Dortmund

Ground: Signal Iduna Stadion (Westfalenstadion)

Visits: 1

Date: 10th June 2006

Match: Sweden - Trinidad/Tobago 0-0 (FIFA World Cup 2006)

Attendance: 65 000

Two weeks before the World Cup started I finally manged to get a ticket for a Sweden game. After many, many hours on the FIFA website it was of course a hugh relief and satisfaction to get hold of two tickets for Sweden vs Trinidad/Tobago. Friday 9th June was exam day in Swedish schools but it was the long awaited trip to Germany I was looking forward to the most this day. Our journey started with train trip to Copenhagen and from there a train to Hamburg. During the one hour ferry journey between Rødby and Puttgarden it was obvious the World Cup was good business for the ferry company. It was absolutely packed with football fans, most of them Swedish but also some Argentinians heading to Hamburg for the Argentina-Ivory Coast game. When we finally arrived in Hamburg by 10.15pm we had a short rest before the last leg of our journey this day, train to Hannover. 30 minutes after midnight we walked through the entrance to our hotel in Hannover and the receptionist greeted us with a free drink. After many hours on the train it was really nice to sit down and relax in the hotel lobby!

The following day we discovered the Angolan FA stayed at our hotel, Angola played in Hannover. Anyway, we headed towards Dortmund by midday and when we arrived in Dortmund there was an ocean of yellow. I was expecting 30 000 Swedish fans to be in Dortmund this day but it was almost surreal to see so many Swedish fans in the town centre and outside the ground. It was a very hot day and during the afternoon we did our best to stay in the shadow. Two hours before kick-off we decided to go inside the impressive Westfalenstadion. For domestic matches there is a massive terrace in the south end of the ground but for the World Cup the entire stadium had seats. Our seats were in row 3, just above the dug-outs. The sun was directly in our eyes and this was clearly going to be a warm and sweaty day. I was confident Sweden was to win quite easily but that was not to be. Despite several good chances the game ended 0-0 and 30 000 Swedish fans left the ground disappointed and a bit frustrated. I was of course disappointed myself but knowing I had a Holland-Serbia game to look forward to the following day I was still in reasonably good mood.

svenska fans