game has disappointed and there are no prizes for guessing which one it was! Great blog coverage so far, hopefully you can keep it up lads.

Isnt it named after the sausage of the same name? Probably invented by mr heinz to go with his beenz.

I'm enjoying your World Cup Coverage, boys. Take a look at my World Cup blog to get the middle-aged cynical view.

Quoting wikipedia:

The name of Frankfurt on the Main is derived from the Franconofurt of the Germanic tribe of the Franks; Furt (cf. English ford) denotes a low point passage across a stream or river. Alemanni and Franks lived there and by 794 Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which Franconofurd (-furt -vurd) is first mentioned. However, since frank is also an old German word for frei ("free"), Frankfurt was a "free ford," an opportunity to cross the river Main without paying a toll.

Well Frankfurt. There are two explainations to the name...[dons anorak] The second syllable -furt, ist german for "ford" (a place to cross a stream). Frank- could be one of two things
1) a reference to the germanic tribes the Franks (Fränken) or
2) an old german word that means "free"

so in conclusion
Frankfurt =
Ford of the Franks
OR
Freeford

What does Frankfurt mean?

The fact that there is a settlement where Frankfurt is located today dates way back to Roman days. The strategic point was that hill right nearby the "furt". A "furt" or "ford" is a place of very shallow water allowing for an easy crossing by foot, horse, etc. (See also: Waterford, Ireland) The Franks or "Franken" are a medival German tribe, who occupied that old Roman hill (=Römerberg, town hall suqare today) making it the Frank's furt on Main river, Frankfurt on Main...

That should be enough history lesson for this kind of blog ;-)

Great article!! Great Maradona, Boca for ever

What a shame that the HIPIC Ghana has been kicked out in their first match with Italy. Ghana can you go further ? Or just return home and save us the Cedis we don't have.

Not sure about the true "rock and roll" credibility of Svan - looks a bit fancy to me. We're travelling out soon in a 1978 Leyland Sherpa Camper Van, none of this poncey Motorhome lark.

Old Leyland can't go over 60 mph, but at least she's honest. I'll write thee a blog if tha wants.

Hardly fair to have the guys research such trivial stuff.... we need more on SVAN!

If you really want to know about the history of Frankfurt look at

Given it's Franconian history and the fact that "furt" is german for "ford", it shouldn't take much to deduce the origins of the name.

BTW: Excellent blog... keep going (especially SVAN)....

Neil,
Frankfurt is named after 'ford of the Franks' as in the French peoples ruled by Emperor Charlemagne.

According to Wilkipedia...

The name Frankfurt first appears in writing in the year 793, but it seems to have already been a considerable city. In 794 a letter from the emperor to the bishop of Toledo contained "in loco celebri, qui dicitur Franconofurd," which reads "that famous place, which is called Frankfurt."

in stadium on Saturday eveing watching Argentina/Ivory Coast.

we were 25 Europeans sitting next to the executive seats wearing Ivory Coast shirts. Late in the game when Argentina thought they had scored a third we pointed out to Mr Maradona that the lino had ruled it offside. He went berserk at us swearing, making cutting motions across his throat, sticking his fingers down his throat. Cue laughter form us boys in the orange shirts.

sledged by the one of the greats, priceless. did he perhaps think we were from Africa??

I could not see anything that connects the story with the caption.

I hope the writer was not trying to narrate the Korea / Togo match metaphorically

Just found your Blog-Site,great, Am I getting too sensitive or has that well known Irishman Mark Lawrenson become totally Anti-English. His biased commentary on the England-Paraguay game forced me to change audio to Radio 5 Live which was much more entertaining and unbiased.
Great result,performance Can only improve, dont all the best teams win when they're not playing well?
Good luck to you all and England for the Cup (despite Lawro and all the doom merchants)
Allen

Watching in Spain I haven't seen Maradonna on TV yet apart from in the stands for the Argentina came, I must say the TV coverage here is appaling in comparison to the UK, La Sexta, is free to air but doesn't have all the Games so spending a lot of time in the local bars
que lastima!

Good to see Maradona looking so well these days. An excellent player despite one unfortunate incident ;-)

Frank- stands for the Franks, a tribe that once ruled a large area of present-day Germany and France. Charlemagne is probably the most well-known member of this tribe. In fact, the German language name for "France" - "Frankreich" - (literally: "Realm of the Franks") still exposes its origins.

-furt is simply a ford - a place to cross a river. So, there is really nothing mysterious about the name.

Thanks for all the history and german lessons about Frankfurts name. For me the best explanation was scouse saras - so thanks for the laugh sara.

Now about Svan - is that a swedish, danish or norwegian name?

And why does he need an immobilser when he's immobile already? Is this contradiction an essential part of the Scandanavian Psyche? Is it a contradiction in terms - like Wigan Athletic?

Ok - so lets get the low down on Svan and the tricky subject of making the bed.

Is Svan one of those vans that despite having all the latest technology making the bed is something out of the 1970s.

Do you wrestle each night with sliding plywood shelves, hinged legs and stow-away tables to build the beds.

Do you have to arrange a dozen random sized seat cushions into something that vaguely resembles a mattress and how do you avoid having a head sized gap somewhere in your arrangement?

I think we should know these very intimate details of Sven.

Do tell guys!

Ok - so lets get the low down on Svan and the tricky subject of making the bed.

Is Svan one of those vans that despite having all the latest technology making the bed is something out of the 1970s.

Do you wrestle each night with sliding plywood shelves, hinged legs and stow-away tables to build the beds.

Do you have to arrange a dozen random sized seat cushions into something that vaguely resembles a mattress and how do you avoid having a head sized gap somewhere in your arrangement?

I think we should know these very intimate details of Svan.

Do tell guys!

Now then - I have to concede that our mobile home - Svan - is not very rock and roll (see post 17), perhaps more Chris de Burgh.

I guess that sometimes you need the tone a little bit middle of the road to help you stay safe.

But what it does have is the old style bed functions. Tables turn into beds and cushions, eventually, into matresses on a daily basis.

Rising with a start in a morning will result in head-butting the roof. Certainly wakes you up (providing it does not knock you out).

And I'm afraid that even retired I still could not afford Tony Finch's rates (see post five)!

Fletch,

Appreciate your reply - it takes a man of real integrity to admit weakness in one's Camper Van. Whilst Leyland's chrome fittings will shine resplendent in the morning sun as we drive down to Germany from Sheffield, she's certainly no oil painting. But one must always remain positive, to me the holes in her floor are an archaic air conditioning system. Her heavy and unresponsive steering will help to tone and define our forearms. Her unreliable brakes add provide a dash of danger on the Autobahn.

It's all jolly good fun.

Fletch,

Appreciate your reply - it takes a man of real integrity to admit weakness in one's Camper Van. Whilst Leyland's chrome fittings will shine resplendent in the morning sun as we drive down to Germany from Sheffield, she's certainly no oil painting. But one must always remain positive, to me the holes in her floor are an archaic air conditioning system. Her heavy and unresponsive steering will help to tone and define our forearms. Her unreliable brakes add provide a dash of danger on the Autobahn.

It's all jolly good fun.

hi paul,

i am one of the curators of the exhibition "±«Óãtv Game" in Berlin. We organised an exhibition which is critical on the world cup and thought it might be interesting for you. in the end of the exhibition there is an installation of fefzcak, an art figure who is a football but leaving germany for the time of the world cup because of all the negative side effects of it. he is writing a diary in the newspaper "TAZ" and has a weblog with films and postings as well: http:fefczak.wordpress.com

cheers,
gerd

this is well cool people! Keep it up.. I like a lot!

this is well cool people! Keep it up.. I like a lot!

great coverage so far keep up the good work,but do the panel realise that if a player has a leg or his head further than an opponent then he is offside but not if his hand is furtherforward as he cannot gain an advantage.In some games there has been comments about people being level but on the replay the forward has been (rightly so)penalised

Well done team ENGLAND for gaining maximum points in your 2nd game against T&T, they certainly made you work hard for it but in the end your hard work, patience and persistance paid off.
Everyone is aware that the team hasn't been playing to their full potential as yet but I think this fact should be a worry for your future opponents rather than yourselves as you progress through the tournament, you're bound to hit form soon and the encouraging thing is that you are winning despite not playing at your best.
Even Brasil haven't been setting the pace for the tournament, and what about Italy's latest result; after all the pundits praising of then after their first game they've been brought down a peg or two with their latest result.Argentina may have started well but have they peaked too soon? Besides they're hardly in a "group of death" are they! So take encouragement from your excellant start to the tournament,as I've said before, as a group you have the ability, skill and strength in depth with this squad to go all the way to the final.However, even with the self belief you have in your abilities don't forget you have to MAKE it happen. KEEP UP THE HARD WORK AND BELIEF IN YOURSELVES AND MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE.

I can only congratulate the referee of the match between Holland and Portugal on Sunday. Referees often come under fire for decisions made - he clearly showed that the behaviour displayed by players from both teams would not be tolerated. Quite right too! Sadly, discipline is almost non existent everywhere. Players know the rules and should abide by them. When a decision does go against them, there should be no arguing or man handling of the referee. One final comment - Motson and Pearce talk a load of ***! Give the job to Des Lynam or Gary Linekar!