After Ireland's German miracle last week, matched by England's entirely unexpected win, this World Cup has sprung spectacularly to life for our group of Anglo-Irish Man United fans in Tokyo. That rumbling you hear from the East, incidentally, is neither a tsunami nor Godzilla approaching but the sound of thousands of fans chasing around in search of a) match tickets and b) flight itinerary changes. Few of us dreamt we'd see both these Isles' teams through; isn't it remarkable how two relatively simple strikes of the ball, from Keane and Beckham, can transform the lives and aspirations of thousands upon thousands within the space of a few microseconds?
Back last Thursday, however, those of us who'd managed to resist the temptation to sell our gold-dust England-Argentina tickets and instead had set off for Hokkaido island were working up one heck of a bad mood by the time we got there. 15 hours on a train, for those of us too poor to stump the 170 quid flight, is no-one's idea of fun, and the pre-publicity suggested every bar in town would be closed. In fact, we appeared to be lined up for the worst reception offered to a visiting force by the Japanese since Iwo Jima. Which just goes to prove you shouldn't believe anything you read in the papers (except this column, naturally) as it all turned out just fine and dandy.
Of course, winning 1-0 against the loathed Argies had a lot to do with the transformation of mood but we certainly appreciated the fact that Sapporo's best four bars decided to stay open and restocked throughout the night as England's drinkers attempted to match the astonishing Irish input levels witnessed earlier in the week. The locals turned out to be rather decent and had made an effort, via the Odori Park Fan Village, to keep the heathens amused pre-match. Even more impressive, however, were the vomit-cleaners in the stadium who rushed in to clean up any mess left by overexcited and over-imbibing fans as the epic match progressed. That didn't make up for the fact that the Sapporo dome is an over-rated soulless pile but on a night like that, such observations were only voiced by the churlish. Even a cynic such as me felt tempted to be proud to be English.
Actually, more to the point, one felt proud to be a Red. United's midfield boys plus ex-red Teddy Sheringham were the guys who truly won the match and we had been gratified to see fellow Reds Barthez and Fortune do the same for their respective countries. Pity we couldn't provide the same service to Ireland: but as we now know, "there's only one Keano" - and it ain't Roy. There was a touch of the United's about the stroke of fortune that befell Eriksson too,Owen Hargreaves' injury allowing a proper formation to take shape. You could call it Fergusonian luck, even.
Mind you, one of the Irish lads in our party has cheekily and amusingly suggested that England's win was not the reawakening of a hitherto slumbering giant but part of a pattern set by the U.S., Senegal and South Korea - viz. plucky minnows getting their one glorious day in the sun before the big boys reassert themselves. I guess we'll find out in round 2 if he was right. Another of our Irish lads has just put 100 quid on England meeting Ireland in the final, which I'm not even sure is schematically possible; still, he had drunk about 20 cans of Asuki Dry before teatime so I 'm not sure his calculations had progressed to much depth of analysis.
As you can probably tell, the spirit amongst fans remains good. Violence and politics continue to refuse to rear their ugly heads although I still wouldn't rule them out; like the equally unwelcome Germans, they're always there or thereabouts as a tournament progresses. Frankly, we saw more political aggro from the hosts before they beat Russia ("Give us back our islands!") than from anyone else. Naturally the Irish lads in Rappongi were singing "England's Going Home" the night before Sapporo but it was taken in good heart. Besides, the fans in general are more middle-class and moneyed than at previous tournaments, more interested in face painting than fighting, so that good nature is almost to be expected. That even applied to the Argies: police in Sapporo ensured the removal of all Malvinas/No Surrender banners and apart from that had little to do.
The local media, however, remain annoyingly overexcited and desperate to see some aggro, and such is their intrusiveness that they are likely to get the footage they want soon enough - except that it'll be outraged fans punching them on the nose for their ambulance-chasing mentality. Oh, and if the fans see anyone from the ticketing organisers, there'll be blood in the gutter: the rows of needlessly empty seats at games is the proverbial red rag to the tout-resorting bulls.