© EuroFootball.com
Millions of Germans had to reconcile with the fact that their dream shattered on Wednesday evening - their national team lost to Spain in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
"I feel like at a funeral. Very sad, my heart aches," said 35-year-old Lucia Perschke, watching the match with friends in Berlin.
In Hamburg, after the final whistle of the referee, a grave silence prevailed. Only a few vuvuzelas could be heard piercing the calm evening.
"Spain is the best team in the world," phrases acknowledging such advantage of the opponents could be heard.
A few hours earlier, in the capital, there was a celebration - to watch the semi-finals, 350 thousand fans gathered only in Berlin, eagerly awaiting their favorites' victory.
"That crazy octopus was right. Let's all go eat calamari," said one of the fans, referring to Paul the octopus, who correctly predicted all of Germany's team results in this championship.
"It's all over", announced the "Bild daily" website, adding that the match for third place against Uruguay will be meager consolation. - The hearts of fans are broken, but the defeat was deserved.
A completely different atmosphere was in the Spanish quarter of Hanover, where victory cheers and "Viva Espana" could be heard.
