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The magic at Hamelin

The World Cup has been the Pied Piper of soccer

Hamelin: Once upon a time, the Pied Piper had this medieval city spellbound. This month, soccer has done the same.

Around the Rat Catcher's house in this city of 60,000, the irresistible lure of the World Cup drew thousands of fans to city squares despite Germany's 0-2 loss to Italy in the semi-finals. It once again highlighted how fans from all over the world marched to the tune of soccer.

Far from the industrial Ruhr and the capital Berlin, this city known for little else but the famous Grimm tale lived for the global game. Here too, instead of narrow nationalism, there was a global embrace of soccer.

German David Luderitz helped out his friend Giuseppe Cimelli at the Da Piero pizza stand under the tall, green spire of the St. Nicolas church, where a huge screen drew several thousands of German fans and a smattering of Italians. Luderitz was in two minds. In the afternoon, he dressed in the colours of his country. But even if he is German, he has always had a special love for Azzurri soccer. "I like Germany but my heart booms for Italy," Luderitz said.

When he was serving food in the evening, he was already wearing the Azzurri blue of Italy. Even though Germany lost, many more fans lined up for pizza than for Bavarian weisswurst next door. A few negative references about macaroni were shouted by some German fans, but everything remained calm. — AP

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