Hamburg, July 11: Germans quietly celebrated third place of their World Cup team on a sweltering Saturday night amid hopes for more success in the future. The start of school holidays in several states, the intense heat and the disappointment about the semifinal defeat against Spain led to smaller crowds at the fanfests and other public viewing events.
The Berlin fan mile was filled to one third of its 350,000 capacity and in Hamburg a mere 5,000 came to the fanfest which can accommodate 70,000.
The Spain defeat had subdued the nation, but Sami Khedira’s late 3-2 winner against Uruguay on Saturday ended the adventure of Joachim Loew’s young team on a positive note.
“Thank you boys for this very last World Cup party,” said the Bild paper on its website. “You gave us a beautiful summer... You spoilt us with fresh and attacking football and the whole world envied us. It is Ok that we are the third best team. We saw in the semifinal what this team is still lacking to finally lift the World Cup again.”